APITable: Free Open Source Visual Database

managing data effectively is crucial I mean having an outdated system to collect sort and process data is not only slowing you but it also means losing automation collaboration and Innovation opportunities this week we will discover API table a free open source visual database platform it is ready for real-time collaboration API oriented and easily embeddable anywhere if you are using spreadsheet as a database you should absolutely watch this video to discover this alternative before diving into the platform overview let's have a look at the different options available to install it you can use the paid Cloud version available at a. a they provide a free tier up to two seats or you can install the self-hosted version by following their installation procedure or use a platform like ours to deploy the self-hosted version on the cloud provider of your choice or your own server while we take care of the installation backups updates and Main maintenance for you to install API table go to ls. hit login click on deploy my first service search for API table click on select choose between the different Cloud providers I will choose kway select between the different regions and service plan I will keep the first one and hit next adjust your level of support based on your needs I will keep the included one and then create service we have received an email telling us that the installation is complete follow the click here to get the the password link let's use this button to copy the password into our clipboard and access our instance by clicking here automatically an account has been created for us so we can go on already have an account and click on sign in our email address is the email address we set as admin usually it's your lso account email address and password we can paste it then sign in we arrive on that empty dashboard we have multiple options available either use templates we will see them later or create one from SC let's hit create for this platform overview what we are going to create is a bug tracker application for lso so let's name it bug tracker hit okay it automatically create our table here with a title options and attachments let's edit them in addition of the title of the issue we might need a description or some details so let's name it details we have the choice between multiple types but for the moment we'll just be using long text to add all the information about that bug and we have that option to make it required on forms so we will see forms later but for the details it's important we have them so let's check it and hit okay then we can drag and drop our column to reorder them let's say we will use the attachments to add screenshots so let's make it just after the details so the user can add more information about the issue they encounter and options let's change it we will change it to status so we can double click on it and it open the Edition and instead of being a multi select we just want one select at the time so it will be a select and we can Define the different option so if it's a new issue if it's in progress or if it's finished it's done and then there is a small bubble here we can choose the color for new let's put it in Red so it's important for us to see them in progress we can put in yellow orange and down it's green and it's not an issue anymore it will be a new one we won't need to set as required on forms because it just will be automatically filled and then hit okay and we can even add more information for example let's say the type of issue they have and here we can use a multi select so what is affected by this issue we'll add is it the platform is it a template is it related to billing but it can be multiple at once and then again you can choose different colors so you can visually understand what it's about when you are used to your color scheme we won't make it with a default value and it's not required it's just additional information so okay the type it should be next to the title so here our structure of table is good we can feel some fake data let's say we have an issue with one of the software with the template so soft number 12 we have one issue that the type is related to a template only a template details it is not working we could add some attachment and the states it should be new automatically but it's only when we feel a form it's not here in the database this view is nice for us for the team but for outside people they prefer just to fill a form and not have a full overview of what our current issues are what we can do is create a new view and we have the choice between multiple type of view either grid which is this one Gallery you have a preview on the right so it's some kind of cards you have Canan which is like a trail like to-do list gun so it's more for time frame based calendar architecture and form we will use the form one and we choose what we want to display we currently have only one data sheet so we will be using using this one we have a small preview here but you can see the status is visible so let's create the form and we will need to hide the status so the only solution I found is go back to the grid View and for this one we will hide the field because that view is linked to the data so we'll go back to our form and now we don't see it anymore we have few options to customize it we can add our logo click on select image put your file hit confirm you can also change the cover image here if you go to settings you can hide it or display it show or hide your logo if you want one or not show the index so it's the number in the table it is I I think it's fine that we keep it then we can edit the title of it so instead of grid views form we name it lsbg tracker same for the description you discovered an issue on one of our open source template or on the platform let us know and then we just have the form that we can F so they have the choice between the different type so here it's some text here it is a multi select so they can select multiple at ones here it's detail so it's a long text so you can type on multil lines and attachments it handle multiple files easily and then the submit button once you are happy with your form you don't want them to have access to your API table inance so you will click on the share button create a public link copy it in your clipboard and you have different option is it public or not do the users can submit anonymously or do they