7 ms·

Kexi Project – an open-source visual database applications creator

79 points by networked 11y ago

foolinaround 11y ago
The following sections on the website would be useful * roadmap : planned features with rough timeline, and an option for the public to be able to request/prioritize/vote. * comparison : a list of features of MS Access that Kexi can do, and more importantly, what Kexi can't do yet. Its completely ok to state that something is in the roadmap, or even that it currently is not in the works. This is very important to potential MS Access users or those who understand that world, who might consider migrating.
- andmarios 11y ago
  Kexi uses KDE's bugzilla. There you may request features or vote for the ones you want. https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=kexi%20severity%3Awishlist https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=kexi%20severity...
- Narishma 11y ago
  I don't know if there is a roadmap but you can request and vote on features in their bugzilla: https://community.kde.org/Calligra/File_a_bug_or_wish https://community.kde.org/Calligra/File_a_bug_or_wish For the other thing, I don't know if it's up to date but there's this page: http://www.kexi-project.org/wiki/wikiview/index.php@KexiComparisons.html http://www.kexi-project.org/wiki/wikiview/index.php@KexiComp...
- jstaniek 11y ago
  Thanks, these are very good points. Coincidentally, yeah, comparison and feature sheet is what we want to have soon, probably near the come back of the Windows version. And we're looking for talented volunteers to prepare a new more modern web page. Something like https://marble.kde.org https://marble.kde.org and mobile-friendly.
- jstaniek 11y ago
  Priority fixes and features for Kexi can be implemented based on donations: https://community.kde.org/Kexi/Contact#Donations https://community.kde.org/Kexi/Contact#Donations
jtwaleson 11y ago
I don't -want- to be negative, but how relevant is this (* nix only, runs on single machine) in a world ruled by browsers? My gut feeling says the Access world is dying rapidly, and if that is true, a * nix version playing catch-up does not have a bright future.
- taspeotis 11y ago
  I don't know about "dying rapidly". Access seems to be in maintenance mode since 2010 when they added web application support. It's going to be dying slowly as end users migrate to other technologies (proprietary applications and the like). It's a bit clunky but you can run Access applications in a browser [1]. So Access is no longer synonymous with "shitty little data entry desktop application". [1] http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/128126.aspx http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles...
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - jtwaleson 11y ago
    You're probably right. I think that the number of new applications created with Access is decreasing pretty fast, but the number of active existing applications will decline slowly.
  - nealmydataorg 11y ago
    If it is legacy application built on Access and does not require much maintenance then it can continue running. If it requires switching to other platform then it requires effort (1)to find new platform (2)migration to new platform and results in dying slowly.
  - jstaniek 11y ago
    Regarding Access-type of apps: IMHO they are as needed as spreadsheets, just less frequently. Like cars for 6 person families are needed too even if for cars for 4 are more popular. It's not complaining but: if the percentage of people using such apps isn't increasing this is maybe also because of average level of technical education among computer users decreasing. Average user wouldn't operate at this level of specialization. Even scientists... those I know don't reject using simple spreadsheets risking numeric inaccuracies. Weak and prototype tools become the standard for them. So simple spreadsheet apps (excel-like) that got very feature-laden over the years (statistical stuff, etc.) that clearly introduce on a concept of a strict matrix structure are very popular and they don't get replaced by web interfaces. Conversely, the web interfaces try to emulate the original UX with more or less success (Google Sheets, MS Office online). Simplistic explanation of Access type of apps could be that they introduce data types and more on top of what's know in spreadsheets. There's always market for that but the demand needs to be realized (created?). Ideally the database type of apps could learn some agility from the spreadsheets world. Newer MS Accesses offer implicit adding of fields in a 'spreadsheet' way in the data view and altering form/report design in the data view as well. I'd like to have that in Kexi too. Maybe even the app should welcome the user with an empty sheet of cells by default? We have a place for discussions on the forums https://forum.kde.org/kexi https://forum.kde.org/kexi and also mailing lists if someone is interested.
mgkimsal 11y ago
wow... didn't know this was still going. I remember reading about this (probably from slashdot) in 2004/2005... last couple projects of mine have been rebuilding access and filemaker stuff for the web. filemaker, as nice as it is in some respects, introduces relatively high licensing costs (at least relative to my client's test pricing). i guess had he used kexi it wouldn't have been a problem... :)
kmcb 11y ago
It would be nice, if there was a platform like Kexi that allowed you to make not just desktop apps, but mobile apps that allowed large (>1GB) local storage of data on a phone or tablet. Filemaker has this for iOS, but not android. It may exist, but I haven't see it.
- jstaniek 11y ago
  Right, in 2006 this was a target for quite an investment thanks to Google's SoC funds. We had a lighttpd server bundled with Kexi and it was all the way to expose Kexi projects to the web environment with a 'single click deploy' to server. Unmaintained since then, but we know how to do that properly and for the modern web. In some way it's even better the 2006's solution isn't in use, we can start fresh. For this volunteers are needed: web developers/users/designer, not necessarily C++ hackers. Some jquery/bootstrap components can make the data grids and forms work well.
  - kmcb 11y ago
    One challenge would be maintaining the native mobile platforms. Because of local storage limits on HTML5, I think you need to use more then the stock browsers on get it done.
    - jstaniek 11y ago
      Yes I believe so. how do you feel about SQLite for local storage? Kexi picked SQLite as the default backend in 2004, and it was a good bet. For native mobile there's Qt Quick for the GUI with which large part of Kexi is compatible. A database creation/handling layer has been extracted years ago and now it matures under name KDb: https://community.kde.org/KDb https://community.kde.org/KDb
      - kmcb 11y ago
        I think SQLite would work well for most local storage application. It also helps that it is well known, well documented, and supported.
enjoy-your-stay 11y ago
Another app (just for Linux) for throwing a few controls on a Form and making a database front end is this : http://data-forms-action.com http://data-forms-action.com Doesn't support database creation, just Form building.
jstaniek 11y ago
Hi, Jaroslaw Staniek, Kexi maintainer here. Nice to meet you and I find the comments interesting. Feel free to ask me anything about Kexi :) I'll try to answer some questions. PS: came here alerted by this post :) https://www.reddit.com/r/hackernews/comments/3p8e9z https://www.reddit.com/r/hackernews/comments/3p8e9z

