Wappler Custom Extensions Market Place

Wappler Extensions
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@JonL @George @karh @MH2ag @Teodor @spearstone @mimuk @Antony @sid

Im sure i saw a post somewhere that George said its ok… but he does not want to get involved and it should be independent… just making sure, not to step on any toes.

Im going to call a spade a spade… and just say it…
There is some “really clever hard core great coders” out there… because that is how they are wired… but suck at design… not a creative braincell… not by choice but as you would say… by design…

Then you get some “really good designers” out there… and logic just does not flow well (* cant even make a logical argument) to understand the coding as everyone expect them to… (* that is the boat I fall in). So i have to spend a serious amount of time to learn. I don’t mind… but it takes so so much resources…to create the hjson file… as my brain is just not wired that way…

So this is where is creates a "market"
So if a person creates an extension that works that everybody can benefit from… why not just put it in a “market place”. Where you can get “money” for your hard word… because you have already created the extension so let it work for you… I would spend a few USD on these anytime if they going to benefit me and not having to be frustrated as a “designer” to try to code and bang my head against the wall because im missing a few lines of code.

**Sample: With this extension you can add, remove members from MailChimp **
Document it… eg…
Install npm link
Copy paste module
Bobs your uncle…

And you can make “money” for your troubles… I know, I for one would pay for it…
Yes I know there is 100s of extensions that one can make… But if you already made something that benefits you… why not let it make you more “money” by placing it on a market place…
I can assure you… you will get sales… as you need to understand… not everybody on here is a hard core coder… but do want custom extensions to make their lives easier.

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Best part.

Regarding the marketplace I believe @sid and team are the only ones that have tried putting out there a commercial extension. I haven't seen too much conversation about it so I'm inclined to think that there is actually not much market yet in Wappler for this.

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100% it was worth the try / mention.
Well its a win win… if something comes of this… then great… i can buy something… if not… i can only learn more to make them :). thanks for the feedback.

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I think the only way these type of things can work when there is not enough users is via sponsoring.

Say I estimate I will need 10 hours to develop an extension and I value my hour at $50. If people chipped in and raised $500 I could build it and deliver it to those that sponsored it or release it open source for eveybody(without support). That would probably depend on the agreement.

To continue supporting and/or improving it I would still need to get some sort of revenue from it after building it. That’s when a subscription model would come in handy for continuous support.

But developing a $500 extension and pricing it at $49 for a single personal license so only two people end up buying it is bad business as you can imagine :slight_smile:

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I like the idea - but I agree with Jon: I don’t think there’s a market for this yet.

I would also prefer to keep things free, the community is small enough right now to feel like a group of colleagues. I’m sure it feels the same for most of you… we are all working on our projects for some time, which means that we will be searching for similar issues in the community to see how others have solved it.

So for me personally, I see the same names 80% of the time - because they’re in my filter bubble.
And they’re solving my issues.

The result is that these people are depositing in my ‘reciprocity bank’ every day. 2 of those people are @sid and @JonL. Who are big contributors to the custom extension section as well. Which in turn motivated me to spend the extra time and energy to publish my extension.

I have never done that before because I don’t feel the connection and reciprocity as much.

I feel like the way this community works right now, is exactly what it needs. I do think this feeling will become less as the community grows, and that will also be the time that organically a marketplace will start to exist.

For now: keeping everything as available as possible (free) will help Wappler grow, which secures us of a better wappler future.

Simple example: I made my extension to due to wappler lacking an in-built feature which made my application completely unusuable. It’s based on another API that I can not communicate with, unless the devs made that feature.
Now if someone else is in my shoes, and has less wappler/dev experience. They might drop wappler entirely because they need to wait for the wappler devs - which could take months or years. Or they can use my free extension.
I know I have almost quit using Wappler numerous times in my first 1-2 months.

PS I do not agree with your statement that some people can design, some people can code. I implore you to see if you can broaden your mindset because it might be limiting you. Within our organisation -
I have always been the tech guy and at the same time the designer :wink:

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It makes sense when you say it like that 150%. I see where you coming from and the valid argument. Always good to get a different prospective. thanks for the feedback @JonL.

