4 ms·

Ask HN: Review App : Build Apps Online, over Google App Engine

19 points by ordinaryman 17y ago

jarsj 17y ago
Can you give a running example of atleast one application built using this ? I tried creating something for a long time but couldn't do much.
- ordinaryman 17y ago
  I do plan to provide default set of apps, which one can click to install. This is just off the oven and I could not wait to share. You can have a look at the following walk-through, to have an overview of the app.. http://ifreetools.blogspot.com/2010/01/build-apps-online-over-google-app.html http://ifreetools.blogspot.com/2010/01/build-apps-online-ove...
  - jarsj 17y ago
    I am not talking about the default-set-of-apps. I am talking about seeing an app created using your tool in action. Would love to see what is the possibility.
    - ordinaryman 17y ago
      I understand that you are talking about simple demo access to apps, to get to know the features enabled. Currently there is no demo/public access privilege for apps created using iFreeTools Creator. If it was available I could have gladly pointed you out to that demo app to check out the features. Another option is install an app into your own account, choosing from a default set of apps and using it as a demo to check out the features of iFreeTools Creator - which I was referring to. Also, the feature set in iFreeTools Creator is equivalent to those available in iFreeTools CRM - which uses default System entities, instead of requiring Custom entities, as in Creator. Both the apps are driven by the same framework. So, you may login into http://crm.ifreetools.com http://crm.ifreetools.com and check out the features. I do not usually check old submissions at Hacker News for new comments and I am glad that I did today to find your recent comment. If you have any further queries, kindly send them directly to raj [at] sahasvat [dot] com.
krakensden 17y ago
Very cool, this was something I hoped/expected would happen with App Engine. There's a lot of value (and hopefully some money) in making the answer to "I need a web presence" simple for non-hackers. Some questions: Why comic sans? It looks goofy. Why iFreeTools? 'Free' in the name often projects an image of low-quality. How are you making money? Ads? If I make an app, will it have your ads in it? (And can I pay to remove them...)
- ordinaryman 17y ago
  Thanks. Agree about the font and 'free'. Wanted to have a distinctly different font for the first part of the name which will be a brand/prefix to lot more apps like CRM, HRMS, Creator, etc.,. Open to suggestions for other web-safe fonts, which could address that need. 'Free' because I believed it will help with better adoption rates. The plan is to have it based on 'freemium' model. Free with restrictions on storage, number of mails, etc.,. and with ads. For higher resource requirements or for removing the ads, one can pay a nominal fee.
teye 17y ago
Some input on your homepage: Every database application I create is already online. A more descriptive headline would help. Listing each cloud's contents in a vertical list will make them easier to read/digest. It's nice that it's made for App Engine, but that doesn't deserve more prominence than your walk-through link.
- ordinaryman 17y ago
  Thanks for the input. Was trying to emphasize Creating Online. Updated the headline to "Build Customizable Database Apps. Online." (For those who may read this after the change : the earlier headline was "Create Database Applications, Online.") Will see how I can improve the image or provide an alternate one. Suggestions welcome. Agree. Made the walk-through link more prominent than before.
megamark16 17y ago
Wow, very similar to the app I'm working on right now (though mine is based on Django). Glad to see that other people are doing the same stuff, hopefully that means it's worthwhile, right? Good luck!
- ordinaryman 17y ago
  Yes. I have been preached about this, by my prof. in start-up school : If an idea occurs to you, it very well has a possibility to have occurred to N other people, a few of those would already be working on them. A little competition is good for everyone and makes life interesting. Bring it on :-).
dzenanr 17y ago
Building a web application without programming is a challenging task. It is relatively easy to support simple domain models that have a few entities. When a domain model starts having relationships, things get more complicated. Will you support relationships in future? Or your business strategy is to start with simple domain models and then redirect users to your custom-made apps?
- megamark16 17y ago
  It looks like he does support relationships ("References" field type), although I don't see how those are displayed on the related record.
  - ordinaryman 17y ago
    It looks like he does support relationships ("References" field type), although I don't see how those are displayed on the related record. As a link. Have a look at the screen-shots in the walk-through - particularly the last image. Mapping and accessing links are actually easy - relatively speaking. What is more hard is having to work without "join", particularly if one comes in with RDBMS baggage. One will have to unlearn certain rules.
hello_moto 17y ago
It looks like you took the ideas (CRM, Creator) from your previous employer (Zoho) and put them in Google AppEngine...
- ordinaryman 17y ago
  Well I tried not to (compete), for a very long time (almost a year). After which I had to turn towards projects, which lead to Grails, which in turn lead to iFreeTools CRM (you can read about it here : http://rrajkumar.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/grails-to-ifreetools-crm/ http://rrajkumar.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/grails-to-ifreetoo...). This in turn lead to the requirement of CRM to be customizable, which lead to Creator. And this post :-) I do respect Zoho and lot of people in there. Will be integrating with Zoho's online services where possible.