need to log to be able to submit it so if they have access to API table or not but let's keep the default value open the link in a new tab this is what the end users will be able to see when you share with them the link on any of your website or your application you will put a link to that form they will fill it uh software number 24 not working it's related to to a template and let's say building to some details it doesn't work please help I think it's the kind of message that support team really don't appreciate but let's keep it and then we can add some screenshot so let's take a screenshot of this let's drag and drop into our attachments you can see the uploading process then you can remove it download it once we are good we can hit submit thank you for your submission submit another response or we can just close this tab now we are back on API table we can go into our bug tracker View and we have the new form that has been filled I think by default we had a few lines created so let's get rid of them can go here and delete record or we can right click here and delete record now we have some issues we can create a new view here it will be a Canan View and we are lucky because it has been split automatically with new in progress and down and the team they will just go into the new column they will check which one they can do so they open it they have some details about it expand the hidden Fields they have all the information they can see the activity saying okay I'm taking care of it so the rest of the team is able to communicate and see who is taking care of it you can mention other users if you need help then when you start it you drag and drop it in in progress and once you're good you drag and drop it into D but you can go further for example you can add a widget so let's create a new widget you have some widgets available here let's take a summary currently what it does it it counts the number of rows we have but we can update it so more settings configure widget and instead of displaying total Ed two we can say new issues and we will count all the new issues so we'll go to add filter add filter where the status is and it's new we confirm and we have only one new issue you can do the same for other type of data new issues at Target value we don't need we can choose a different color for it say I want to display it in Red so the same than the isue color okay we can close it and we have our widget here to have a clear overview of what is going on if we start the new one here into in progress and new issues is updating accordingly we are at zero so we are working fine we have access to this user interface to see our data but you can connect it to any back end of your choice because automatically it generate an API so you have a nice documentation to know how to get data so get records you have an example you have the different parameters you can use to do anything to get the data like you do in the different kind of views so you can enable sort the number of Records so if you want to do some pagination some grouping Etc then you have the documentation to add the records so you have a curl example but you can also have a JavaScript one or a python one if you need to authenticate your request you can use show API token so you will need to create an API token so go to developer click on plus it will generate for you an API token and then when you click on show API token here it will be replaced with the correct value so you can just copy paste into your project and you also have the choice to use field ID which is instead of using the column name which can change if someone updates it in the view use field ID you are sure it will never change it's linked to that specific column it is safer but it's less readable when you look at your code by using the API you can really use API table as a backend database as a service and you can also enable some kind of automated task when anything change on one of your data so for example you create a new automation when there is a new value in the B tracker and it send you automatically an email let's see the different things you can do using API table so we have seen the different type of views how to create create tables how to create data we started from scratch but instead on the left we can use templates so you have a huge list of templates you can use you have the featured the marketing ones project management sales and customers product and design ux let's go into education course scheduling we can click on it and we have a preview of what it looks like so you can see even the different views inside the different tables if it's close to what you need and you just need some Polish or want to use it as is you can click on use template and you have the choice where to put it in your data sheet and if you want to use data in the template so currently you can see we have business cool we have some data you can keep it if you want or not keep it and then you will have the structure so here now I have it can go to all curses I have the structure but no data and I can just fill it with my data currently with added everything in one space but you can create different spaces up to 10 ones so create a new space best would be I create an lso space okay and I would put everything I need to inside and then I add my team so I go to contacts and invite all the team members from lso so I can create a public invitation link that I would share with the team I copy and they can create their account or I invite every team members by entering their email address as always if you are interested in that software I recommend you to go in the help section developer center it's the access to their documentation it's a great way to discover features that can be useful for you and your projects thank you for watching we hope you will give a try to API table for your data don't forget to subscribe to not miss our upcoming platform overviews if you want to continue discovering GRS free open to software with us that video might interest you [Music]

Channel: Elestio

Views: 15,540

Keywords: open source software, open source alternative, elestio, open source, free software, free open source software, apitable, free airtable alternative, airtable, spreadsheet alternative, rest api db, api, database, database platform, low code database, nocode database platform

Id: FppUkCbrx_w

Length: 14min 2sec (842 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2024