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thanks for the constructive advice and feedback. So the best way is just to learn and keep on going I suppose… if you want an extension you will just have to diy it :wink: thanks for the reply as it helps alot.

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the only one extension we (@sid and I are run dev shop slashash.co together) made and kept paid - haven’t sold a copy: Paged Custom Query - NodeJS & PHP [Paid]
we do not mind - coz we have used it in multiple projects in other larger scale paid work we do.
when we first build it we did not have an immediate use case - we just did it coz we thought it might have widespread use - at least it did for us have multiple uses since then. which has been very helpful.

and yes, we have done <5 engagements of one-off paid work for building some Wappler extensions. not sustainable as a separate stream to focus and put energies into.

the likely reason is that there is no storefront and we have not bothered to market it. and Wappler as a product is not about positioning these custom paid extensions as part of their ecosystem. that’s cool by me. We derive bang for the buck with what Wappler offers and are happy about it.

This product and community is a hidden gem. that ‘market’ will not be there unless the product adoption grows. Or maybe a marketplace will push the product growth.
As soon as our dev strength surpasses the work we have - i promise we will do something (already bought a domain 2 yrs ago but have been so busy with work that pays our bills, have not been able to got around it) for the marketplace kinda place we had built some plans for.

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In my view, the problem with the idea is it’s knock on effect. The wappler community is built around helping each other, once monetized we would lose that, who is going to give help free when others demand payment. I understand people wanting to make money, dont we all, but I think in the longer term it will hurt the product support.

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Marketplace != community.

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So the only entity allowed to monetize is Wappler?

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I like the idea of a marketplace and would be happy to pay for something if it will, in the long run, save me. Something like the old Adobe marketplace (does that still exist?) where there were lots of extensions, some free, some paid. If you needed to do something in particular and someone else has already put in the work, then it would be helpful to download it. If that work was significant enough to warrant charging for it then that’s fine. It’s up to us to decide whether to pay for it or not use it. And if two people produce the same solution and one charges but the other doesn’t, then most will go for the free option but the charged one might put more features into it.

It wouldn’t have any impact on this community at all. It would just add to what can be done in Wappler.

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So, the obvious solution is – make extensions & make them FREE!

:moneybag:

I"m happy to step in and solve the issue for everyone.

Actually @Mozzi raises a good issue and I, for ONE, completely understand his ultimate point – from the Designer-who-wants-to-save-valuable-time Point Of View it would be spiffy keen and ultimately Groovy if I would find an extension for Wappler that took care of some problem with a Wizard – Do you want to do this or that or that? Choose one:
step 2
Enter some parameters (based on previous choice in step 1
step 3
More choices (Choose table/s involved) –
ETC, ETC

For instance one Idea for an extension: It helps create a custom logic query for such & such output.
And then generates the server side API for testing.
While pulling together in one VIEW panel the connection files that contain the DB connection, the Query & then the API file code that finishes the action online, For inspection.

And the Query could be modified in plain SQL view, instead of referring to a json output.
The Database Manager visually shows the Query but it can’t be directly copied in an SQL output on the spot. Once Queries are generated with DB Manager only a few parameters can be modified. But for instance in JOINS DB Manager stops its range of functionality. The DB Manager Query has to be copied and or modified from a json format in the generated file several folders away.

If somebody made an extension that EXTENDED the Database Manger to allow full editing in an SQL mode immediately that would SAVE valuable minutes.

So in interest of continuing the sharing generousity of Wappler users in the forum – even if it is not written as an extension – sharing the files of a particular problem solver would be useful to others to learn from.

I think @ben has been really helpful with his GitHub Wappler repositories to see examples of “how I did this to get that”.

Many possibilities in Wappler.

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I have mixed feelings about all this and I would probably be one that could benefit from it so you can discard any biases I could have.

As @Hyperbytes says I also believe there is a cost in community terms when releasing a marketplace. But as @mebeingken states everybody should be entitled to profit from their work if that is what they want.

It’s not an easy choice.

I lean towards @mebeingken right now but if Wappler decided to open source the framework(not the UI) as they have mentioned in the past I would lean towards @Hyperbytes.

There is a huge debate going on with Open Source right now and Wappler and my extensions are built on top of OS.

