Think fast
Thoughts and ideas on how to build tools, automate workflows and speed-up the workplace.
How to Build a Google Sheets Dashboard
Spreadsheets are great, but they also come along with a whole raft of limitations. You’ll know this if you’ve ever tried using spreadsheet tools to manage or monitor large datasets. Today we’re looking at one important workaround - how to build a Google Sheets dashboard. Of course, Google Sheets is incredibly useful for storing and manipulating all kinds of data. This could be financial data, personal information, KPIs, key metrics, or any other kind of business intelligence.
Ronan McQuillan
Aug 21, 2022
How to make an App from Excel Spreadsheets
We love to hate spreadsheets. They’re everywhere. We use Excel for everything from planning our vacations and weddings, to managing inventories, payroll, and just about any other business process under the sun. But, like any blunt instrument, spreadsheets are almost the most elegant solution. Today, we’re going to look at a better way to manage data, calculations, and workflows. That is, how to make an app from Excel spreadsheets. You see, spreadsheets offer a huge amount of flexibility - there’s a reason why they’re so ubiquitous.
Ronan McQuillan
Aug 21, 2022
Data Sources for App Projects | Ultimate Guide
When building a web app, your choice of data source is critical. Deciding how and where to store, access, and manipulate data is fundamental to every successful app project. Today, we’ll be looking at everything you need to know to get this decision right. We’ll start with the basics, including what a data source is, the different ways web apps access data, and how this fits into your wider app architecture.
Ronan McQuillan
May 22, 2022
How to Create a Data Model in 9 Steps
Knowing how to create a data model is the first step toward building a successful app. This is the foundation of how you’ll transform your business requirements into reality. In fact, all other elements of your app build on your data model. However, coming up with an effective data model presents a few key challenges. This is a complex process, involving end-users, technical teams, and other business stakeholders. Today, we’re going to look at exactly how you can create a successful data model.
Ronan McQuillan
May 22, 2022
How to Integrate Multiple Databases
There are countless situations where you might need to integrate multiple databases. This might be necessary for a particular app project. Providing more centralized and efficient access to information could also be a goal in itself. However, accomplishing this can be a challenge, especially for inexperienced developers. Today we’re going to look at two methods key methods for integrating databases, as well as how Budibase can make life easier along the way.
Ronan McQuillan
May 22, 2022
What is a Database Schema?
Your app’s database schema is absolutely central to its functionality, performance, and success. In fact, this determines just about every aspect of how your finished app will work. As such, knowing how to create an effective schema is critical when building any kind of tool. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know. We’ll start with the basics, including what a schema contains, before moving on to more specific details you need to know when working with different kinds of databases.
Ronan McQuillan
May 22, 2022
Building a CRUD app with Budibase and Next.js
In this example, we will build a small CRUD app that allows users to view sales records and create new ones. We will use the power of the Budibase backend and its public API to connect to a Postgres database, display sales records, and create a form to create a new sales record. Rather than defining your database connection, table queries, security, REST API in Next.js, we can instead utilize Budibase to simplify our backend.
Michael Drury
Mar 10, 2022