Building an App the Simple Way: 6 Database- Powered App Builders - The Ultimate Guide to Forms and Surveys. Whether you need to manage customer data, organize inventory information, or keep track of your business contacts, there's likely an app for that. The only problem is, no app is a perfect match to the way you work. In your business, you have specific customer characteristics to track, unique inventory to categorize, or new types of contacts to file away. So with custom needs piling up—and software options whittling down—you come to a conclusion: it's time to build your own web app. But the thought of that—the billable hours or staff time—make you cringe. Simple is reinventing online banking with modern web and mobile experiences, no surprise fees, and great customer service. Simplify your finances. Free simple database program? Discussion in 'Freeware' started by Chaos Master, Jun 5. Setting Up a Simple Database with PHP. The rest is plain HTML. Obvibase makes creating an online database as easy and fast as creating a spreadsheet. Clean and simple design. Checkboxes, multiple choice dropdowns. Fortunately for you, there's another option you may not know about: building your own internal tool with a database builder. From tools like Microsoft Access to more modern apps like Zoho Creator, there are database builders that make it simple to build any type of app you need. The only requirements are that your data can be entered with a form, stored in a database, and displayed in common rows, tables, or charts. If you're able to manage that, you'll get an app with just the features you need, and it won't even be that difficult to make it or break your budget. Learn About Database Builders. Build Your Own Internal Tool. Lay the Foundation. How to Select the Best Database Software: Know Your Database Software Types. Here's the various database types: Desktop: A simple.Pick a Database Builder. Put Your New Internal Tool to Work. The Need for Custom Internal Tools? That was exactly the dilemma the in. Vigor Law Group had in finding a tool to track their work for billing and more. Neither do I, as you haven't posted anything that makes up a loop in your last post. The simplest way to debug is to put. Database; Hardware & Devices >. Sodadb (Simple Online Database) is a new approach to online databases. Stripped and downsized to the bare necessities, but still very powerful. Even the industry- leading time- tracking app for lawyers, Clio, didn't fit their needs. We'd tried a number of different solutions and they were all clunky and not customizable. The in. Vigor team used Track. Via's tools to build forms they'd need to collect data, charts and tables that'd display their data, and used Zapier—and app integration tool—to connect to their other software. And before long, they had their own database- powered internal tool that did everything they needed. Coding your own custom software is difficult, time consuming, and expensive—it's far more trouble than most teams can justify. But with a database builder like Track. Via, Knack, or even Microsoft Access, you can make something that works like that app you've always wanted for your business without touching a line of code. The Database Builder Solution. Microsoft Access has long been the first choice for companies who want to build their own internal app. Start listing the apps you currently use or need for your business—the tools that track your customers, inventory, and finances—and you'll quickly realize that most of them, at their core, are built to store data. Each one has an interface that makes it easy to add, view, and manage that data, but they're all built on a database that keeps things organized. That's the basic framework for most apps: a main interface that you interact with, and the hidden code where your app data is stored. Your CRM, inventory manager, and even social network apps are all—on a basic level—a database with a pretty face. If you ever tried to make your own app on a PC in the '9. Microsoft Access. That's the database program that was bundled with professional versions of Microsoft's then- ubiquitous Office suite, and it promised the ease of Excel with the power of a database- builder. What is a Database? When I imagine a database, I picture a giant, searchable server farm that stores billions of data points—the kind of thing that the cast of CSI would tap to cross- check a fingerprint fragment against thousands of criminal profiles. Like most Hollywood depictions, that's a little overblown, but it's not totally off base. A database (. The key word there is . A contact, for instance, may be related to all other contacts from the same company, or all others that live in the same state, or all others that have shown interest in the same product you sell. And a good database will make it easy to surface those related pieces of data. The Admin screen for a My. SQL database. Of course, databases aren't the only way to store your data. For things like personal finances of a list of contacts, a spreadsheet should do the trick. Even a plain text or Word document could work (if you enjoy tormenting yourself). So why a use database? Because you need to do more with your data than just see it in a list. In a spreadsheet, you could sort your addresses by state, or your contacts by company—or perhaps you could use your app's search tool to dig a bit deeper. In a database, though, you'll be able to