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I also have an iOS published app that has a Google Sheets “backend”: https://subsol.one https://subsol.one It’s an app for finding parties and festivals in Rom
by alin23 3y ago
I also have an iOS published app that has a Google Sheets “backend”: https://subsol.one https://subsol.one
It’s an app for finding parties and festivals in Romania, and the sheets choice makes it super easy for my brother and his friends to add parties to the app.
I thought about adding a “real” database and tried some apps/frontends for them, but nothing made it easy enough to update and insert rows for non technical people.
I figured I could just download and cache the Sheets CSV, and use that for the database.
PS: the app is the one I had trouble getting published because the App Store reviewers deemed it“too simple”: https://notes.alinpanaitiu.com/Dealing-with-App-Store-rejections https://notes.alinpanaitiu.com/Dealing-with-App-Store-reject...
- ziolko 3y agoYou can easily turn a spreadsheet into a small CRUD database with HTTP API using Google Apps Script. I've shared an example a few years ago: https://spreadapi.roombelt.com/setup https://spreadapi.roombelt.com/setup.
- lovasoa 3y agoFor your next app backend, you should try SQLPage [1][2] It makes creating a small web form to feed your database as easy as SELECT 'form' AS component; SELECT name, label, type FROM form_fields; INSERT INTO parties(name, date) VALUES(:name, :date); And creating an api on top of that db as simple as: SELECT 'json' AS component, (SELECT JSON_GROUP_ARRAY(JSON_OBJECT('name', name, 'date', date)) FROM parties) AS contents; [1] https://sql.ophir.dev/ https://sql.ophir.dev/ [2] https://github.com/lovasoa/SQLPage https://github.com/lovasoa/SQLPage
- raybb 3y agoI like the idea of this a lot, but does it provide any way to edit the data?
- lovasoa 3y agoYou write the SQL yourself, so you can do anything you want, including UPDATE parties SET name=:name, date=:date WHERE id=:id;
- wruza 3y agoI can’t tell if that’s a sarcasm or “dropbox is just ftp” level of professional deformation.
- lovasoa 3y agoI'm not sure I understand this comment. The parent asked whether SQLPage could be used to update data in the database after inserting it. I answered that yes, it could. The update form would look something like this: select 'form' as component; select 'event_name' as name, (select name from events where id=$id) as value; select 'event_date' as name, 'date' as type, (select date from events where id=$id) as value; select 'event_id' as name, $id as value, 'hidden' as type; and the page processing the form would look like this: update events set name=:event_name, date=:event_date where id=:event_id; If what you are saying is that it's more complicated than a google sheet, then yes, there's no denying that. But it's also an order of magnitude less complicated than traditional web tech, and the result is a real website, not a google sheet. It's a little bit more complicated to set up than a google sheet, but it's less complicated to use afterwards.
- wruza 3y agoI didn’t realize it’s your project, so probably it hit personal, which wasn’t my intent. And I should have posted under the first comment to avoid making it even more confusing. So I beg your pardon. But what it really meant is that this sort of a technical solution may appeal to a developer, but not to regular users, not the ones who just updated spreadsheets for their website yesterday. Looking from that “mere mortal” point of view, and when it’s suggested by a person who isn’t yet known to be an author, in that context it feels like a 50% sarcasm and 50% our common geek stereotypes. I understand what SQLPage provides for a technical person, so please treat my comment as a joke which it is.
- JopV 3y agoTake a look at SeaTable.
- devmor 3y agoYour choice is a reasonable one! I have built entire CMS systems that pull data for thousands of users from sharepoint spreadsheets. Realtors and doctors, mostly.
- dhruvarora013 3y agoI made something very similar for our company's internal directory. HR is used to maintaining Google Sheets and fit really well into their workflow
- coldtrait 3y agoI love your website. The design and aesthetics is so pleasing.
- wingerlang 3y agoSameish here. I made hundreds of flashcards and other "matrixes" of data, this is pulled each time I build the app, which then converts the csv to json and stored in the app. I also write articles in Sketch, because the app is heavy on illustrations. Using sketch allows me to draw the images directly while writing the articles. It is then sliced and exported into the app through a custom plugin.
- quelltext 3y agoWebsites or apps backed by a sheet or some other minimalist setup are fairly common. What's noteworthy about the submission is that the website is a sheet, not a layer to render info from one.