Learning Wappler | Need some guidance!

[mac]

Hello Wappler Pals,

Like many (if not all) in this sub thread have done previously, I am looking to expand my toolset beyond Bubble and dive into Wappler.

I found Bubble when I needed to build a highly functional web app for posting, selling, and managing seats on private air charters, with no technical background. Although the site I built was quite gross from a UI/UX standpoint, I was hooked. Long story short, I quit that job and now earn my living off of Bubble.

I love Bubble, and have had great success. So much in fact, that I am looking to a more scalable (in terms of speed and cost) platform to rebuild projects, and build future ones…So here I am.

My main concern with Wappler is the available learning recourses. Although my general programming understanding has grown exponentially through dissecting my Bubble projects, I still have not formal tech background. SO a lot of things that I’ve seen in the forum and docs are going a bit over my head.

When starting out with Bubble, a new user has so many different avenues to take in learning the platform. From individual businesses creating videos and offering one on one guidance, to Bubble’s (semi-recent addition of) Bootcamps.

Unfortunately, I’m struggling to find a solid knowledge bank of Wappler like I found when learning Bubble. I DO understand this is a much different user base than Wappler. I also know that the core Wappler team, although powerful and extremely productive, is small and focusing on growing the product—leaving little time and recourses toward education—which is fair.

I’ve purchased the course by @mebeingken, and it’s beyond awesome to understand Wappler as a whole and get started. I know he is working on a new video release and I can’t wait.

Additionally, I found a zoom recording posted by @Antony from May 2019 with @George (Zoom link for reference). This was awesome. And it was very exciting to hear some of the plans that George and the team have in mind. George expressed more visual additions to the Wappler console, which would be epic, and quite frankly, make Bubble obsolete (to me).

Regardless, I’m just not sure if NOW is the right time for me to dive in because of the lack of learning recourses. So here’s a few questions I’d love to get some input on:

• As a non technical individual, should I wait until Wappler has some more visual tools for the DB and Server Connect, and with that, more education to follow it up before diving in?

• Did those zoom calls continue? If so, are there any more links? Again, I found it very helpful to learn by watching George do.

• Does anyone do one on one coaching? It’d be worth the cost to have an introduction from someone who came from Bubble and is having success in Wappler.

Sorry for the ramble! It’s all a bit overwhelming, but I know others have been in my situation before, so i figured I’d lay it all out. Thanks in advance for any input!

Mac

[StevenM]

HI @mac and welccome from a 4 year bubble user making the move to Wappler.

I would suggest checking out Wappler Getting Started Course

This will get you well on your way!

And I would also suggest you check out: https://community.wappler.io/c/docs/how-to-guides/31

Cheers

Steven

[sitestreet]

Hi @mac. Welcome

To address your final three questions…

No, I wouldn’t wait for more visual tools, I would get into it while still using Bubble for existing projects so you can learn and get familiar with Wappler ready to switch later.

Unfortunately there haven’t been any more zoom sessions. Our plan then was to do them monthly but it’s (sadly) just not happened… yet.

Post in the Jobs section to see if anyone is up for providing coaching.

All the best with it. Once you get into it, you won’t look back.

[Antony]

Hello @mac! Great to see you over here in the Wappler world.

I’ve been on exactly the same journey you have, so I really understand your issue.

My approach was to spend a few months on YouTube learning all the background information first. Here is what I studied:

• HTML
• CSS
• Bootstrap 4
• MySQL
• API overviews
• Web app hosting issues

There are amazing video series out there where you can learn absolutely everything you need to know.

Armed with that knowledge, you can come to Wappler and some things will make more sense… then you can dig into the Wappler world with a mix of reading, trying, forum searching and asking questions.

I have a training background and used Bubble for 2 years so am happy to do some 1:1 with you if you’d like that… PM me if so!

Best wishes,
Antony.

[Boost]

Hey @mac,

Just like you and many others, I’m currently in the transition from Bubble to Wappler. I just finished spending about a month, learning the bare-bone basics of code - HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP. I’m now in the process of learning Wappler, just got docker and node.js set up. I was considering the timing on everything too, but to be honest it has it’s advantages and disadvantages. It just really depends what your goals are. I didn’t come from a tech background either a few months ago. It’s an insane learning curve learning Bubble, code, and Wappler, but I believe it’ll be worth it (for me at least).

[Fred_K]

Hello @mac @sitestreet @Boost @StevenM @Antony
I can relate to @mac and @Boost
I come from the Food & Beverage industry and just know a little html, css, API connections and MySQL. I’ve built my first 20-table relational DB with phpMyAdmin and it is now NF1,2,3 compliant!
I am about to get my pro account here as soon as I figure out my next steps. But this is the issue: there are tutorials and guides all over the place, and most of the time for specific use cases that are not relevant. Despite researching and having read hundreds of posts on this forum, I’m still not sure about the steps. Bubble has a great blog where they explain the main steps for making a shopify-like app, an airbnb-like app, etc…
I am building a platform that will match users and consultants in specific fields, think airbnb but with consultants to be booked instead of rooms and apartments, and with live one-one zom video session btw the user and the booked consultant.
I’ve done my DB, but what are the main next steps which I should consider now?

1. Server Connect?
2. create an Admin page for me (for screening new users), then for the users/consultants?
3. build the pages for login/signup?
4. build the search page (by keywords / category)?
5. build the profile page for consultants?
6. build the payment page?

