Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

#91

Post by hypermachine » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 3:19 PM UTC

Closi wrote: post #84

hypermachine wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally believe that Microsoft has lost their way when it comes to low code (which is why we are trying to build a replacement). PowerApps is a lot less powerful than the traditional VBA/Excel/Access combo. However they did manage to add RPA to PowerApps, which is a plus.

Eh, VBA & Excel serve a fundamentally different use-case for Microsoft. Building lots of hacky applications using spreadsheets was never the intention, and does not result in good applications. Access... I agree and miss it, but I can see why they wanted to replace it. You couldn't build scalable applications with it because of database locking, and to do the sort of stuff you can do in PowerApps you had to resort to…

Their biggest mistake was not scaling the VBA/Excel/Access stack beyond desktop and updating it. Where is the WinUI integration for VBA? The product and language was fine but it has been abandoned by Microsoft. It is easy to learn and use but they never tried to make it a cross platform technology.

Re: Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

#92

Post by _nhh » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 3:36 PM UTC

CouchDB + PouchDB

Re: Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

#93

Post by rattray » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 3:41 PM UTC

rattray wrote: post #86

Surprised nobody has mentioned Bubble. It's probably the low/no-code platform I've heard the best things about. It's not self-hosted though. https://bubble.io

Also surprised nobody's mentioned Google AppSheet: https://solutions.appsheet.com/how-to-create-an-app

Haven't used it myself either, but have also heard good things.

Re: Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

#94

Post by ducharmdev » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 3:48 PM UTC

ecesena wrote: post #74

How big is the db? I've used a Google Spreadsheet as a backend for hasgluten.com, so non-tech people can just edit the content without my involvement.

That's kinda where my mind went - even though it's not as exciting to a developer, that'd be a lot more accessible for non-technical people. Worst-case scenario, if you need a more fully-fledged app down the road, you could write a small script to import the .csv into a database.

Re: Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

#95

Post by nafey » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 3:57 PM UTC

Incidentally we are building a web based alternative of MS Access with support for building simple CRUD forms. It is in early access phase. You can register here: https://app.spanrr.com/. We also expose the underlying MySQL Database for running any queries you need.

Would love to get in touch if this works for you.

Re: Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

#96

Post by maxmusing » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 4:00 PM UTC

I'm a founder of BaseDash, I started building it as a spiritual successor to Django Admin. Big focus on UX and usability for non-technical users. I like to think of it as "Airtable for your SQL database".

Some features that are especially important if you're giving access to non-technical team members:

- Edit history of all changes made through the tool

- Permission system to limit access to certain databases/tables

- Views that let you pre-filter tables and hide columns

- Request edit system so that all edits have to be approved (WIP)

We support both MySQL and PostgreSQL, planning to add support for NoSQL databases in the future.

It's paid for teams but free for 2 users.

Website link: https://www.basedash.com

Re: Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

#97

Post by pickle-wizard » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 4:00 PM UTC

ngauje wrote: post #4

I've tested Appsmith: https://www.appsmith.com/ and it's great! It's open source and self hostable on k8s. It's really easy to use, there is included tutorials. I mainly use it to build frontends to make APIs calls, but it supports DB backends like MySQL or PostgreSQL. Devs are available and willing to answer questions.

Hey thanks for mentioning this. I have been looking for something like Cisco Prime Service Catalog, but cheaper and easier to use. This looks to fit the bill.

I just set it up this morning in my homelab, and it was very simple to set up.

Re: Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

#98

Post by peterthehacker » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 4:15 PM UTC

Have you looked at TablePlus?

https://tableplus.com/

It gives you a spreadsheet UI on top of your tables that can be edited directly. All edits are baked into a transaction so when you hit save the transaction is committed. We’ve had a lot of success using it with developers and non-technical product managers designers.

Re: Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

#99

Post by skadamat » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 4:21 PM UTC

I'm a committer to the Apache Superset project (http://superset.apache.org/), which can talk to any SQL speaking database through SQLAlchemy: https://superset.apache.org/docs/databases/installing-databa...

Majority of Superset users use the no-code Explore UI in Superset to create charts.

We recently wrote about the big 1.0 release here (https://preset.io/blog/2021-01-18-superset-1-0/)

Re: Ask HN: Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

#100

Post by giardini » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 4:27 PM UTC

jnskender wrote: post #48

jeffasinger wrote: post #41

Why not start out by using the Django Admin features? That allows you to start with next to no code, but you can easily add a little business logic anywhere you need it eventually, and it provides a way to long term transition to a true application if the need arises.

I find answers in this format annoying. Why not? Maybe he's never heard of it. Great answer, but let's not assume he's considered it and decided not to.

Colloquially "Why not?" is used to make a suggestion. That is, "Why not" means "Perhaps". One need not trace or question preceding statements or ideas nor is there any need to be annoyed.

Is English your native language?