The API docs are making the following bold statement:
The Webflow CMS API is a HTTP JSON API and allows you to programmatically add, update, and delete items from the Webflow CMS, allowing you to connect external data sources to your Webflow sites.
I read the entire API and what it does is provide support to interact with collections internal to Webflow. Am I missing something? Can I have Webflow connect to another data source and use that data as if it was an internal collection?
I can see how I could use the API to create an off-band cron that queries the external data source and uses Webflow APIs to push it into Webflow, but this is not a good solution for so many reasons (stale data, data conflicts, the complexity associated with ordering inserts/deletes).
Webflow API deals with Webflow’s CMS and that’s all. You can create a program that interacts with it any way you want it to, you just need the coding skills. But when you go back to the front-end of your business, you can only use webflow’s CMS when using Collection Lists and etc. There’s nothing stopping you from using JS or third-parties to interact with other DBs
Thanks, I thought I missed something.
Was hopping there is a capability like Wix’ external database connections that allows wrapping external data as if it were a native collection.
Yep, this is the only thing stopping me from considering Webflow.
We have an API that interacts with SAAS db in realtime so data is always up-to-date and I use that for custom websites.
Seems all Webflow would need to do is provide data field mapping, with optional vs required flags, for an alternate way of using collections.