4 ms·

wow it reminds me of Microsoft Access, a great piece of software in terms of rapidly building an application! Does grist have forms?

by sequoia 8mo ago

flowerlad 8mo ago
If you want forms try https://visualdb.com/ https://visualdb.com/ it is another tool that aims to be Microsoft Access
- mkl 8mo ago
  Not open source though?
  - flowerlad 8mo ago
    Right but it is cheaper than open source products if you self-host. Most open source products in this space, including grist, are only partially open source.
    - paulfitz 8mo ago
      [grist employee here] Grist forms are open source and were used to keep the toilets clean at FOSDEM just a few days ago https://fosstodon.org/@grist/116001932837956733 https://fosstodon.org/@grist/116001932837956733 Everything you see in our standard docker image is open source. Yes, you can enable and pay for enterprise features too.
      - lateforwork 8mo ago
        It is weird that your enterprise features are not self-hostable even if a customer pays. I understand if some features are not open source, but why make it not self-hostable? Self-hosting is a requirement for confidential data.
        paulfitz 8mo ago
        The enterprise features are self-hostable. Look at "your servers" on the pricing page for Grist. Individuals (and orgs with < $1 million in annual income) quality for free activation keys btw.
- scientism 8mo ago
  https://nocodb.com/ https://nocodb.com/ is an open source alternative.
  - lateforwork 8mo ago
    It has data corruption issues, see https://visualdb.com/blog/concurrencycontrol/ https://visualdb.com/blog/concurrencycontrol/
dylan604 8mo ago
I'm not an MS dev type, but I've often seen these forms questions. What made their forms so easy, or more in general what is so complicated about forms that this was even a tool so many liked?
- inanutshellus 8mo ago
  With Access, a business doing data entry could -- with a business user not a software engineer -- craft a Form and voila, easy onboarding to train new employees instead of filling out sheets of paper and filing them.
- znhll 8mo ago
  MS Access was on its way out by the time I started working in software, but the simplest explanation I can give about why the "forms" question is this, let's say you're a business person and...: * You have a huge Excel document that's basically a DB. (What Access kinda was) * You want users to interact with said data document, i.e add record, find/query record(s), edit records * You add a "form" for users to do just that. You can also add a "login" form to give some users more permissions. It's basically if you could turn a SQlite file into a low-coded desktop app.
  - p_ing 8mo ago
    Access is an FE for db — JET Red, specifically. JET Blue aka ESE is currently used by products like Active Directory and Exchange.
- KellyCriterion 8mo ago
  Access biggest advantage by far was that you could share the file on a network drive and having multiple people accessing it: You didnt need any type of complex backup procedure. In case of failure, just copy-over the old file from yesterday - such simple solutions are pure gold for SME without any big IT department
gpm 8mo ago
Form support is touted on the homepage: https://www.getgrist.com/forms/ https://www.getgrist.com/forms/ For what it's worth, which isn't much because this is probably outdated: I remember trying grist a few years ago and leaving mildly unimpressed with form support (I think because I was hoping to have image upload in the forms and that wasn't supported yet).
- paulfitz 8mo ago
  Grist forms support uploads since 2025 https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-core/pull/1655 https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-core/pull/1655 Since it is relevant here: support for uploads was code written by a French contributor, and reviewed by a developer working for the French gov (ANCT/DINUM) and a developer working for Grist Labs. Grist Labs has since maintained and improved on it. The forms feature itself was inspired by an integration built by Camille Legeron at ANCT.

wow it reminds me of Microsoft Access, a great piece of software in terms of rapidly building an application! Does grist have forms?

by sequoia 8mo ago

wow it reminds me of Microsoft Access, a great piece of software in terms of rapidly building an application! Does grist have forms?

flowerlad 8mo ago

If you want forms try https://visualdb.com/ https://visualdb.com/ it is another tool that aims to be Microsoft Access

mkl 8mo ago
Not open source though?
- flowerlad 8mo ago
  Right but it is cheaper than open source products if you self-host. Most open source products in this space, including grist, are only partially open source.
  - paulfitz 8mo ago
    [grist employee here] Grist forms are open source and were used to keep the toilets clean at FOSDEM just a few days ago https://fosstodon.org/@grist/116001932837956733 https://fosstodon.org/@grist/116001932837956733 Everything you see in our standard docker image is open source. Yes, you can enable and pay for enterprise features too.
    - lateforwork 8mo ago
      It is weird that your enterprise features are not self-hostable even if a customer pays. I understand if some features are not open source, but why make it not self-hostable? Self-hosting is a requirement for confidential data.
      - paulfitz 8mo ago
        The enterprise features are self-hostable. Look at "your servers" on the pricing page for Grist. Individuals (and orgs with < $1 million in annual income) quality for free activation keys btw.
scientism 8mo ago
https://nocodb.com/ https://nocodb.com/ is an open source alternative.
- lateforwork 8mo ago
  It has data corruption issues, see https://visualdb.com/blog/concurrencycontrol/ https://visualdb.com/blog/concurrencycontrol/

dylan604 8mo ago

I'm not an MS dev type, but I've often seen these forms questions. What made their forms so easy, or more in general what is so complicated about forms that this was even a tool so many liked?

inanutshellus 8mo ago
With Access, a business doing data entry could -- with a business user not a software engineer -- craft a Form and voila, easy onboarding to train new employees instead of filling out sheets of paper and filing them.
znhll 8mo ago
MS Access was on its way out by the time I started working in software, but the simplest explanation I can give about why the "forms" question is this, let's say you're a business person and...: * You have a huge Excel document that's basically a DB. (What Access kinda was) * You want users to interact with said data document, i.e add record, find/query record(s), edit records * You add a "form" for users to do just that. You can also add a "login" form to give some users more permissions. It's basically if you could turn a SQlite file into a low-coded desktop app.
- p_ing 8mo ago
  Access is an FE for db — JET Red, specifically. JET Blue aka ESE is currently used by products like Active Directory and Exchange.
KellyCriterion 8mo ago
Access biggest advantage by far was that you could share the file on a network drive and having multiple people accessing it: You didnt need any type of complex backup procedure. In case of failure, just copy-over the old file from yesterday - such simple solutions are pure gold for SME without any big IT department

gpm 8mo ago

Form support is touted on the homepage: https://www.getgrist.com/forms/ https://www.getgrist.com/forms/ For what it's worth, which isn't much because this is probably outdated: I remember trying grist a few years ago and leaving mildly unimpressed with form support (I think because I was hoping to have image upload in the forms and that wasn't supported yet).

paulfitz 8mo ago
Grist forms support uploads since 2025 https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-core/pull/1655 https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-core/pull/1655 Since it is relevant here: support for uploads was code written by a French contributor, and reviewed by a developer working for the French gov (ANCT/DINUM) and a developer working for Grist Labs. Grist Labs has since maintained and improved on it. The forms feature itself was inspired by an integration built by Camille Legeron at ANCT.