Show HN: Visual DB – Web front end for your database

164 pointsposted 3 days ago
by visualdb
(visualdb.com)

52 Comments

BizyDev

3 days ago

If your tool was available on-premise I would be really interested. Since a tool like this is primarily intended, I think, for internal use cases, making it available on-premise should be a priority from my point of view.

Beside this, the tool looks great, congrats for the job, well done!

rnavi

3 days ago

Congrats to visualdb on launch.

If you are looking for free open source version try

https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb

It's fairly simple to setup. Please refer to our readme/docs

Disclaimer: founder here.

replwoacause

2 days ago

Nice, but the AGPL-3.0 license makes this tough to use. Would love to see a MIT alternative if there is one.

ktm5j

3 days ago

Looks awesome! Well done, this might come in handy for folks where I was just hired. Definitely going to keep this in mind.

leansensei

3 days ago

I second this, NocoDB is great!

visualdb

3 days ago

Thanks for the feedback. We'll make self-hosted version a high priority.

alek_me

3 days ago

Yes an on premise solution is quite important for place in hired in. To add to this I’ve been doing a lot of looking into products like this and explored nocodb as a use case. Here are some limitations I’ve run into.

1) Granular user roles/permissions. Nocodb has this but it’s a little awkward with different bases. For example it’s hard to see which tables that user is limited to as you create new bases.

2) Forms. The form needs to have flexibility in required fields which nocodb (and not just based on schema) does but it’s missing a key feature. That would be “created by” field which doesn’t work on external database with different bases for different permissions. As in if you have a different base per user group (to have different permission on table access) adding a new record does not populate created by correctly.

3) relational data. The goal of these products is for non-technical people to use these and none have the option of clicking into the relation to bring up that record on its table. As in all you see is the description/id of the relational record.

4) at some point you want to possibly use the database for user management. Because you may want to write an internal tooling that scans a qr code or something or the form is client based. But then you have users that may live on a different database interacting with your main database. And then you would need to match the users with what they view and what they can create.

Essentially what I found is that with nocodb is that it is good for viewing data but to add data I need to create forms. But then nocodb lacks in “dashboard” statistics and graphs

Sorry if this is not clearly explained. I’m on holiday and tired rn.

visualdb

3 days ago

Regarding permissions, I think we meet your requirements. End users do not have permission to tables directly, they can only enter data through forms and sheets.

Regarding "created by", do you mean a field that is automatically set, based on who created the record? That's on our todo list.

Regarding relational data, we meet your requirements. Any time there is a foreign key, we display a "..." button which shows up with records from the foreign table you can select the row you want. This is fairly sophisticated... you can display all records from the foreign table (default), our you can have a query, and you can even have cascading dropdowns (for example you select Region in the first dropdown, then it shows Cities in that region in the next dropdown and so on), then matching rows are shown.

Regarding user management we store users and permissions separately from databases, and the permissions you applies to all databases in the application. Permissions are set at the application level and you can create a different application (with connections to same databases if needed) if you want different permissions.

rnavi

3 days ago

Thank you for taking time out of your holiday and writing this.

2) If you create the tables from noco interface you get those fields else not as these fields are abstracted fields on top of your DB fields. 3) not sure what you mean here - noco is known for abstracting these IDs away and are hidden as system fields (see field menu). The role of lookup etc is what you need.

1 & 4 are feature requests pending on us.

sixtyj

3 days ago

It looks nice, indeed. Upvote for on-premise version.

reneberlin

3 days ago

There is also already:

https://baserow.io/

https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb

https://github.com/rowyio/rowy

https://undb.io/

https://teable.io/

vladsanchez

a day ago

I'm looking for Framer (WebBuilder) options/competitors that aren't SAAS subscriptions.

I'll happily pay a one-time fee for anything, than ever fall into the SAAS-hostage trap like Adobe or similar vendors.

I'll appreciate any references.

breadwinner

3 days ago

Most of those products are very simple...

thih9

3 days ago

Congrats on the launch!

Product feedback: looks super useful.

Landing page feedback: clear and to the point. I love seeing lots of product screenshots. I’d like to see a section about privacy, especially when the product involves db access and AI. Please consider replacing the carousel. https://shouldiuseacarousel.com/

threatofrain

3 days ago

That site argues that carousels should basically never be used, but personally I hate the design constraints and resulting UX of refresh on hitting bottom of screen (the alternative to carousels).

Something to look at how airbnb uses carousels when showing a listings. There are many listings and you're not necessarily interested enough to click yet, and there's a cognitive cost to leaving and re-entering the search experience, so you can either have a modal or allow a carousel. The carousel is the halfway point between interested enough to investigate further but not interested enough to step into a new visual scene and step back out into the search experience.

visualdb

3 days ago

Thanks for the feedback. We have a section on data security here: https://visualdb.com/datasecurity/ We are also planning to release a self-hosted version soon, which can be used with intranet databases - this should take care of security concerns.

Multrex

3 days ago

Yes please. A self hosted version would be great for companies that have strict security rules about data.