make queries that show those specific, related pieces of data. And, unlike the data that compiles inside your form app, you'll be able to update the data that's been entered over time, and reuse existing data in new forms. It's that ability to update data that led the Lotus Gardens team to use Track. Via, a simple online database tool, after having trouble manually updating spreadsheet info with new data from Wufoo form submissions. If you really want to learn more about databases, the Wikipedia article on databases is a good place to start. For now, let's look at how you can build a simple database- powered internal tool. Lay the Foundation. Sketches of Zapier's review pages, made during our design process. You likely already have some idea of what you want your own internal tool to include—the things your team will need to track, the reports in which you'll need to find those things again easily, and more. You've likely used or seen apps similar to what you want, and have a list in the back of your head of aspects that you'd like to be different, just like the in. Vigor Law Group did. Before you dive into one of the app builders below, however, you should stop and list your team's requirements from the internal tool you need. Start asking broad questions. What data do you need to collect? How do the piece of data relate to each other—do you need to sort products by category or contacts by company or industry, for instance? If so, those will make up the ? List each answer and keep that document handy as you'll want to check over it when evaluating the database builders below. These answers will become the . Pick a Database Builder. Now that you're ready to build your own database- powered tool, here are the best database builders we've found for the job. Each one makes it easy to make forms, collect data, and sort through that data. Plus, they each have their own features to make them unique. Each database builder's name and screenshot is linked to a full review of the app, so be sure to click through to the review to learn more about the details that might sway you towards one app or another. You'll also find extra screenshots, features, companion apps, and detailed pricing info in each review. If your business has already been collecting data for some time, you've likely been using spreadsheets as a manual database. There's no need to reproduce your work, though, since Track. Via can turn that spreadsheet into a database- powered app for you. Just upload your spreadsheet, and it'll turn sheets into tables and columns into elements, and import the data automatically. Better yet, get started quickly by using one of Track. Via's pre- made apps. You can import inventory tracking, project management, CRM, and other app templates, and customize them as you want. And if you want to make your app a bit smarter, you can add formulas and logic flows from simple drop- down menus that let you code without typing in any text. Then, when you're working on the go, Track. Via has you covered, as well. Most web apps will work OK from your smartphone and better on your tablet, but they're not not ideal and you'll often find yourself constantly zooming and trying to tap the right button. That won't be a worry with Track. Via, since it includes i. OS and Android apps that let you add data, view and sort through it, and more all from your phone. It won't be exactly like your full- featured internal tool, but you'll get most of the features from wherever you are. Price: Custom pricing available upon request. Skill Level: Beginner—very easy to use, with templates and spreadsheet imports. For a deeper look at features and pricing, see our. Track. Via review . Knackfor simple database building. Knack is another simple take on a database builder, one that's focused a bit more on your database itself. When you first open Knack, you'll be asked to add the database objects (or tables) where you'll store the data, and the fields that each table needs along with the type of data the field is for. That'll help you make sure you are collecting all the data you want and storing it in an orderly manner. Then, Knack does the rest of the work for you. Click the form button to add a form, for instance, and Knack will ask you to select a database object and then will automatically create a form that includes all of the fields you already added. It'll do the same with views, giving you simple ways to sort through and visualize your data based on the work you already put into your database. If you want to add more features to your internal tool, Knack includes Workflows that'll automatically run whenever data is added. You can use them to sort data, verify it, send notifications about new entries, and more. Then, if you're using your app to collect data for your website, you can embed your Knack views into your site to share your work with the world. Price: $3. 9/month Starter plan for 3 apps and up to 2. Skill Level: Beginner—quite easy to use, though you will need to think more about your database. For a deeper look at features and pricing, see our. Knack review . Zenginefor quickly building database apps from forms. The first thing you'll think about with a new app is the data it needs to collect—something you'd likely gather in a form. Zengine starts right at the basic, having you build forms for your app that it then turns into a database.
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