REVIEW: Database Creator is here!

Request For Comments
#83

Yes, if I need to do a Custom Query I always do it in Navicat Visual Query Builder first. The Visual Builder, Support for Views and being able to filter results/tables to find and edit data quickly are my main Navicat uses besides of course building tables etc.

In Navicat I can also save as many queries as I want that I don’t necessarily need to use in my dashboards but often need to run for reports that I export to Excel for management.

Plus if I have to do a Custom Query the builder window in Navicat is much larger and I can see my whole query without scrolling. There is just so much benefit in using a dedicated database application that I can’t see happening in Wappler. At least I haven’t seen it in this very early preview. But you guys do amazing stuff. I look forward to seeing where it goes. I just hope that things don’t get tied to the Database creator forcing users to use it.

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#84

I would echo the comments made by @brad and @sitestreet.

Much of the time I use Navicat, it’s just to remind myself of the overall database/table structure - and this I won’t need to do know we have the Database Creator, unless I want a more detailed look. This will be very useful and I’m sure will seem indispensable.

It’s similar in some ways to using Wappler’s file manager and Windows File Explorer/ Mac Finder. Most of the time, Wappler file manager does the job - but it’s missing many features of the dedicated programs, and I wouldn’t expect it to have all of these features, any more than I would expect Database Creator (DC) to have all the features of Navicat (or similar software).

To take a simple example, to have a detailed look at a table in Navicat, I can see all the information without any clicking. I’ve highlighted a few other options too which are not (yet in some cases) in Wappler:

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The tools menu gives an idea of some additional options. Import and Export Wizard are features I couldn’t live without:

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Having said all that, I’m certainly not a Navicat ‘power’ user and there are probably many features I don’t use. Here’s a final screenshot showing table options. Being able to simply copy/paste tables, within a database or between different databases (eg local > remote) is the feature I use most of these but there are several useful ones:

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If Wappler had all of these features I might not want or need to use Navicat, but I don’t think it should. I would much rather more exciting features were added and developed - features which will continue to make Wappler stand out as the best web development tool available. It might be useful if the Database Creator had a few more features, but for me, not nearly as interesting as an improved email component, drag and drop or a number of other outstanding requests.

3 Likes
#85

I certainly agree with @TomD and another aspect of Navicat I like to use is the model functionality to keep track of how my tables are related to each other as it can quite often become difficult to keep track of which table is related to which table etc. Now it may not be practical or even in the scope of the tool to add in a visual model of the database as the tables are related to primary and foreign keys etc, but some form of table relation perhaps in the file structure maybe possible.

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#86

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Can’t connect to database. I have checked the connection settings. They are pulled from server action, so they should work without problems…

#87

@George
Exciting presentation!
I missed the early part since I has to scramble with Zoom to get engaged. But one of the questions that came to mind as soon as I started playing yesterday was the limits that you envision with a MySQL database in the terms in terms of number of Tables and Fields and how many layers deep will the sub-categories they go? I have several hundreds of Categories/sub-Categories and more than a thousand events to put into a catalog that goes 6 layers deep in the menu. Also, do you intend to have an overall view of the database with the ability to change the fields from within this view as in the E-Magic-One Store Manager?
jaydigital

#88

Will we be able to create Google firebase databases using this tool? Very exciting stuff! I’m also interested to know if this mean database structures can be shared in the future in a .wappler file?

#89

There aren’t really any limits - the database manager just shows your full database schema as defined in MySQL, so I’m not sure what you mean by limits. Maybe add a screenshot to explain better.

#90

Currently the database manager connects to Relational database only. We will see about NoSQL / document based database like Firebase in the future.

Btw we did investigate firebase but hold on a bit because of its dangerous pricing model. As if you are not very careful you could end up with a great bill of thousands of dollars per month for simple things that usually cost like $15 a month max in the regular databases.

3 Likes
#91

HI George,
I mean will the schema (database architecture) permit unlimited subcategories and products to be cascaded down to unlimited numbers of layers and products (as required by the project)? Put another way - will it able to handle the same data as MySQL does now in other applications?

I just wanted to be sure before I started my design. Right now the cascading appears to be limited to two layers. For instance in the Database Manager I cannot expand “Countries” further down to states>counties>cities>streets and address.

Thanks,
jaydigital

#92

Hello,
Database tables contain columns. Not sure what “layers” are you referring to.
You can have as many columns in your database tables as you need.

#93

yes, you are using the same MySQL - so there is no limit

#94

Here is a layout of the some of the categories in my project. It is a page of my Magento Store Manager from E-Magic-One. The left-hand column shows that the “categories” are divided into “subcategories” and then those subcategories are further divided into other subcategories and so-on and so-forth. I don’t know what the technical description is in your software language, but for instance: “Ventures” is a category and has a sub-category, “Military Life”. Military Life has 7 sub-categories (Air Force Academy, U of Mich, Space Systems Division, Webb AFB, etc). Webb AFB then has subcategories of Activities, Friends, Jobs, Home & Pets). Activities has more subcategories of Activities (Other Parties & Celebrations, Mike’s Birth - FEb18, 1967). Each of the sub-categories can then have multiple events, as shown in the right-hand column. The events are edited in the lower-right-hand portion of the page, The edits are then uploaded to Magento’s MySQL database, which presents the events on the Web.

This is what I have to be able to do with Wappler. I tried to enter one sequence of categories in Wappler’s Database Manager and was unable to proceed beyond db>tables>cars>__. I need to cascade many sub-categoreis of cars such as manufacturer>features>number of passengers>total weight of passengers> , etc.

I need to confirm that Wappler will be able to go beyond two layers of sub-categories? I assume that it will, but I do not see how to do it.

Thanks,
Jaydigital

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#95

It is not the database which is layered, it is the way the data is structured within the database which is something you design when structuring your tables so in answer, yes you can do this

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#96

Thanks. That’s what I needed to know. Can you recommend a tool for structuring the tables that you can recommend? Do you know if E-Magic-One has a tool for designing the tables. Can you recommend an article on structuring the tables in Wappler?

Jaydigital

#97

It is not a platform i have any experience with unfortunately

#98

OK, I’ll ask them if they are working on something for MySQL from the beginning. I will need to migrate my existing MySQL database to something that will work in Wappler. I’ve always relied on Magento to put things in MySQL where they belong.
Thanks,
Jaydigital

#100

3 posts were split to a new topic: Database manager and the increments type in Postgres

#101

Did you ever get the answer to this? I am having the same issue.

#102

Missing choice of coloumn type decimal

Can not make a colomn that is able to insert numbers with decimal just integers.
I can’t do it to a mysql db but I don’t know the other servertypes.

This is, I think nessesary to have.

Else this is a nice add on to wappler. Just dont build in to much into wappler. so you loose the focus on making wappler a fantastic web developer tool.

#103

Select ‘Advanced’ at the top of the Database Panel. It will give you more field types.

1 Like