Onavo

3 days ago

This is not their first time. They were previously called https://airforms.com and were posted here multiple times. No sure what HN's rules are on rebrands for Show HNs.

visualdb

3 days ago

Not a rebrand but a pivot. It is a major overhaul with significant new features such as reporting.

saaaaaam

3 days ago

Would give it a shot for stuff I’m working on but the free plan is too limited with only 1000 records and the paid plan is deceptively priced. It’s not $5 per user, it’s $25 if you only need one user.

block_dagger

3 days ago

I agree. I think 10,000 records for free tier makes more sense.

tracker1

3 days ago

Reminds me of MS Access and InfoPath. Nice to see a more open option. SQLite support in addition to Excel spreadsheets would be nice too. A portable/desktop and self-host option would be imperative imo, as many would be hesitant to open their databases to a web tool like this.

visualdb

3 days ago

Thanks for the feedback. Self-hosted version is now a high priority for us since many people have given us this feedback.

acomjean

3 days ago

Reminds me of a mash up of Datatables editor (https://editor.datatables.net/) and phpMyAdmin.

With the nice addition of forms.

But I can see an all in one database/mini application tool making custom business applications where Lotus Notes and FileMaker used to be.

epalm

3 days ago

Looks nice, both the site and the app! The first thought I had though was, here's a central place where potentially hundreds, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands (or more, depending on how successful you are) of database credentials are stored. Your https://visualdb.com/datasecurity/ page says "Database credentials are encrypted before being stored" but how do I know that? Encrypted how? This equates to "I pinky promise I won't get hacked, and even if I do, all your passwords would be impossible to crack anyways". Security-conscious users probably will need a bit more than that. Any thoughts on using other authentication methods?

Edit: as other commenters have mentioned, an on-prem version would certainly ease concerns a bit.

visualdb

3 days ago

Thanks for raising those points. To maximize security we are prioritizing on-prem version.

gregw2

2 days ago

Don't store database credentials at all. Ensure your product and recommended database configuration supports SSO/SAML/etc with credentials managed through Okta or Active Directory. You'll need that if you go up-market into an enterprise.

biomcgary

3 days ago

After comparing a few different products in the no-code, low-code space for CRUD, I recently adopted Retool for my company to develop internal applications. Our apps depends on postgres under the hood, so we can still run traditional queries without the UI when needed.

What would I gain by switching to Visual DB?

visualdb

3 days ago

Retool is a great product especially if you are a developer. Visual DB is intended for people who can't or won't code.

biomcgary

3 days ago

Good clarification. Retool runs into a wall pretty quickly if you are unwilling/unable to write ANY sql or js.

refset

3 days ago

How would you describe the differences with https://nocodb.com/ ?

visualdb

3 days ago

We have a section here on comparison to Airtable: https://visualdb.com/spreadsheet/#airtable These points should apply to other tools similar to Airtable.

refset

3 days ago

Thanks, I've not used Airtable enough to appreciate the comparison entirely but the focus on form building makes a lot of sense. Google Forms sets a low bar and the next best choice isn't obvious to me. Congrats on the launch!

lucidphreak

2 days ago

I run a online form for public consumption where I catalog old school wardialers and other phreaking related programs that were written (mainly) for 8 and 16 bit computers (atari 800, c64/128, Amiga, etc).. Currently I'm using jqwidgets to grab data from an XML file. This could make both the cataloging as well as the display of the data much easier. Will be looking into this soon. I'm curious though if there is a way to skin the output or am I restricted to the aesthetics that are built into the app?

If anyone is interested in the site I mentioned feel free to ask..

juan48

3 days ago

Was looking for a nicer web ui for my small self hosted db for my portfolio site. Might just give this a shot, nice!

jurakovic

3 days ago

I'm not sure if I understand it correctly. Database needs to be exposed over the internet so that this app could connect to it?

nstart

3 days ago

Went through the docs and that would be correct. The expectation is that you allow only a static IP to access it though. They provide the static IP

anonu

3 days ago

I like it, mainly for the easy csv to DB. But that's also 2 lines of code with pandas.

chenster

3 days ago

why pivot from airform to visualdb?? It kind of does everything now, so I don't know what exactly what it is for. what is the most used visualdb feature by users?

visualdb

3 days ago

We prioritize features based on user input, especially now that core features are in place. But the idea for the initial set of features were based on our own needs, and our frustration with existing products.

For example, there are lots of reporting tools, but we could not find even one that has good time series analysis. If you want to analyze your personal stock market investments, good time series analysis is essential, so we filled the gap in the market with our own product.

chenster

3 days ago

Blazer (https://blazer.dokkuapp.com) does reports and targets non-tech users (preferrablly knows Sql) you should check it out, but yours does more and better.

pkphilip

2 days ago

This is nice! Congratulations to the team!

saltcod

2 days ago

very cool product. nicely done — what's the tech stack?

mergisi

2 days ago

Visual DB looks like a useful tool for database management and visualization. As the developer of AI2sql (https://ai2sql.io), I can see how both tools aim to simplify database interactions in different ways.

While Visual DB focuses on form building and data visualization, AI2sql uses AI to generate SQL queries. It's particularly helpful for developers who need to quickly write complex queries or those learning SQL.

For Visual DB users who might need help with SQL query generation, AI2sql could be a complementary tool. We also support multiple databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQL Server.

It's good to see new tools emerging in the database space. Best of luck with Visual DB!