Gimba - A shopping app over a store with no API
Gimba's B2B shopping app, built on a system that had no API: X-Apps created the missing layer and delivered the app for iOS and Android.
Buying company supplies from the phone
Gimba sells supplies to companies and was already selling on the web. The app was missing, and the request seemed simple: build the iOS and Android app and integrate with the existing back end. The first week brought the discovery: the system was ASP.NET on SQL Server and exposed only database procedures, not endpoints. Before there could be an app, there had to be a layer translating that into something an app could consume.
The missing layer
X-Apps built its own Strapi service on MongoDB as an aggregator: on one side it talks to the SQL Server procedures and another vendor's REST API, on the other it gives the app a stable contract. The app gained a predictable interface even with the legacy changing behind it, responses the legacy did not assemble, such as the persisted cart, and an admin panel for banners and highlights from the same Strapi.
A purchase flow built for companies
Login by company or personal tax ID, also via Facebook and Google. Search by category, text or barcode through the camera. Lists and favorites to repeat orders, a cart with coupons and calculated shipping, payment by bank slip or card, order tracking and physical store locations. Every choice reflects how corporate buyers really buy.
The VPN, and what it taught
All development depended on the client's VPN, and the connection dropped at short intervals, taking down the database connection pool. The symptom looked like a timeout; the cause was the network. X-Apps diagnosed it and proposed the structural fix, a direct connection between the networks. The lesson: when the client's environment is the only path to the data, the stability of that access is a project requirement, with the same weight as a feature.
Stack and practices behind the result
React Native with Expo for iOS and Android. Strapi on MongoDB as the integration layer and admin panel, in Node.js. Docker and Kubernetes orchestrated with Rancher, in the cloud, with an automated build and deploy pipeline. A navigable Adobe XD prototype approved with the client's marketing team before any code, weekly sprints with closed scope and a server specification delivered and sized for the operation.
Does your legacy system not talk to apps?
Many systems that have run well for years cannot be consumed by an app, and that does not mean replacing the system. It means building the right layer in between. X-Apps designs and builds that bridge, keeping the legacy where it is. Request a quote from X-Apps.