DEV Community: DronaHQ

Introducing DronaHQ Forms - Unlimited forms, unlimited responses

Gayatri Sachdeva — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 08:37:29 +0000

Instantly generate forms directly from your existing database schemas, eliminating manual setup and reducing errors. Unlimited responses, multi-lingual UI, hyper-personalisation–transform how you collect and activate data.

As a business in today’s day and age—if you need to capture your client's feedback, generate leads, or gauge market demand to plan your products and services—how would you go about collecting this information?

Forms. Surveys. Quizzes. Data collection forms are as vital as a stable internet connection. Are they not?

The importance of forms (or rather, data collection) can’t be overstated. Seamlessly integrating into websites, popping up at the end of a service or product experience, and always there, gathering the essential bits and bytes that fuel business decisions. But not all form builders are created equal.

Building on a legacy of innovation

For years, DronaHQ has empowered teams to create sophisticated applications with ease. Our platform has always included the capability to build forms as part of comprehensive apps—integrating seamlessly with databases, automating workflows, and enhancing collaboration.

With the launch of our dedicated Form Builder, we’re taking that capability to the next level. This tool abstracts the form-building process into a streamlined, standalone experience, allowing you to create forms more quickly and with greater control—while still benefiting from the robust features of the DronaHQ platform.

Try DronaHQ Forms Now >

Why we built DronaHQ Forms

In a digital ecosystem brimming with generic form builders, the process of collecting and managing data can often be restrictive and inefficient. Many traditional form builders come with limitations that hinder your operations—restricted layouts, caps on the number of responses you can collect, and limited options for branding and themes. These tools often fall short when it comes to creating complex workflows, forcing you to adapt your processes to fit their constraints rather than the other way around.

Even when these tools do manage to collect data effectively, they can struggle to integrate smoothly with other systems. This often means spending extra time and resources on additional steps to ensure your data flows where it’s needed, leading to inefficiencies and potential errors.

DronaHQ’s Forms eliminates these frustrations by offering unlimited responses, extensive customization options, and seamless integration with your existing workflows. You get the freedom to design forms that truly fit your needs, without the headaches of traditional tools.

Try DronaHQ Forms Now >

DronaHQ stands out by eliminating the need for disjointed tools and patchwork solutions.

Integration gaps: Many form builders offer limited integration capabilities, making it difficult for businesses to connect data seamlessly with other systems. Our form builder provides deep, native integration, ensuring that data collected through forms flows directly into your operational workflows without manual intervention.
Inflexible data handling: Traditional form builders often trap data in silos, hindering real-time data processing and analysis. DronaHQ’s solution facilitates dynamic data interactions and automates processes right from data collection, allowing for immediate actionable insights.
Limited customization and poor UX: We recognized the need for a highly customizable form builder that does not compromise on user experience. Our platform allows for extensive customization to maintain brand consistency and ensures a seamless experience across all devices, adapting to user inputs in real time.
Security and compliance: DronaHQ Forms is designed with top-tier security measures and compliance standards in mind, providing options for on-premise hosting (adhering to global regulations like GDPR and HIPAA). You can self-host the form builder!

Learn how to use DronaHQ Forms >

What does the Form Builder promise?

In addition to a dedicated UI to build forms, DronaHQ Forms delivers capabilities like:

1.Multi-User Platform with User Management & Access Control: Manage multiple users within your organization seamlessly. Assign roles, set permissions, and ensure that your team collaborates efficiently while maintaining control over who can access and modify forms.

