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How to use a Google Spreadsheet as a database

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Re: How to use a Google Spreadsheet as a database

#51

Post by jedschmidt »

I really like the idea of using Google Spreadsheets as a quick and familiar GUI for entry or querying on data sets, as long as you understand the tradeoffs (write latency isn't great and they max out at 400,000 cells).

But this is especially nice when you build a layer on top of Google reduces lock-in, instead of adding another proprietary API. This is what I did with sheet-down[1], which turns a Google Spreadsheet into a LevelDB-compatible data store that can be swapped out with a file system or other compatible backend[2] once you outgrow Google.

[1] https://github.com/jed/sheet-down

[2] https://github.com/rvagg/node-levelup/wiki/Modules#storage

Re: How to use a Google Spreadsheet as a database

#52

Post by bradleyland »

jedschmidt wrote: post #51

I really like the idea of using Google Spreadsheets as a quick and familiar GUI for entry or querying on data sets, as long as you understand the tradeoffs (write latency isn't great and they max out at 400,000 cells). But this is especially nice when you build a layer on top of Google reduces lock-in, instead of adding another proprietary API. This is what I did with sheet-down[1], which turns a Google Spreadsheet i…

How do you handle type constraints? For example, how do you prevent users from inputing text in to number fields? I know Google Sheets has validators, but I don't know of any way to restrict someone from changing those validations while also providing the ability to input data.

Really curious, because I'd love to use something like this in our app.

Re: How to use a Google Spreadsheet as a database

#53

Post by bradleyland »

ryanjodonnell wrote: post #23
mavhc wrote: post #10

Where's the free, web based, easy to use database, the web version of MS Access?

https://airtable.com/ is exactly what you are looking for

I've looked at AirTable. It is, unfortunately, not MS Access for the web. It's cool, but the two are not analogous.

One of the greatest things about MS Access was that it made it trivially easy to create master-detail forms where a sub-form contains records related to the master record shown in the main form.

Re: How to use a Google Spreadsheet as a database

#54

Post by crdb »

bcRIPster wrote: post #26

A spreadsheet is NOT a database! Argh! As a person who gets asked to fix these kinds of projects once they hit a wall (performance/concurrency/etc) and then have to migrate them to a proper DB platform, just stop it! Put it on in a DB up front and save some poor developer their sanity. Please.

Thank you! I was thinking exactly the same thing!

Want a cheap database? A Postgres RDS micro instance costs $51 a year upfront or $0.018 per hour. Medium is $200 or $0.073, and that medium instance will probably be more than enough for a dozen projects.

You get the solidity and ease of use of PostgreSQL with all the admin details abstracted away by RDS, and you can be up and running in 10 minutes or less. Get AWS account, spin up DB, write to DB.

Should one of your projects take off and require more, it's a one click upgrade. Or you can pg_dump in seconds, and rebuild it on a separate instance and account and point your app at it. And you get backups and all kinds of nice things out of the box.

I seem to be in the minority in this thread, but I personally much prefer using UPDATE/INSERT/DELETE in the command line to modify data, than clicking on a cell and typing the modification.

Re: How to use a Google Spreadsheet as a database

#55

Post by bradleyland »

jewel wrote: post #16
crazygringo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also wonder. It seems like the glaring hole in the Google Apps suite.

I've had this as my startup idea for at least four years now. I'd build a web-based database product that would fit in google apps with the intention of getting bought by google and integrated into google apps. Even if I didn't make any money on the deal, at least I'd be able to have something better for tracking the progress of the cub scouts awards. It'd also let my wife and me set up the complex budget that we're…

Zoho Creator is probably the closest thing to a web-based Access product that I've seen, and it's still not quite Access. Access occupied a very strange space in between an actual application framework, a database GUI, and an IDE.

Re: How to use a Google Spreadsheet as a database

#56

Post by jedschmidt »

bradleyland wrote: post #52
jedschmidt wrote: post #51

I really like the idea of using Google Spreadsheets as a quick and familiar GUI for entry or querying on data sets, as long as you understand the tradeoffs (write latency isn't great and they max out at 400,000 cells). But this is especially nice when you build a layer on top of Google reduces lock-in, instead of adding another proprietary API. This is what I did with sheet-down[1], which turns a Google Spreadsheet i…

How do you handle type constraints? For example, how do you prevent users from inputing text in to number fields? I know Google Sheets has validators, but I don't know of any way to restrict someone from changing those validations while also providing the ability to input data. Really curious, because I'd love to use something like this in our app.

My situation is for an intranet environment, so I suppose I could just ask nicely that they don't change validations. But chances are most of my target users aren't familiar enough with Google Spreadsheets to even get that far.

Re: How to use a Google Spreadsheet as a database

#57

Post by kyllo »

bradleyland wrote: post #55
jewel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had this as my startup idea for at least four years now. I'd build a web-based database product that would fit in google apps with the intention of getting bought by google and integrated into google apps. Even if I didn't make any money on the deal, at least I'd be able to have something better for tracking the progress of the cub scouts awards. It'd also let my wife and me set up the complex budget that we're…

Zoho Creator is probably the closest thing to a web-based Access product that I've seen, and it's still not quite Access. Access occupied a very strange space in between an actual application framework, a database GUI, and an IDE.

I personally would not want to be responsible for security for a web-based Access clone. Enormous attack surface area.

But I think Access is awesome for making and battle-testing prototypes that can eventually become actual CRUD apps. Great intermediate step somewhere in-between e-mailing spreadsheets and building a Rails app, for getting shit done at the office.

Re: How to use a Google Spreadsheet as a database

#58

Post by bradleyland »

kyllo wrote: post #57
bradleyland wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zoho Creator is probably the closest thing to a web-based Access product that I've seen, and it's still not quite Access. Access occupied a very strange space in between an actual application framework, a database GUI, and an IDE.

I personally would not want to be responsible for security for a web-based Access clone. Enormous attack surface area. But I think Access is awesome for making and battle-testing prototypes that can eventually become actual CRUD apps. Great intermediate step somewhere in-between e-mailing spreadsheets and building a Rails app, for getting shit done at the office.

Agree 100% on this. To truly replicate Access online, you'll have to provide some sort of scripting interface that is moderately performant. Seems like a complete nightmare.

Re: How to use a Google Spreadsheet as a database

#60

Post by jasoncrawford »

bradleyland wrote: post #53
ryanjodonnell wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://airtable.com/ is exactly what you are looking for

I've looked at AirTable. It is, unfortunately, not MS Access for the web. It's cool, but the two are not analogous. One of the greatest things about MS Access was that it made it trivially easy to create master-detail forms where a sub-form contains records related to the master record shown in the main form.

You might be interested in Fieldbook; I think we got the master-detail thing right: https://fieldbookapp.com
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