79 points by networked 11y ago

The following sections on the website would be useful * roadmap : planned features with rough timeline, and an option for the public to be able to request/prioritize/vote. * comparison : a list of features of MS Access that Kexi can do, and more importantly, what Kexi can't do yet. Its completely ok to state that something is in the roadmap, or even that it currently is not in the works. This is very important to potential MS Access users or those who understand that world, who might consider migrating.

andmarios 11y ago
Kexi uses KDE's bugzilla. There you may request features or vote for the ones you want. https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=kexi%20severity%3Awishlist https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=kexi%20severity...
Narishma 11y ago
I don't know if there is a roadmap but you can request and vote on features in their bugzilla: https://community.kde.org/Calligra/File_a_bug_or_wish https://community.kde.org/Calligra/File_a_bug_or_wish For the other thing, I don't know if it's up to date but there's this page: http://www.kexi-project.org/wiki/wikiview/index.php@KexiComparisons.html http://www.kexi-project.org/wiki/wikiview/index.php@KexiComp...
jstaniek 11y ago
Thanks, these are very good points. Coincidentally, yeah, comparison and feature sheet is what we want to have soon, probably near the come back of the Windows version. And we're looking for talented volunteers to prepare a new more modern web page. Something like https://marble.kde.org https://marble.kde.org and mobile-friendly.
jstaniek 11y ago
Priority fixes and features for Kexi can be implemented based on donations: https://community.kde.org/Kexi/Contact#Donations https://community.kde.org/Kexi/Contact#Donations

jtwaleson 11y ago

I don't -want- to be negative, but how relevant is this (* nix only, runs on single machine) in a world ruled by browsers? My gut feeling says the Access world is dying rapidly, and if that is true, a * nix version playing catch-up does not have a bright future.

