Wappler Development in 2024

[MGA]

Hi, I am Mike and have been working 30+ years in development and sales, actually having used UltraDev and Dreamweaver (plus DMX) in the past before moving on to KenticoCMS etc. and then finally to Visual Studio plus Devexpress.

At the end of last year I started developing on one of those new code/low-code platforms but am pulling out again when 2 weeks ago they announced new pricing which would increase the cost for 2 of my clients 40 TIMES, since these clients are Resorts whose members are now counted as Users despite being only Viewers of Read-Only Data.

I have been looking at alternatives since then and one is Wappler which I am currently testing.

I am aware that in the past other members of this community made similar questions but some are quite old and am looking for updated answers for development needs:

#1 - Creating an App displaying Timeshare Units for Sale which consists of a

• Protected Back-Office (Allowing Users to perform CRUD Actions)

• Public Web-Site (Allowing Buyers to select Units for Sale and send their Interest by filling out a Form)

#2 - Creating an Protected App displaying Information to 2.000+ Members of the same Timeshare Resort.

#3 - Creating an Protected App displaying Accounts to 200+ Clients of an Villa Management Company.

N.B. These 3 Apps are already in development on the aforementioned platform but am being forced (in a way) to re-create them because of the ridiculous price increase.

#4 - Porting a couple of Web-Site currently on Wordpress and Duda to pure HTML.

I am quite sure that I can master Wappler quite fast but am looking for some feedback form you guys before signing up.

P.S. My current development knowledge is MS SQL Server, ASP.NET, VB.NET, HTML*, CSS*, BS5* and JS*. I am not a Designer but more of a Developer, loving creating databases and putting together User Interfaces. I run my own Windows Cloud Servers therefore the idea of developing and hosting everything in house is highly appreciated!

Basics*

[scottclee]

Wappler will give you everything you’re looking for, especially when it comes to self hosting and no-ongoing fees other than the cost of the Wappler editor.

Out of the technologies you’ve listed (MS SQL Server, VB.NET, HTML*, CSS*, BS5* and JS*), everything will put you in good stead for using Wappler (though you may need to switch from VB.NET). Obviously, there’s a learning curve in understanding how the tools works. However, this community is a brilliant resource in searching for answers to questions.

Wappler is definitely one of the least scariest no-code/low-code tools available today.

[kfawcett]

Welcome! Wappler can easily handle restricted/protected sites.

I would suggest moving to node.js for your projects since that is a newer technology where a lot of new features are available; use docker on your local and remote projects to make migrations/promotions easier; and read up on the main parts of Wappler. I recommend reading up on the Database Manger, and Resource Manager and using them when creating database tables and remote servers. It’ll make managing those parts of the system simpler.

You can find most of the docs here: https://community.wappler.io/c/docs/28

Wappler also has a basic permission system built into the Security Provider component that you add to your APIs. If you are looking for something that’s a little more robust you can get some ideas from the design I setup.

Anyone created a RBAC and ACL system? Comments on this design?

I’m trying to determine the best approach for a RBAC and ACL system. I want to store the roles and ACLs in the DB for easy updating in the future, so I don’t think I can use the Roles and Permissions feature in the Security Provider. The Security Provider will stay a simple “is the user logged in” enforcer. At the moment I’m thinking I’ll need to add DB queries at the beginning of my API’s Request Methods to check if the user has the appropriate rights before running any of the steps. [image] …

[MGA]

Hi @scottclee and @kfawcett many thanks for your quick reply, will have a closer look at your suggested docs later on.

Right now I am just trying to create a simple, but fully functioning CRUD sample based on the (somehow outdated) documentation and am right away running in my first problems:

I

-have created the database

-the Select Query

-the Page, Connection and Table

-but the Expression shows only the Body

Did I miss something?

I also had some other problems with the API Query connection sometimes telling me that the Connection was empty and required whilst in fact it was correct.