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For me, there are still a lot of questions need to be answered.

for example, if a user releases an extension, does that then preclude the Wappler team from adding similar functionality to the Wappler core? If so, does this push Wappler back down the Abode route of reliance on third party extensions?
Copyright. Most extensions just a few lines of JS and perhaps based on an open source NPM module. How do you even enforce copyright when the code could easily be re-written to do the same thing in a slightly different way, being just an interface to the module?
Interesting idea though @JonL, open sourcing the framework without the UI
For me, my soon to be released new training course will be, like @ben’s modules, FREE, people can always buy me a coffee to say thanks if they want but no requirement

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That is a big issue. Along with I'd hate to see this form fill up with third party extension support. But Brian's comment above really worries me.

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It shouldn't as I released an argon extension last year.

And wappler added support for it a few weeks ago.

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Nope, never. Core should be allowed to be updated with anything.

In fact we offered George to include one of our custom extensions in wappler if they liked it.

Being a lean team, they will always choose a focus to work on. If they have it clearly stated that they can include functions of a free or paid extension into core anytime - that should be fine. It's a big world. Tons of customisation can be done. I highly doubt if this affects the viability of a marketplace.
In fact, the only paid extension we ever put for custom paged query - if they decide to build it into core, am happy. It'll be a tighter integration and better for the product.

I think it is already clear that wappler is focussed on the product, not the ecosystem. But, imo, that will not affect a marketplace outside of the community to do well.

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WOW! I did not know this was going to open such a can of worms!

But its good to know there is so many opinions and ideas - that’s what is making this community great.
And everybody has a valid point… a few things that comes to mind.

I would also want this community to help and keep modules / extensions free and that would be first prize… but i also know time is not free and some guys might have spend 10+ plus hours on an extension and then there is NO WAY they will just share it for free… but it would benefit others. And for the extension to have supporting documents it will require more time. And when you sometimes pay for something at least you know its done properly.

I for one have asked many many times on this forum for help to build an extension… and then i get some answers but never solves my issues… and it takes me days to figure it out… until having to ask @JonL to help… that is also not fair on him … as time = money.

So why not go the two ways… provide free extensions if you wish to… and then for the person that wants to sell it … do it… have both options… because if somebody can save me 8 hours of pulling my hair out … then ill support them…

Because if you are a “extension” developer then you have already made the extension… put a reasonable price on it… and people will support you… i know not every module you write will have a purpose for every person… Rather make a 100 sales for 10 USD… than 1 sale for 50USD…

But yes first prize would be a community that share extensions but we also know the amount of time that goes into some of these extensions.

Most of the extensions made by clever guys will save you load and loads of time.
And you will never find these in a “free” environment. And these are the type of extensions that could save me hours.

SO its a double edge sword…

Thanks to @Hyperbytes for offering to do the training course on custom modules. that would be flipping amazing and sure many more free extensions will follow if people know how to do them. Where one creates a custom module, create the folders, use a npm in conjunction with the module as this was my biggest hurdle… and got all the stuff completely wrong… as there was no tutorial to watch… but thanks to @JonL (he corrected the hjson and js file… and wow that was a wakeup… )

SO in a nut shell… we all like free things… and love the community support…
but if there is something somebody else have done that will cost a few USD that will save me hours… then ill buy it… (* as most of the time if something has value its done correctly)

*** guess if one writes a custom module… and use a NPM and want to sell it… you just cant Copyright that part… because the npm is not yours … as @Hyperbytes said…

so the can of worms continue… thanks all for your honest feedback… that is why Wappler is so great.

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Exactly. That's a win-win - the developer gets to help someone else and make a few dollars, the user of the extension gets the solution without all the hours needed. Why re-invent the wheel?

Absolutely not. I would hope the motivation behind making an extension is to benefit the community and not as a primary business model. So there will (and should) always be the risk that the extension will make it into core but that is a good thing.

I just like the idea of showing appreciation to an extension author if it has saved me a load of time and effort and got me further in my project. And having a large collection of extensions is good for everyone. There are feature requests here which go back a long way so enabling others to be able to address some of those rather that it all land in the Wappler teams laps can surely be good?

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