What is your process for building or recreating your app?

From Bubble to Wappler
1

Hi everyone

Just checking with those who began in bubble, when recreating or creating your app how are you doing it?

What do you find is the most effective method?

Do you create the design and pages first then bring it all together or do you create the database and build on that. Looking to make the learning / transition process as easy as possible.

However, I suspect now the database creator has arrived (how good is that) it may change things a little?

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Your suspicion is well founded. If you are using the database creator your flow is going to be very dynamic.

Oh, I just realized I need a new field when creating the “Create record” server connect. No problem. Add it and commit your app changes. 2 days later you rethink everything and decide to follow a different approach. You revert the git commit and undo the schema changes.

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Good question Steven!

My steps have been:

  1. Database
  1. Create the database definition in a sql file
  2. Realise all the data structures that could be improved and iterate on this.
  3. Create stored procedures that do some fundamental actions like a user's data creation on sign up.
  1. Getting to Know Wappler

Spend 2-4 weeks just getting to know Wappler and Bootstrap using a bunch of test pages with focus on:

  • Setup of environment - local/remote database/server setup
  • How Bootstrap structures work and manage the layout.
  • How all input types work
  • How data flows GUI-database and back for all types of information.
  • How the design and styles tabs work.
  1. My Design in Wappler

Once I really understood how Wappler and Bootstrap works, I then started designing the look, feel and structure of my app. I spent ages and ages coming up with and documenting consistent naming conventions for id, class etc as this is more critical than in Bubble where you can change names so much more easily.

  1. Go Build!

Now I'm in the "just go build it" phase, where I'm putting all that stuff in place for my design!
Lots of background learning going on to fill in the gaps in my knowledge, especially around hosting and security.

  1. Database Creator

At the moment I am still in "just blow away the entire database and start again every week" mode as I have no client data to retain... so the database creator wouldn't have made any difference to my methodology so far but will very shortly!

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Thanks @Antony vey helpful. Did you use any particular resources that were helpful in getting your head around stored procedures?

Cheers!

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This suggests using stored procedures might be a basic requirement when using Wappler, but I wouldn't have thought this was the case. A year ago it wasn't even possible to use them in Wappler. (Having said that, I daresay I would benefit from using them more.)

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I would strongly advise against them.

Antony is going to kill me :smiley:

The amount of memes regarding “STORED PROCEDURES” is not by chance.

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What is bad about stored procedures?

Is there a time when you would use them and when you would not?

If not a stored procedure then how could you achieve the same workload without them?

Thanks!

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What’s not bad about them. Where should I start?

  1. You have business logic separated from your code. You don’t have them under version control.
  2. Due to 1 you risk having discrepancies in your environments.
  3. Not portable. If you change your database engine you have to scrap and redo them.
  4. Testing? Nightmare.
  5. Not flexible. Not DRY.
  6. Performance gains are minimal.
  7. And the usual suspect: hard to maintain.

Nowadays there is no point in running them.

There are a handful of cases where they might be needed or even advised.

All in all, not worth it.

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Mwahahahaha, I use them when I have to, and thats only after asking @Hyperbytes if he can do it another way for me.

Nevertheless thank you for the memes, was pretty entertaining Jon, just what I needed.

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So in summary and what I get from the banter here and my own reading that there is a time they can becomes very useful, however, don’t rely on them for your app logic because you create a rod fro your own back.

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Can't say I agree with any of these points being an issue for me! :rofl:

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12

You're safe with me, @JonL!

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Pretty much, just makes it more difficult to maintain, but yes they can be very useful if you can not find a simpler way to do something particular.

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I actually agree strongly with all the points Jon mentioned.

It comes down to years of experience. We used to build large CMS systems with tons of stored procedures in MS SQL Server. That was a maintenance nightmare and we were totally locked in the Microsoft T-SQL specific language.

It is like making your site work for IE only ...

So with all this experience and being burned too many times now I know better and feel exactly the same as Jon about stored procedures.

So never use store procedures for complete business logic, just for some generic massive data processing if you really can't do it otherwise.

Use databases for only want they are meant for - store and retrieve raw data.

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15

Thanks @George anything that saves me time is welcome!

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Very useful to get everyone’s long term experience in the issues in doing things different ways… thanks folks! :slight_smile:

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