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Show HN: A better visual builder for complex business logic

superblocks.com

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Re: Show HN: A better visual builder for complex business logic

#31

Post by verdverm »

frankgrecojr wrote: post #27
verdverm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or other OSS projects that are similar, like https://n8n.io/

n8n AFAIK is a workflow builder whereas at Superblocks, we are an Application builder (in addition to a workflow builder). We enable developers to build user interfaces that "bind" to APIs that they build with this feature.

I have yet to see a drag-n-drop workflow framework that captures the developer market. Every tool eventually lands on citizen developers.

Writing the code always ends up being easier and you can build visuals on that if you really need them.

Maybe this is closer to https://bubble.io/? (https://manual.bubble.io/help-guides/logic)

Re: Show HN: A better visual builder for complex business logic

#32

Post by frankgrecojr »

hk__2 wrote: post #28
frankgrecojr wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually a completely separate feature! We're just iterating fast! Our AI launch introduced the ability to have AI generate and refactor code for you in our platform.

I usually expect "Show HN" posts to be about new products/projects you’ve worked on, not to post every feature annoucement of your company. Also: > Please make it easy for users to try your thing out, ideally without barriers such as signups or emails. You'll get more feedback that way. https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html

Thanks for this! I personally wrote a significant portion of this feature am very excited about this new tech!

Unfortunately we require email to signup but have a free trial. Users are able to test end to end in just a few clicks.

Re: Show HN: A better visual builder for complex business logic

#33

Post by vb-8448 »

frankgrecojr wrote: post #30
vb-8448 wrote: post #29

Some questions: - can I self-host the whole suite without any internet connection? - Are you targeting retool users? - Are you targeting airflow users?

We provide an agent deployment model that allows your data to never leave your network. We do not however offer an air-gapped solution. Superblocks, Retool, and Airflow provide different approach to solve similar problems. We've found that lots of customers prefer Superblocks.

> We provide an agent deployment model that allows your data to never leave your network

I had i rapid look at the docs and, for what I understand, the agent is "dumb" and need to continuously contact your cloud (similar to github/gitlab ci runners) and also the user interface is on cloud. Correct?

Re: Show HN: A better visual builder for complex business logic

#34

Post by frankgrecojr »

vb-8448 wrote: post #33
frankgrecojr wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We provide an agent deployment model that allows your data to never leave your network. We do not however offer an air-gapped solution. Superblocks, Retool, and Airflow provide different approach to solve similar problems. We've found that lots of customers prefer Superblocks.

> We provide an agent deployment model that allows your data to never leave your network I had i rapid look at the docs and, for what I understand, the agent is "dumb" and need to continuously contact your cloud (similar to github/gitlab ci runners) and also the user interface is on cloud. Correct?

The UI executes APIs against this agent which talks to Superblocks to fetch API definitions to run. These definitions will be "signed" by a key that only the agent is the authority of so customers can guarantee that it hasn't been tampered with.

Re: Show HN: A better visual builder for complex business logic

#36

Post by frankgrecojr »

withinboredom wrote: post #35

All you are missing now is a 'scratch pad' to 'sketch out' an idea without any definites. Like take a nomnom/mermaidjs flow chart and let me 'flesh out' each block with the control blocks.

Each one of these "APIs" has a json/yaml DSL that could be constructed with any builder pattern. We just haven't released a public API for this yet.

Re: Show HN: A better visual builder for complex business logic

#37

Post by cjohnson318 »

Does this handle tasks in different timezones? Is there a map interface? Like, say I've got to manage multiple drivers over multiple timezones, and I need to know who's got an hour left on their shift, what they're hauling in their truck, and where they are on a map.

Re: Show HN: A better visual builder for complex business logic

#38

Post by frankgrecojr »

cjohnson318 wrote: post #37

Does this handle tasks in different timezones? Is there a map interface? Like, say I've got to manage multiple drivers over multiple timezones, and I need to know who's got an hour left on their shift, what they're hauling in their truck, and where they are on a map.

Superblocks can absolutely be used to build something to solve this use case.

Re: Show HN: A better visual builder for complex business logic

#39

Post by dragonwriter »

> With Control Blocks, developers get a visual programming language that looks, feels, and scales like code.

What problem does that solve? I get that there are situations when a programming medium that doesn’t look, feel, and scale like code might be useful, but when the right solution is something that looks, feels, and scales like code, isn't that what is solved by code?

Re: Show HN: A better visual builder for complex business logic

#40

Post by frankgrecojr »

dragonwriter wrote: post #39

> With Control Blocks, developers get a visual programming language that looks, feels, and scales like code. What problem does that solve? I get that there are situations when a programming medium that doesn’t look, feel, and scale like code might be useful, but when the right solution is something that looks, feels, and scales like code, isn't that what is solved by code ?

Perhaps. Those who want to do that can leverage our Javascript and Python blocks to write whatever code they'd like.

Most of our platform is centered around "integrations". For example, You'd have a visual block for an S3 integration (that would have been previously configured) that you'd use rather than initializing an S3 client in code for example.

We want to meet people where they're at though. If you want to write code, you can do that but if you want to use a more visual approach, you can do that as well.

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