A Relational Spreadsheet
kevinlynagh.com
A Relational Spreadsheet
1–10 of 77 posts
Re: A Relational Spreadsheet
#2I want the same, I want it so much that I have been working on gasp gui code to do such, an activity I have found I am profoundly bad at.
But the theory is, I love the relational database, they are a sort of rigorous superset of the spreadsheet, and I have replaced all my spreadsheets with database tables, however while it is very hard to beat sql for rich comprehensive data transforms and analysis, ad-hoc data entry is very awkward. Most gui tools are focused on database administration and I want one for quick random edits. any hints?
Re: A Relational Spreadsheet
#3I want the same, I want it so much that I have been working on gasp gui code to do such, an activity I have found I am profoundly bad at. But the theory is, I love the relational database, they are a sort of rigorous superset of the spreadsheet, and I have replaced all my spreadsheets with database tables, however while it is very hard to beat sql for rich comprehensive data transforms and analysis, ad-hoc data entry…
Airtable provides an interesting mix of spreadsheet and database functionality.
Re: A Relational Spreadsheet
#4I want the same, I want it so much that I have been working on gasp gui code to do such, an activity I have found I am profoundly bad at. But the theory is, I love the relational database, they are a sort of rigorous superset of the spreadsheet, and I have replaced all my spreadsheets with database tables, however while it is very hard to beat sql for rich comprehensive data transforms and analysis, ad-hoc data entry…
I've tried a bunch, but many of the prettier ones don't have Linux versions. I've been using DBeaver (https://dbeaver.io/) for years now though - it's occasionally a little rough around the edges, but overall it's really amazing!
It uses jdbc drivers for database support, so it can handle basically anything.
Re: A Relational Spreadsheet
#5I want the same, I want it so much that I have been working on gasp gui code to do such, an activity I have found I am profoundly bad at. But the theory is, I love the relational database, they are a sort of rigorous superset of the spreadsheet, and I have replaced all my spreadsheets with database tables, however while it is very hard to beat sql for rich comprehensive data transforms and analysis, ad-hoc data entry…
If you're asking for a GUI for simple CRUD on an arbitrary table, I think that's pretty common. What database are you using, and what API are you using to access it? (Edit: and on what O/S?)
If one of the obstacles to data entry is normalization, perhaps an updatable view if your database supports it.
Re: A Relational Spreadsheet
#6I am loving using coda.io for small data. It's easy to create tables that reference each other. Tables are part of a document and you can write text and make them a little bit interactive with slider controls, etc.
Re: A Relational Spreadsheet
#7I want the same, I want it so much that I have been working on gasp gui code to do such, an activity I have found I am profoundly bad at. But the theory is, I love the relational database, they are a sort of rigorous superset of the spreadsheet, and I have replaced all my spreadsheets with database tables, however while it is very hard to beat sql for rich comprehensive data transforms and analysis, ad-hoc data entry…
> ad-hoc data entry is very awkward
I understand that a spreadsheet "row" often isn't going to be a normalized SQL table row and all that, but isn't mapping the spreadsheet cell ranges into such a schema technically the only problem here?
If you had a script that watches your spreadsheet for changes and can drop you into a SQL shell whenever you want, you'd have it both ways.
Re: A Relational Spreadsheet
#8Grist?
Re: A Relational Spreadsheet
#9Excel’s get and transform makes this dead easy I think?
Re: A Relational Spreadsheet
#10What about MS Access. I used to use it years ago. It was amazing how simple it was to create and deploy an application based on relational data.