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Show HN: Zengine – a platform to build custom business apps

51 points by ca98am79 12y ago

toblender 12y ago
Really awesome, I've been meaning to build something that can append data to rows. This looks like it will do the job.
ca98am79 12y ago
Hi, I'm a co-founder of WizeHive, and Zengine is our new product. Zengine's JavaScript plugin architecture, currently an alpha proof-of-concept, will allow developers of any skill level to add rich functionality to the Zengine UI in minutes. These plugins can then be used privately or shared with the world. It's the power and promise of Salesforce without all the complexity and cost. Feedback on the idea itself and the technical direction of the architecture is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Nater33 12y ago
I'm using Zengine as a CRM. The flexibility is excellent.
cgallic 12y ago
We use WizeHive over here at Fity Social Media and anyone looking for a good data management system, Zengine (Wizehive) is the way to go. They have a great support team, who helped us out a lot in setting it all up, quick response times and always helpful. Definitely an A+ produc
fasteo 12y ago
The CRM/sales video is impressive. Congrats. After reading the HN tile, Zoho immediately came to my mind (maybe the starting Z? ). Are you targeting the same customers ? Zoho Creator looks similar in functionality.
- anthonyp 12y ago
  Thanks for the feedback! My name is Anthony Putignano, VP of Engineering at WizeHive. Zoho Creator is great and indeed the functionality is similar. One point of differentiation we're particularly excited about with Zengine is the JavaScript plugin architecture: https://zenginehq.github.io/developers/plugins/ https://zenginehq.github.io/developers/plugins/ Using plugins, a developer can extend the Zengine interface with new mini- and full-page- UIs. Please check it out! We're looking for feedback on the idea & technical implementation.
simonswords82 12y ago
I've often thought that hand coding custom business apps from scratch (even with the multitude of frameworks, libraries and themes available) is going to be looked back on in years to come as a painfully inefficient and costly way to build things. I run a custom software house. There's a huge amount of overlap in what our customers ask us to build in terms of features. I've longed for some kind of plug and play platform, that allows the us to include modules such as authentication, a reporting UI, workflows, email scheduling and templates etc, and then customise them to produce a functioning app as per the client's requirements. We've actually had a go at creating something similar to this in .Net and it's some of the way there. We use it and I've often dabbled with the idea of commercialising it. I'll be interested to see how close this is to my vision...nice work :)

51 points by ca98am79 12y ago

Really awesome, I've been meaning to build something that can append data to rows. This looks like it will do the job.

Hi, I'm a co-founder of WizeHive, and Zengine is our new product. Zengine's JavaScript plugin architecture, currently an alpha proof-of-concept, will allow developers of any skill level to add rich functionality to the Zengine UI in minutes. These plugins can then be used privately or shared with the world. It's the power and promise of Salesforce without all the complexity and cost. Feedback on the idea itself and the technical direction of the architecture is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Nater33 12y ago

I'm using Zengine as a CRM. The flexibility is excellent.

cgallic 12y ago

We use WizeHive over here at Fity Social Media and anyone looking for a good data management system, Zengine (Wizehive) is the way to go. They have a great support team, who helped us out a lot in setting it all up, quick response times and always helpful. Definitely an A+ produc

fasteo 12y ago

The CRM/sales video is impressive. Congrats. After reading the HN tile, Zoho immediately came to my mind (maybe the starting Z? ). Are you targeting the same customers ? Zoho Creator looks similar in functionality.

anthonyp 12y ago
Thanks for the feedback! My name is Anthony Putignano, VP of Engineering at WizeHive. Zoho Creator is great and indeed the functionality is similar. One point of differentiation we're particularly excited about with Zengine is the JavaScript plugin architecture: https://zenginehq.github.io/developers/plugins/ https://zenginehq.github.io/developers/plugins/ Using plugins, a developer can extend the Zengine interface with new mini- and full-page- UIs. Please check it out! We're looking for feedback on the idea & technical implementation.

simonswords82 12y ago

I've often thought that hand coding custom business apps from scratch (even with the multitude of frameworks, libraries and themes available) is going to be looked back on in years to come as a painfully inefficient and costly way to build things. I run a custom software house. There's a huge amount of overlap in what our customers ask us to build in terms of features. I've longed for some kind of plug and play platform, that allows the us to include modules such as authentication, a reporting UI, workflows, email scheduling and templates etc, and then customise them to produce a functioning app as per the client's requirements. We've actually had a go at creating something similar to this in .Net and it's some of the way there. We use it and I've often dabbled with the idea of commercialising it. I'll be interested to see how close this is to my vision...nice work :)