Dear all What about following „Rapid App Development Tools"? * OpenXava (Java): https://www.openxava.org/ate/visual-studio-lightswitch * Radzen (.NET): https://www.radzen.com/visual-studio-lightswitch-alternative/ * Other: https://aurelia.io/ (JS) or CUBA https://www.cuba-platform.com/ (Java) :Stefan Am Do., 28. März 2019 um 15:39 Uhr schrieb Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@xxxxxxxxxxx>: > > On 3/27/19 11:49 PM, Tony Shelver wrote: > > Please reply to list also, more eyes on the the problem. > Ccing list > > My take on below is since you are feeding a Website why not use Web > technologies for your data entry. My language of choice is Python. I > have done something similar to this(on small scale) using the Django > framework. For something lighter weight there is Flask. Then your client > becomes a browser and you do not have to distribute forms around. You > could integrate with the existing Web apps you are using e.g. SnipCart. > > > > Actually I found a possibility. LibreOffice Base on top of PG lets me > > paste photos into a Postgresql bytea field no problem. MS Access should > > work well also, but I am not going to buy it, and running Ubuntu most of > > the time. > > Possibly will distribute the Base forms to select users to enter data. > > We are a startup company, so this is an affordable temporary fix, until > > the product I have been looking at matures, or we can roll our own. > > > > We are building a company website, including an eStore, and have a few > > hundred products to load and maintain. Our product data currently isn't > > suitable for a sales catalog. > > (Brands, categories, products, pricing and deal info, specials, images, > > product comparisons and so on). > > > > Right now I input / maintain this via CSV files maintained through a > > spreadsheet (LibreOffice Calc) which our site generator (Jekyll) uses > > to build out the static HTML product [pages automatically. > > This is really quick to enter basic data, but I have to manually > > maintain image uploads, image names and so on manually in the > > spreadsheet and through individual file uploads. We have at least one, > > preferably 3 and up to 6 photos per product to maintain. Call it a 1000 > > images right now, and that will only go up. > > Invalid text / characters in product descriptions and so on can break > > the CSV as well. > > > > There are headless CMS solutions out on the market targeting this same > > area, but for various reasons the suitable ones are still maturing and > > shaking out in the marketplace, so I am not in a hurry to make a choice. > > > > So the goal is to replace CSV with JSON file input. This will also make > > my life easier for more complex structures such as multiple categories > > and specs per product. > > I also want to migrate text that can change from the HTML pages into the > > database for easier changes by end users. For this the users could use > > a WYSIWIG MarkDown editor, and just cut and past the MarkDown into Base > > forms when finished. This will be converted to HTML at build time by > > Jekyll static site generator or a script. > > > > So the proposed solution: > > 1. Create the database in Postgresql. > > 2. Link Base or other tool to it and design input forms where necessary > > > > 3. Enter the data through Base into PG including images, MarkDown / HTML > > text, long descriptions and so on. > > 3a. If I don't get a suitable CMS going, I could spend some time > > developing a Vue/Quasar/Nuxt whatever front end to handle this, in > > several months time. > > > > 4. Pull the data from Postgres using Python (Psycopg2 will handle > > images). Or a node.js app once my JS skills improve. > > 4A: optionally use PostgREST, Postgraphile, Pytone Graphene or other to > > create an externally accessible API, and then use Python or javascript > > module to pull the data out. > > > > 5. This program will then write the JSON product file to the website > > data source directory with image tags, and upload the files to the image > > store. Also create product item HTML page templates or or modify HTML > > content where necessary. > > 6. At this stage the Jekyll static site generator will detect the new > > JSON data and any changed pages, and regenerate all changed pages, move > > images and so on. > > > > 7. Git commit will push the generated site to Github, and Git will then > > send everything to our CDN. > > > > There is no traditional web server / app server / db server setup as you > > would find for most websites using, for example, Wordpress, Magento > > commerce or other tools. Just the CDN. > > > > Everything is static HTML and some javascript. Because there is no > > backend system, database or anything else at run time,just when > > generating the site, I am not concerned about performance except at > > site build time, which will not happen that often. All the SEO data > > (w3schema / Google, OG / Facebook and Twitter cards) is automatically > > built into the templates and fleshed out by our build process, so it > > exists as searchable static content on our page. > > > > Further down the road we will slowly migrate to a front-end javascript > > framework like Vue / Nuxt or React / Next, where our site will remain > > mostly static, with JS in the browser talking to back end hosted > > services. We already interact directly from the browser with SnipCart > > for shopping card, order management and payment gateway services. > > > > Not sure if that helps explain the problem space a bit better. > > > > > > > > On Wed, 27 Mar 2019 at 16:15, Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@xxxxxxxxxxx > > <mailto:adrian.klaver@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote: > > > > On 3/27/19 3:48 AM, Tony Shelver wrote: > > > Looking for a good tool that I can give to users to enter data (for > > > example, products, categories, brands, price tables and so on). > > > Preferably it should also allow images to be copied into a bytea > > field > > > but I know I can't have everything. > > > > > > Been battling with a few open source 'headless' content management > > > systems the last few weeks. All they really are is a data schema > > > designer, an API interface (for the API / database based ones like > > > Strapi and Directus), and a content entry front end, along with some > > > access management added in. > > > And they don't necessarily play well with the DB, or the technology > > > stack is something I don't want to deal with. > > > > > > I figure using PostgREST or Postgraphile or Python Graphene or > > any of > > > the dedicated 3rd party REST / GraphQL APIs will probably give as > > good > > > an API as most of the new content managers, > > > > > > pgModeler.io is a way better schema design tool than what I have > > found > > > in the CMS systems I have used so far as well. > > > > > > Data that I would like to store (and edit) is the usual, but also > > > images, HTML sections, and markdown. > > > > > > Any ideas? > > > > I am not really sure from above what you want, so some questions: > > > > 1) GUI form interface? > > GUI form builder? > > > > 2) Enter records one at time or in bulk? > > > > 3) Cross platform? > > If so what platforms? > > > > > > > > -- > > Adrian Klaver > > adrian.klaver@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:adrian.klaver@xxxxxxxxxxx> > > > > > -- > Adrian Klaver > adrian.klaver@xxxxxxxxxxx > >