Automatic Form Generation: When you add a data source, the form builder intelligently generates a form tailored to your specific needs, streamlining the setup process and optimizing the form for your data.
Dynamic Data Mapping: Whether starting from scratch or modifying an existing form, connect directly to your data sources (or DronaHQ Database), and the form builder will automatically map form fields to database columns, simplifying data management and reducing setup time.
Unlimited Form Responses: Unlike many other form builders that impose limits, DronaHQ Forms allows you to collect unlimited responses, ensuring your forms can scale with your projects without any additional costs.
Custom Branding and Custom Domain: Customize your forms with your branding, including logos, colours, and themes. You can also use a custom domain to host your forms, ensuring they align perfectly with your brand identity and provide a professional experience for users.
Form Field Recall and Customization: As users fill out forms, fields can auto-fill based on previously entered information, improving the user experience. Additionally, you can create custom variables and hidden fields to build dynamic forms that adapt to user inputs.
Actions and Dynamic Forms (UX): Set up forms to trigger actions like updates and notifications automatically. Build forms that adapt to user inputs, making them more engaging and easier to complete.
Single Sign-On (SSO): Integrate Single Sign-On (SSO) to simplify the login process for users, ensuring secure and streamlined access to your forms within your organization. 9.** Flexible Form Sharing** and Offline Capability: Share your forms via custom URLs, embed them on websites, or distribute them through mobile apps. They also work offline, allowing you to collect data anywhere, anytime.
Add PDF Form Reports: Automatically generate PDF reports from submitted form data, streamlining the process of sharing and analyzing results.
Self-Hosting for Enhanced Security: For added control, host DronaHQ Forms on your servers, ensuring compliance with security standards and maintaining full control over your data.
Dedicated Support: With our form builder, you receive dedicated support to assist with setup, customization, and any technical challenges you may encounter, ensuring that your forms function optimally.

Try DronaHQ Forms Now >

Real-world applications

Customers have long utilized DronaHQ to power diverse data collection use cases. From offline-enabled mobile inspection forms and in-store order capture to multi-screen website lead generation forms and dynamic lead magnets, our platform has been integral to seamless data collection and integration.

IT Teams and managers: Very easily oversee and manage the use of forms across the organization with a focus on security, data privacy, and compliance. DronaHQ Forms offers advanced security features, including self-hosting options and integration with your existing IT infrastructure, providing peace of mind that all data collected aligns with your organization’s security policies.
Developers and engineers: Simplify the creation of secure, scalable forms without the need for extensive front-end development. The Form Builder boosts efficiency by enabling developers to focus on more complex tasks, leaving form creation to a solution that doesn’t compromise security or scalability.
Operations managers: Utilize the Form Builder for internal processes like data collection, compliance checks, inspections, and audits. With automation and workflow capabilities, DronaHQ simplifies these tasks, ensuring that critical operational data is captured accurately and efficiently integrated into your existing systems.
HR teams: Streamline your HR processes with customizable forms for job applications, employee feedback, onboarding, and training evaluations. The Form Builder’s ease of use, data privacy features, and seamless integration with HR systems make it an invaluable tool for managing employee interactions and data securely.
Sales and marketing teams: Leverage the Form Builder for lead generation, customer feedback, event registrations, and email list sign-ups. With integration capabilities for CRM systems, email marketing platforms, and analytics tools, you can ensure that all collected data is actionable and feeds directly into your marketing workflows.

Existing DronaHQ users can now empower other teams to independently create forms, reducing the development load and fostering innovation across departments.

Feedback from users who trust DronaHQ

A game-changer - incredibly powerful, yet ridiculously user-friendly. It enabled me to effortlessly gather inputs, add forms with ease, and even pre-fill them.
— Head of Engineering at a leading e-commerce beauty site.

Switched over to DronaHQ from Typeform - Knew that, in addition to saving bucks, I'd also experience a much easier form-building experience, be able to create groups, add logic, add my branding, without missing ANY of the Typeform features. It's been a positive upgrade all around!
— Senior Engineer at Tire Manufacturing firm.

Our vision

DronaHQ's journey began with a clear vision: to transform how businesses build operational applications. Recognizing the gaps left by traditional and even newer AI-powered form builders—limited integration, rigid data handling, and a lack of real-time operational capability—DronaHQ set out to craft a solution that not only gathers data but turns it into an instant asset. This vision was fueled by our commitment to enable seamless digital experiences, making data collection a dynamic part of business workflows.

Start exploring DronaHQ Forms

DronaHQ Forms is now in beta and available for you to explore. If you already have a DronaHQ account, you can start using the form builder right away. For those new to DronaHQ, sign up for a free trial and experience firsthand how our form builder can revolutionize your data collection and integration processes.

Try DronaHQ Forms Now > Learn how to use DronaHQ Forms >

Implementing Self-Service Operations for Internal Developer Teams

Gayatri Sachdeva — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 10:30:04 +0000

Software developers need tools, documentation, resources, and support to build, deploy, and manage software applications efficiently. Reliance on external teams and dependencies often slows development down and hinders optimal results. Developer self-service offers a solution to these challenges, empowering developers to work more autonomously.