Deleting and creating from scratch solved it, might this be because of Permissions?

[Cheese]

@MGA

UltraDev

That is the product Macromedia should have pursued back in the day and should have dropped Dreamweaver. We created some great applications back then using UltraDev (and Drumbeat 2000 also). Welcome to Wappler Michael!

[George]

Hi Michael,

Welcome to Wappler and our great community! Here you can find all the resources you need to get started quickly and also any expert advise from the Wappler experts.

With your existing knowledge I’m sure you will feel quickly at home with Wappler.

To understand all the basics, I will highly recommend to follow the fantastic getting started videos playlist of Brian our well known Wappler Ambassador:

Also the videos from Ben or great to see about the designing in Wappler part:

and

You can find also a good overview of those at:

Wappler Learning Resources

So you want to learn everything about Wappler? Explore its great powers? Sure, we have many resources for you and more are becoming available on a daily base! Get a Wappler overview: [Getting to know Wappler] Then start with the Wappler docs: Available also here in the forum as main source: https://community.wappler.io/c/docs Our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/wapplerio or the videos here in the forum: https://community.wappler.io/c/videos There is a full blo…

[famousmag]

Hey @MGA, welcome to out community.

Please have a look at Wappler’s YouTibe channel.
There are great from @Hyperbytes and @ben tutorials and with the current version!

I list for you some of them…

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUjqTJN3byC8-qBFItSeBYuXolTng41pN

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUjqTJN3byC_14StBaQyXdhl_K29n5coI

[famousmag]

And to get to the point on exactly your question:

Your repeat has no expression… I suppose you want to assign the serverconnect1 there.

Click the lightening bolb beside the expression and bind it from the popup window

**Avoid using dots (.) in tables or columns names…

[kfawcett]

Also, your best friend is going to be using the console in your browser’s Developer Tools and typing dmx.app.data. this will show you all your server connects, and other data items.

This way you can take a stepped approach to building.

1. Create database tables
2. Create APIs and/or Flows
3. Add Server Connect or Flow to page
4. Open page in browser to verify that it’s getting data by checking network tab for success/errors and data using dmx.app.connect in console.
5. Wire up the server connect or Flow to page elements for display to end users.

[MGA]

Hi @famousmag

Thanks but it only shows Body, nothing else.

I just followed

Wappler Documentation - Setting Up a Lightweight Dev Environment with NodeJS and SQLite

but its exactly the same:

What is the Expression composed of: Connection Name + Data + API Name?

Can it be inserted manually?

[franse]

Hi and welcome!

@MGA

Thanks but it only shows Body, nothing else.

Is your server connect pointing to the right action?

[famousmag]

Show us the table in your App Structure please…

[brad]

Are you sure you are selecting your serverconnect? Clicking on the lightning bolt should bring up the data bindings panel where you select your query. I don’t see the data bindings panel in your screenshot.

[MGA]

Thanks, I believe so

[MGA]

but what wever I try i only get Body, not App, like I get on the Samples

[Teodor]

Are you sure your main page is saved and App Connect is added on it?

[kfawcett]

Can you first perform these steps and show us what is in Network tab and in dmx.app.data? Once that is confirmed you can move on to adding the data to elements on the page.

1. Create database tables
2. Create APIs and/or Flows
3. Add Server Connect or Flow to page
4. Open page in browser to verify that it’s getting data by checking network tab for success/errors and data using dmx.app.connect in console.

[sid]

Hi, welcome to the community.

With Wappler you can build the different apps you want to. Just remember that you might have to integrate external libraries for certain requirements which are either unsupported or have basic support.

@MGA

I am quite sure that I can master Wappler quite fast

Bad news, the learning curve is steep. It will not be fast.

[MGA]

I have created a new project using steps 1 to 3, code is:

No Errors in Network, not sure how to proceed with dmx.app.connect in Console?

[Teodor]

Please open the main page and check if the app connect include is there. Also make sure the main page is saved.