JSON or Mysql database

Hi all,
I need to create a hotel/Airbnb-style web for a client. :grinning: I was supposed to design the site using Bootstrap while the client’s in-house server/database guy was going to use Umbraco to create the backend stuff so staff could update the web data, daily. Unfortunately, the server guy left the company :cry: so I want to see what I can do without him.

Since I’m new to all this server/API/JSON/MySQL and Wappler, it’s going to be a steep learning curve but if I’m told what direction I should take, then it would make it a lot easier.

So, my questions are:

  • How would YOU set up a hotel/property rental site that requires staff to make changes to their listings from their office? Would you use JSON or MySQL or something else?

  • If JSON, do I need to learn JSON straight away or can I copy a JSON file and use it to practice with? Any idea where I could find a rental property JSON file worth copying? (I think there’s a real estate JSON file buried in Wappler somewhere?) How would staff update the info? Would they be expected to update the JSON file on their server and I would point to it?

  • Would Wappler’s database be a better solution? How would staff update the database?

I love learning so studying this stuff is not an issue; time and lack of knowledge on what I’m doing, is. If someone points me to the best solution, I can focus my learning on that first.

Thanks in advance.
cy2

Hi @cy2

The best approach without a doubt is using a database.

You will need to build a protected area, where they log in and insert, update or delete data from the database. This data populates your dynamic pages on the front-end of the site :slight_smile:

You can take a look at the tutorials explaining how to insert, update or delete data:

And also how to protect pages and setup login for your users:

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Awesome. Thanks Teodor. Now I have something to focus on.
I’ll check out the links you provided, tonight. I already feel somewhat relieved knowing the direction I’ll take. Thanks for that. Much appreciated.

Personally, and taking into consideration that my main business line is almost exactly what you want to do, go with MySQL for the database.
Wappler is build from the ground up with the exact tools you will need for the backend, using GENERAL backend systems like “Umbraco” which is mainly for ASP.NET is almost as bad as using WordPress to some degree. Not that a tool like WordPress does not have a place in the market, I just do not think every second website on the planet should be built with it.
No matter what third party CMS solution, they are going to be fairly generalised and bloated full of code you will never use, and then you will be stuck to whatever stringent parameters that tool requires.
If you build it all in Wappler, you can have only what you want, no more, no less.

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@cy2,

I think you have come to the right place with Wappler. I’ll give you a brief history of my experiences throughout the years as an IT person.

When I started working for the company I am now, eleven years ago, I took over as the IT guy because the one they had left the company, similar to your situation. The previous IT guy utilized Microsoft Frontpage with an Access database hosted locally on his server in his house.

Like a lot of people, I went through a process of examination and decision-making on how to best design a website that met our company needs. Not knowing ASP.net, the code utilized by the prior IT guy, I initially looked for a content management system (CMS) that would fit our needs.

As discussed by others in other posts on this website, I started with Joomla, then when it did not meet our needs, moved to Drupal. When it did not meet our needs, I switched again to Wordpress. While Wordpress still meets our needs, I have watched as our website has gotten slower and slower and as @psweb mentioned, full of bloated code that serves no purpose.

A couple years ago, I started looking at the DMX Zone extensions utilizing Dreamweaver, but never really had the time to devote to developing a completely new website from scratch. When Dreamweaver removed the native database tools, I will be honest, I gave up on it. :frowning:

Wappler has been relatively easy to understand and use. The support on this website is unmatched and very quick when you have an issue or need help figuring out what to do.

While I am not an expert, I can offer the following advice on how to proceed. First, look through the Wappler documentation, https://docs.wappler.io/. You will refer to this A LOT as you learn how to use Wappler. Second, I would recommend the following two websites, which have video tutorials on various aspects of Wappler:

As with the Wappler documentation, I refer to the above two websites quite often as I learn how to do things. One thing to note, that as great as the above two video tutorial websites are, Wappler has and will continue to be upgraded with new features, so some things might not be exactly as in the video, but it is close enough for you to understand how to do things.

To address your specific questions regarding the database, I would recommend MySQL as well. While there are other options, that is the most common database people use (as far as I can see).

Using Wappler, you should not need to learn JSON or even touch the JSON files. Almost everything in Wappler has been designed to be visual, so you will use the tools in Wappler to connect to the database, insert records, update records, and delete records. Your end users should not need to do anything in the code itself, it should be handled via the front end of the website using secure logins as mentioned by @Teodor.

I hope this helps you out. :slight_smile:

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Hahaha, I think the day DW made this move, so many web developers threw their hands in the air, it was like a global kick in the … Considering I was still personally writhing in pain after DW took over ADDT and just killed the product like it was junk, at that point i just gave up on Adobe entirely.

So just a total side note as to why I personally choose MySQL over JSON, sadly Wappler can almost do anything i want, but it is still not quite perfect, i will call it 99% perfect, and on its way to 110% perfect. When I am stuck with something i can not find a way to do, I can always revert to plain old SQL, make a VIEW if needed and continue. With JSON, i can not do anything about it really.

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Thanks for your response, psweb. What you say about 3rd party CMS solutions like Umbraco makes a lot of sense.

The docs Teodor supplied might tell me this but does Wappler create a MySQL database visually? I’m guessing it does and it links to the MySQL database on my server? If that’s correct, I’m starting to come out of the fog… :grin:

@cy2

No, Wappler does not create a MySQL database visually, at least not yet. That will need to be done manually.

Wappler, will allow you to create insert, update, and delete record statements once the database and its tables have been created.

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Wappler does not create the database for you in some visual way, however there are many tools available for designing databases, personally i use phpMyAdmin as it generally comes bundled with the hosting account.
So with your hosting account, you should have some type of cPanel login, and within the cPanel you should find some tool such as phpMyAdmin, open that and use it to develop your database.
Sadly database design in a bit of an art all to itself though.

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Can I ask out of interest what level you feel you are currently at in database design, so i know whether to answer with loads of detail or just bits and pieces here and there.

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Much like Paul my primary role is designing, deploying, and maintaining rental and management applications for short and long term Clients globally. We employ a MySQL back-end for our databases. I’d reccomend taking a pen and paper and drawing out your schema (the structure for your DB). But first catch up on MySQL with some help from Caleb Curry’ series on MySQL:

Best of luck! We are here to help if you need us.

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And of course we still look forward to the “Custom SQL” addition to Server Connect promised a while back which will pretty much fill all the gaps for me.

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Hey Brian,
It’s coming after we release version 2 :slight_smile:

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