SQLPage - Build SQL-only websites Reviews and Details

Questions & Answers

1. What makes SQLPage - Build SQL-only websites unique?

   SQLPage enables creating web apps entirely with SQL, bypassing traditional web programming languages, while producing clean, functional web pages.

2. Why should a person choose SQLPage - Build SQL-only websites over its competitors?

   1. Simplified Development:

      • Unlike traditional web frameworks (e.g., Django, Flask, or Ruby on Rails), SQLPage eliminates the need for separate programming layers. Applications are built using SQL directly, reducing complexity and time-to-market.
        
      • Tools like Microsoft Access or Airtable focus on low-code development but often involve proprietary systems or limited web integration. SQLPage, being open-source, provides better customization and scalability.
        

   2. Direct Database Integration:

      • Compared to BI tools like Tableau or Power BI, which offer visualizations but lack direct data modification, SQLPage integrates with relational databases for both read and write operations.
        
      • SQLPage also offers support for multiple database types (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, Microsoft SQL Server) without relying on intermediate APIs or additional query tools.

   3. Full Web Application Support:

      • SQLPage supports dynamic components (forms, charts, etc.) and HTTP functionalities like authentication and JSON API creation, which many BI tools or visualization platforms lack.
        
      • Traditional CMS platforms like WordPress or Drupal offer dynamic content capabilities but require PHP, templates, and plugins. SQLPage achieves similar results with a simpler SQL-based model.
        

   4. Performance and Security:

      • Unlike server-side frameworks that often require substantial middleware (Node.js, Python servers), SQLPage is lightweight and Rust-based, delivering faster performance and secure-by-default implementations.
        
      • It also protects against common vulnerabilities (SQL injection, XSS) without requiring developers to manage these themselves, unlike in raw frameworks or traditional web servers.
        

   5. Cost-Effectiveness and Open Source:

      • SQLPage is free and open-source, offering significant advantages over proprietary platforms or tools that charge per user or usage (e.g., Salesforce, Airtable).
        

   Best Use Case: SQLPage excels for users looking to quickly build interactive, data-driven web applications without investing in a complex tech stack or expensive proprietary platforms.

3. How would you describe the primary audience of SQLPage - Build SQL-only websites?

   Data scientists, analysts, and business intelligence teams who need to create data-driven applications without a deep expertise in web development or a lot of time to get from idea to production.

4. What's the story behind SQLPage - Build SQL-only websites?

   SQLPage was designed to simplify the process of building web apps by leveraging SQL as the sole development language, reducing complexity and focusing on declarative, data-centric application design.

5. Which are the primary technologies used for building SQLPage - Build SQL-only websites?

   Rust for the backend. actix-web for handling HTTP requests. Handlebars for rendering HTML templates. Tabler for clean UI components.

6. Who are some of the biggest customers of SQLPage - Build SQL-only websites?

   Eric Bompard, the Must-Have Cashmere Brand

Social recommendations and mentions

• SQLx – The Rust SQL Toolkit

  I use a fork of sqlx in SQLPage [1]. I think my main complaint about it is runtime errors (or worse, values decoded as garbage) when decoding SQL values to the wrong rust type. * [1] https://sql-page.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago

• The Demise of the Mildly Dynamic Website

  This article resonates with me. I do love "mildly dynamic websites", and have fond memories of my days hacking together PHP websites 15 years ago. And what I am working on today might be called a bridge for the "dynamicity gap". I'm making an open source server to write web apps entirely in SQL ( https://sql.ophir.dev/ ). It has the "one file per page" logic of PHP, and makes it easy to add bits of dynamic... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago

• SQLPage – Building a full web application with nothing but SQL queries [video]

  Saving a few clicks for readers: Project page: https://sql.ophir.dev/. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• Bruno

  I am currently looking for a solution to run automated tests on a sql website generator I am working on ( https://sql.ophir.dev ) I wanted to use hurl (https://hurl.dev/), but Bruno's UI seems to be useful while developing the tests... Has someone tried both ? Which is better for automated testing, including when the response type is html and not json? - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• Apache Superset

  Full fledged BI tools like Superset and Metabase are amazing for their intended use cases. But they may be an overkill if your primary use case is to infrequently build semi-interactive reports for non-technical end-users and your use cases are are mostly covered by standard graphs & tables. Esp. So if you are familiar with SQL and have access to the underlying data source. Two nifty utilities I have found to be... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• PostgREST: Providing HTML Content Using Htmx

  I feel obligated to add a shameless plug here. The idea is very close to a project I presented at pgconf.eu last week: SQLPage https://sql.ophir.dev/ SQLPage has the same goal as postgrest+htmx, but is a little bit higher level. It let's you build your application using prepackaged components you can invoke directly from SQL, without having to write any HTML, CSS, or JS. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• I think I need to go lie down