taspeotis 11y ago
I don't know about "dying rapidly". Access seems to be in maintenance mode since 2010 when they added web application support. It's going to be dying slowly as end users migrate to other technologies (proprietary applications and the like). It's a bit clunky but you can run Access applications in a browser [1]. So Access is no longer synonymous with "shitty little data entry desktop application". [1] http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/128126.aspx http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles...
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- jtwaleson 11y ago
  You're probably right. I think that the number of new applications created with Access is decreasing pretty fast, but the number of active existing applications will decline slowly.
- nealmydataorg 11y ago
  If it is legacy application built on Access and does not require much maintenance then it can continue running. If it requires switching to other platform then it requires effort (1)to find new platform (2)migration to new platform and results in dying slowly.
- jstaniek 11y ago
  Regarding Access-type of apps: IMHO they are as needed as spreadsheets, just less frequently. Like cars for 6 person families are needed too even if for cars for 4 are more popular. It's not complaining but: if the percentage of people using such apps isn't increasing this is maybe also because of average level of technical education among computer users decreasing. Average user wouldn't operate at this level of specialization. Even scientists... those I know don't reject using simple spreadsheets risking numeric inaccuracies. Weak and prototype tools become the standard for them. So simple spreadsheet apps (excel-like) that got very feature-laden over the years (statistical stuff, etc.) that clearly introduce on a concept of a strict matrix structure are very popular and they don't get replaced by web interfaces. Conversely, the web interfaces try to emulate the original UX with more or less success (Google Sheets, MS Office online). Simplistic explanation of Access type of apps could be that they introduce data types and more on top of what's know in spreadsheets. There's always market for that but the demand needs to be realized (created?). Ideally the database type of apps could learn some agility from the spreadsheets world. Newer MS Accesses offer implicit adding of fields in a 'spreadsheet' way in the data view and altering form/report design in the data view as well. I'd like to have that in Kexi too. Maybe even the app should welcome the user with an empty sheet of cells by default? We have a place for discussions on the forums https://forum.kde.org/kexi https://forum.kde.org/kexi and also mailing lists if someone is interested.

mgkimsal 11y ago

wow... didn't know this was still going. I remember reading about this (probably from slashdot) in 2004/2005... last couple projects of mine have been rebuilding access and filemaker stuff for the web. filemaker, as nice as it is in some respects, introduces relatively high licensing costs (at least relative to my client's test pricing). i guess had he used kexi it wouldn't have been a problem... :)

kmcb 11y ago

It would be nice, if there was a platform like Kexi that allowed you to make not just desktop apps, but mobile apps that allowed large (>1GB) local storage of data on a phone or tablet. Filemaker has this for iOS, but not android. It may exist, but I haven't see it.

jstaniek 11y ago
Right, in 2006 this was a target for quite an investment thanks to Google's SoC funds. We had a lighttpd server bundled with Kexi and it was all the way to expose Kexi projects to the web environment with a 'single click deploy' to server. Unmaintained since then, but we know how to do that properly and for the modern web. In some way it's even better the 2006's solution isn't in use, we can start fresh. For this volunteers are needed: web developers/users/designer, not necessarily C++ hackers. Some jquery/bootstrap components can make the data grids and forms work well.
- kmcb 11y ago
  One challenge would be maintaining the native mobile platforms. Because of local storage limits on HTML5, I think you need to use more then the stock browsers on get it done.
  - jstaniek 11y ago
    Yes I believe so. how do you feel about SQLite for local storage? Kexi picked SQLite as the default backend in 2004, and it was a good bet. For native mobile there's Qt Quick for the GUI with which large part of Kexi is compatible. A database creation/handling layer has been extracted years ago and now it matures under name KDb: https://community.kde.org/KDb https://community.kde.org/KDb
    - kmcb 11y ago
      I think SQLite would work well for most local storage application. It also helps that it is well known, well documented, and supported.

enjoy-your-stay 11y ago

Another app (just for Linux) for throwing a few controls on a Form and making a database front end is this : http://data-forms-action.com http://data-forms-action.com Doesn't support database creation, just Form building.

jstaniek 11y ago

Hi, Jaroslaw Staniek, Kexi maintainer here. Nice to meet you and I find the comments interesting. Feel free to ask me anything about Kexi :) I'll try to answer some questions. PS: came here alerted by this post :) https://www.reddit.com/r/hackernews/comments/3p8e9z https://www.reddit.com/r/hackernews/comments/3p8e9z