Wrong order Missing critical steps

I am ready to get onboard but the more I read, the more I get confused as to where I should start…
If appropriate (have seen peeps doing it on reddit) I will also try to document my progress on this forum for everyone to lean bits from the newbie no-coder that I am.

[sitestreet]

I don’t think there’s a right, wrong or better order for the list you gave. For me, the breakthrough was when I grasped the roles of Server Connect and App Connect. Initially I didn’t understand that and was confused by the instructions. So I would probably say work with Server Connect and use the ‘Open in Browser’ button to see the json output and give it variables (get vars would be the easiest to test with as you just add them to the URL) to see how that output changes.

When I start a new project, the users table is the first thing I create. I then build the homepage and, once it’s looking how I want it, I separate the elements into includes. I then tackle the security and get the login and logout scripts working with encrypting the passwords.

Once you reach that stage, the understanding of the various parts of Wappler should be fairly good.

And the course by @mebeingken, already mentioned in this thread, is superb and very up to date so I’d strongly recommend purchasing that.

https://community.wappler.io/t/wappler-getting-started-course/

[Fred_K]

Haha I have the same hesitation abt Server Connect and App Connect! And it's all the more complicated when English is not one's mother tongue.
As far as I understand, Server C manages the communication and flow functions btw the Wappler client and the remote (or local) server, while App Connect manages the communication/interaction btw the web/app pages and Server C. Am I right with the below illustration?
Remote server <-> Server Connect <-> App Connect <-> Web/app pages

@sitestreet

use the ‘Open in Browser’ button to see the json output and give it variables (get vars would be the easiest to test with as you just add them to the URL) to see how that output changes

That's pretty much Chinese for me for now But I'll get my hands dirty, only trials and errors can get me deeper into understanding it all.

I was ready to pay for @mebeingken tutorials but I don't like that it's accessible for 30 days only, maybe it will take me 45 days, maybe I need to go back to a lesson on day 40 while building the first project. (and why being forced to buy for 1year or a lifetime when one only needs to learn in the beginning + frequent upgrades make tutorials quickly out dated?). That's not in line with the internet spirit, sorry for sounding disgruntled here.

[JonL]

@Fred_K

I don’t like that it’s accessible for 30 days only

There is a one year access option.

[mebeingken]

@Fred_K

why being forced to buy for 1year or a lifetime when one only needs to learn in the beginning + frequent upgrades make tutorials quickly out dated?)

Hi Fred...I update any lessons that become “broken” by Wappler releases. For example the original course used 3.4 but with the impending addition of Globals I updated many lessons in order to show the most current method. I won’t be doing this for every single release, but will for major changes.

@Fred_K

That’s not in line with the internet spirit

I believe the Internet spirit allows for profit along with altruism. I strive for both here.

[sitestreet]

@Fred_K

That’s not in line with the internet spirit, sorry for sounding disgruntled here.

Hmm. I have a feeling Ken has spent many, many hours putting the course together and then updating various parts so I think the price for a year is very much worth it. And he's done it at a very good pace which makes it actually beneficial unlike other courses I've seen where you stuggle to keep up or understand what's just been taught.

[JonL]

@Fred_K

the internet spirit

Internet spirit = freedom

[sitestreet]

@Fred_K

Am I right with the below illustration?
Remote server <-> Server Connect <-> App Connect <-> Web/app pages

Yes, that's not a bad summary. I view it like this... App Connect is the website. It's where all the interaction with the visitor takes place. Data is passed to Server Connect where it's processed in whatever way is wanted and different data is passed back to App Connect.

So App Connect might send a user ID to Server Connect. SC then does a query to get the record for that ID and returns all the data for that record which App Connect can then display.

[Teodor]

I think Ken made a great job with his video course and i also think it’s worth every cent.
Accessing the course for a month should be more than enough for people who have at least basic knowledge of using a computer, mouse and keyboard to understand Wappler, as the course is really really easy to follow and explains the basics really well.

It’s enough to follow the course to understand how the things work in Wappler so then you can build your custom ideas/projects.

[mac]

Thank you all for your generous replies to my original questions/comments. I’m going to take @Antony’s advice and learn some of the basics, then dive in further.

Regarding the course by @mebeingken…

More Ken! I want to pay MORE for MORE learning recourses. Your hard work and good content deserves well beyond the small fee you’re charging.

The cost of the course is so little compared to the potential learning value. Plus, it grows the community. If not for Ken’s video series, I would not be here.

Ken, you’ve got a committed subscriber here. Others with the ability to teach, same goes for you!

I like this community!

[Fred_K]

In “freedom” there is free Haha I’m teasing of course.
I do not mind paying, even more, but I’m the kind of internet user who does not like limitations like “30 days”. That might be a discussion to take to the Coffee Lounge…

[mac]

Fair enough. Just to be clear, we’re talking a difference of $10 between the two subscription types?

Wappler 3.5 Getting Started

[Fred_K]

No question about the quality and the price.
“month should be more than enough” is what I don’t know about and is my main concern.

[sitestreet]

@Fred_K

“month should be more than enough” is what I don’t know about and is my main concern.

If in doubt, assume two months and budget for double the fee for the course.

[Fred_K]

I want to be as committed, especially for good content. I would welcome a plan where I commit like 10$ every year for unlimited, updated content. You’d have me as long term customer, always on top of Wappler’s best practice.
And that would surely increase @mebeingken’s UniqueIdeas.com MRR! Just some suggestions…