19 points by ordinaryman 17y ago

jarsj 17y ago

Can you give a running example of atleast one application built using this ? I tried creating something for a long time but couldn't do much.

ordinaryman 17y ago
I do plan to provide default set of apps, which one can click to install. This is just off the oven and I could not wait to share. You can have a look at the following walk-through, to have an overview of the app.. http://ifreetools.blogspot.com/2010/01/build-apps-online-over-google-app.html http://ifreetools.blogspot.com/2010/01/build-apps-online-ove...
- jarsj 17y ago
  I am not talking about the default-set-of-apps. I am talking about seeing an app created using your tool in action. Would love to see what is the possibility.
  - ordinaryman 17y ago
    I understand that you are talking about simple demo access to apps, to get to know the features enabled. Currently there is no demo/public access privilege for apps created using iFreeTools Creator. If it was available I could have gladly pointed you out to that demo app to check out the features. Another option is install an app into your own account, choosing from a default set of apps and using it as a demo to check out the features of iFreeTools Creator - which I was referring to. Also, the feature set in iFreeTools Creator is equivalent to those available in iFreeTools CRM - which uses default System entities, instead of requiring Custom entities, as in Creator. Both the apps are driven by the same framework. So, you may login into http://crm.ifreetools.com http://crm.ifreetools.com and check out the features. I do not usually check old submissions at Hacker News for new comments and I am glad that I did today to find your recent comment. If you have any further queries, kindly send them directly to raj [at] sahasvat [dot] com.

krakensden 17y ago

Very cool, this was something I hoped/expected would happen with App Engine. There's a lot of value (and hopefully some money) in making the answer to "I need a web presence" simple for non-hackers. Some questions: Why comic sans? It looks goofy. Why iFreeTools? 'Free' in the name often projects an image of low-quality. How are you making money? Ads? If I make an app, will it have your ads in it? (And can I pay to remove them...)

ordinaryman 17y ago
Thanks. Agree about the font and 'free'. Wanted to have a distinctly different font for the first part of the name which will be a brand/prefix to lot more apps like CRM, HRMS, Creator, etc.,. Open to suggestions for other web-safe fonts, which could address that need. 'Free' because I believed it will help with better adoption rates. The plan is to have it based on 'freemium' model. Free with restrictions on storage, number of mails, etc.,. and with ads. For higher resource requirements or for removing the ads, one can pay a nominal fee.

teye 17y ago

Some input on your homepage: Every database application I create is already online. A more descriptive headline would help. Listing each cloud's contents in a vertical list will make them easier to read/digest. It's nice that it's made for App Engine, but that doesn't deserve more prominence than your walk-through link.

ordinaryman 17y ago
Thanks for the input. Was trying to emphasize Creating Online. Updated the headline to "Build Customizable Database Apps. Online." (For those who may read this after the change : the earlier headline was "Create Database Applications, Online.") Will see how I can improve the image or provide an alternate one. Suggestions welcome. Agree. Made the walk-through link more prominent than before.

megamark16 17y ago

Wow, very similar to the app I'm working on right now (though mine is based on Django). Glad to see that other people are doing the same stuff, hopefully that means it's worthwhile, right? Good luck!

ordinaryman 17y ago
Yes. I have been preached about this, by my prof. in start-up school : If an idea occurs to you, it very well has a possibility to have occurred to N other people, a few of those would already be working on them. A little competition is good for everyone and makes life interesting. Bring it on :-).

dzenanr 17y ago

Building a web application without programming is a challenging task. It is relatively easy to support simple domain models that have a few entities. When a domain model starts having relationships, things get more complicated. Will you support relationships in future? Or your business strategy is to start with simple domain models and then redirect users to your custom-made apps?

megamark16 17y ago
It looks like he does support relationships ("References" field type), although I don't see how those are displayed on the related record.
- ordinaryman 17y ago
  It looks like he does support relationships ("References" field type), although I don't see how those are displayed on the related record. As a link. Have a look at the screen-shots in the walk-through - particularly the last image. Mapping and accessing links are actually easy - relatively speaking. What is more hard is having to work without "join", particularly if one comes in with RDBMS baggage. One will have to unlearn certain rules.

hello_moto 17y ago

It looks like you took the ideas (CRM, Creator) from your previous employer (Zoho) and put them in Google AppEngine...

ordinaryman 17y ago
Well I tried not to (compete), for a very long time (almost a year). After which I had to turn towards projects, which lead to Grails, which in turn lead to iFreeTools CRM (you can read about it here : http://rrajkumar.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/grails-to-ifreetools-crm/ http://rrajkumar.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/grails-to-ifreetoo...). This in turn lead to the requirement of CRM to be customizable, which lead to Creator. And this post :-) I do respect Zoho and lot of people in there. Will be integrating with Zoho's online services where possible.