  I have been thinking about that a lot recently. Where I work, we spend a very small fraction of our time on building things that are unique to our business. Maybe we are doing something very wrong, but I am under the impression that most of the code that gets written is extremely low-entropy. This low-entropy, repetitive coding is not limited to the user interfaces. We do tend to describe the same structures and... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• Portugal. The Man – Official Website Is a Google Sheets Document

  The official website for SQLPage (https://sql.ophir.dev/) is written in SQLPage. The source code is here: https://github.com/lovasoa/SQLpage/tree/main/examples/official-site The github README has code snippets and associated screenshots: https://github.com/lovasoa/SQLpage#examples And SQLPage cloud is coming: https://sql.ophir.dev/your-first-sql-website/hosted.sql. - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago

• A modern, open-source spreadsheet that goes beyond the grid

  Yes ! Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I do still think that SQL is a better interface to databases than excel formulas. I am building an open-source tool that allows quickly building web user interfaces on top of relational databases [1]. Among users are many people without a CS background, and without prior knowledge of SQL. And from the feedback I get, the pain point for getting started is very rarely learning SQL.... - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago

• Omnigres: Postgres as a Platform

  Nice to see Omnigres trending on hn; congratulations Yurii! The project is interesting, and thought provoking, because it goes against the often recommended "good practice" of separating storage and compute. Doing the exact opposite has a lot to offer in terms of performance, simplicity, and speed of development. I am currently also working on a database-first web application framework [1], with different goals... - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago

• Ask HN: What do you like to see in tech talks?

  Hey HN community! I'll be making my first ever presentation at a large tech conference at pgconf.eu this December, where I'll be presenting the SQLPage webapp micro-framework ( https://sql.ophir.dev/ ). I'm eager to make a lasting impression and deliver a presentation that truly resonates with the audience at the conference, who probably knows more about postgres than I do. That's where I could use your insights.... - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago

• Show HN: A open-source financial accounting alternative to QuickBooks

  When I see that, I always wonder whether this is part of the business plan of the people who distribute open source software for free, with a paid hosted version. There is some kind of a conflict of interest: the easier the software is to install and operate, the less attractive the hosted version. I am working on an open-source software with a hosted version myself ( https://sql.ophir.dev ). It's a website... - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago

• Launch HN: Refine (YC S23) – Open-Source Retool for Enterprise

  There is a lot of activity in this space, and I think it's a good thing. Other very similar solutions include appsmith, tooljet, or budibase. How do you differentiate from them ? In the same spirit, but SQL-only instead of based on javascript, I am currently working on https://sql.ophir.dev . It also allows building entire data-centric applications and internal tools very quickly, but without having to think about... - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago

• Repeating Yourself Thrice Doesn’t Turn You into a 3x Developer

  Hey Ophir here, I'm the co-author of the post. What you say is on-point, and we should have mentioned it in the post. The way I see it is: at the beginning, everything is repeated three times on the three layers. Then, as time advances, complexity grows, and you start having much more specific requirements that will need one of the layers to differ slightly. The common approach is to just duplicate everything... - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago

• PRQL, Pipelined Relational Query Language

  I am currently building a SQL-only web framework [1], and I was contacted by the prql folks to include the language by default in sqlpage. I have to say, I have mixed feelings about it: on one hand, it indeed feels more natural to query data with a clean pipeline of operators. On the other hand, it makes me think of the famous xkcd comic about standards [2]: there were too many data querying languages, so we made... - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago

• What's everyone working on this week (28/2023)?

  Still working on SQLPage (building SQL-only websites) ✴️. Source: about 3 years ago

• Roast My Opensource Project

  SQLPage gives you simplicity and agility. It allows you to iterate swiftly on your app idea, putting it in front of users from day one, and gathering valuable feedback. Should your idea prove successful, you can gradually transition to a heavier framework while preserving the database structure and queries you've already built with SQLPage. Iterate quickly on what matters: your problem domain model, not your fancy... Source: about 3 years ago

• Introducing SQLPage : write websites entirely in SQL

  Hey ! Sure ! The homepage mentions a few use cases, but to sum it up in one sentence, it's : Build an app in an afternoon, without locking yourself into a proprietary ecosystem that doesn't scale. Source: about 3 years ago

• Introducing SQLPage : write websites entirely in SQL

  SQLPage is a web server that executes .sql files and renders the result as web pages, allowing the creation of entire dynamic websites in SQL. Source: about 3 years ago

• Is ORM still an anti-pattern?

  SQL is much more powerful than most people think, and taking an afternoon to learn everything you can do with it is a great investment. After you do that, you will probably not WANT an ORM anymore, finding that it makes your code less readable than plain sql, not simpler. Actually, you'll even realize that you may not need anything BUT sql to write your application, using something like (shameless plug) SQLPage... - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago

• SQLPage

  SQLPage is a web server that takes your .sql files, executes them on demand with parameters coming from the web request, and formats the results using pre-built web components that you can assemble to build full dynamic websites. Source: about 3 years ago