Writing Complex Logic in Wappler Code

[nexgen]

I have used Filemaker and Zoho Creator and I liked them very much because of it’s offering of writing custom codes (They have their own languages). Wappler is the only one which I have found can do a lot of things compared to other no code/low code platforms.

The reason I’m looking into wappler is because filemaker and zoho creator both are for developing internal tools (for personal/company use) and I can’t develop a saas with it.

So far I’m liking wappler but I’m strongly missing the option to write the actions in code editor instead of choosing and setting the value from GUI. It is feeling counter intuitive when I want to do any complex thing.

I am sure most of the wappler users should be similar to me who are looking for something powerful but don’t want to deal with low level things.

How are you all handling complex logics?

[ben]

@nexgen

So far I’m liking Wappler but I’m strongly missing the option to write the actions in code editor instead of choosing and setting the value from GUI. It is feeling counter intuitive when I want to do any complex thing.

Wappler is a mere code editor on steroids, meaning that you could hand code a whole project, similar to using VS Code and ilk. But that would defeat the purpose of having Wappler. The purpose of Wappler is to speed up production by creating the code for you. The code that is being produced relies on the server model that is being used; but it is at all times compliant.

You want to add proprietary code? This can be done with Wappler or with any other code editor. In fact, I have used VS Code and Wappler (don’t tell @George) to allow me to add/change the code as I see fit on multiple projects at the same time. The same Monaco editor is used in both programs.

@nexgen

How are you all handling complex logics?

Have you had a look at this presentation by John Curley (@scalaris)? This is where he natively integrates RESTful API’s for his SaaS.

In other words, Wappler may be a low code editor; it is so much more flexible than just that.

[Antony]

Hey @nexgen!

That is a great question… I’ve developed a massive app with some very complex logic, and here is what I do…

1. Complex database related logic I put into MySQL “views” which I write in code.

2. The next level of complexity I write in Wappler server side actions. I have many that are >100 actions.

3. On the HTML side I write as little logic as possible, as the app runs much faster if you write the most complex things using (1) and (2). What I do write on the HTML side, I write by hand in the code as I find the expression editor rather illogical in its user interface.

I hope that helps!

Best wishes,
Antony.

[nexgen]

Your response is very helpful.

@Antony

Complex database related logic I put into MySQL “views” which I write in code.

How to do that?

@Antony

The next level of complexity I write in Wappler server side actions. I have many that are >100 actions.

I tried nested loop with nested conditions and it started getting harder and cumbersome than writing the code. I have seen the best implementation of this in filemaker scripts. It has their own actions similar to wappler and it also store it in xml form internally I think. (wappler store it in json form if I am right).

It would be very nice to have editor similar to filemaker scripts editor. It will make writing complex actions very easy.

@Antony

On the HTML side I write as little logic as possible, as the app runs much faster if you write the most complex things using (1) and (2). What I do write on the HTML side, I write by hand in the code as I find the expression editor rather illogical in its user interface.

Any example for this?

[Apple]

@nexgen

I tried nested loop with nested conditions and it started getting harder and cumbersome than writing the code

Some of us use RunJS to write pure JavaScript code in between regular steps. This is only available for the NodeJS server model, but I’m sure someone could do the same extension for PHP - taking advantage of eval() to run the code