Importance of Developer Self-Service

Before diving into the practical aspects, it’s crucial to understand why developer self-service is essential. Reducing dependencies and streamlining processes can lead to significant improvements in productivity and innovation. Here’s a closer look at the benefits:

Empowerment: Developers gain control over their work with access to all necessary tools and resources.
Efficiency: Reduces dependency on external teams, accelerating the development process.
Increased Productivity: Streamlines workflow with a centralized platform of tools and services.
Innovation: Encourages experimentation and new techniques without waiting for external approvals.
Collaboration: Fosters knowledge-sharing and community-building among developers.

Addressing Friction between DevOps and Developers

The dynamic between DevOps and developers often includes inherent challenges. These challenges can create friction, affecting the efficiency and harmony of the development process. Some common issues include:

Contrasting Priorities: Developers focus on new features, while operations prioritize stability and security, leading to conflicts over rapid changes versus stability.
Communication Gaps: Misunderstandings due to poor communication can delay performance and efficiency.
Inefficient Workflows: Lack of automation and manual processes cause bottlenecks, slowing down product release timelines.
Lack of Visibility: Inadequate monitoring and visibility into software performance during production lead to uncertainties.
Misaligned Expectations: Differing views on timelines, infrastructure needs, and resource allocation result in bottlenecks.
Inconsistent Development Environments: Unstable or outdated environments cause compatibility issues and delays, leading to lower quality software.

The Need for Developer Self-Service and Internal Developer Platforms

To overcome these challenges, internal developer platforms (IDPs) and self-service practices play a pivotal role. These platforms promote collaboration, streamline workflows, and empower developers. Here’s how:

Better Collaboration and Communication: Centralized hubs for interaction and knowledge sharing reduce conflict and improve team understanding.
Automation and Streamlined Workflow: Tools for automated builds, deployments, and CI/CD pipelines reduce delays and increase consistency.
Consistent Development Environments: Standardized, pre-configured environments eliminate conflicts and improve the developer experience.
Higher Security and Compliance: Centralized control ensures adherence to security measures and compliance with standards.
Enhanced Innovation: Ready access to tools and resources fosters experimentation and quicker time-to-market.

Practical Steps to Implement Self-Service Operations

Implementing self-service operations involves several strategic steps. Here’s a practical guide:

Assess Current Processes: Evaluate existing processes to identify areas where self-service can be introduced, focusing on repetitive tasks and bottlenecks.
Select the Right Tools: Choose automation tools, self-service platforms, and monitoring solutions that align with your organization's needs, considering scalability, ease of use, and integration capabilities.
Design the Self-Service Portal: Create a user-friendly portal that provides easy access to resources, ensuring it is well-documented and intuitive for developers to use.
Implement Automation: Automate repetitive tasks and workflows including setting up CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure provisioning.
Train and Onboard: Conduct training sessions to familiarize developers with the new self-service operations, providing comprehensive documentation and support.
Monitor and Optimize: Continuously monitor performance, using analytics to gather insights and make data-driven improvements, regularly updating the system based on feedback.

Popular Benefits of Internal Developer Portals

The most popular use cases for internal developer portals among customers include:

Discoverability and Context: Creating a comprehensive software catalogue that includes all company resources enables developers to find what they need and reduces unnecessary duplication.
Driving Organizational Standards: Using scorecards to define clear standards for production readiness, code quality, and operational performance.
Shipping Faster to Production: Providing developer self-service capabilities that allow developers to perform routine tasks without filing tickets or waiting for other teams.
API Governance: Enriching API metadata in the software catalogue and using scorecards to ensure API quality and compliance.
Simplifying Kubernetes for Developers: Abstracting Kubernetes complexity and providing self-service actions for developers.
Reducing Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR): Using the portal for incident management, providing context, and automating runbooks.
Migrations: Ensuring services, APIs, and packages use the most up-to-date versions.
Engineering Metrics and Insights: Creating reports and dashboards on engineering metrics, including DORA metrics.
Optimizing and Contextualizing Cloud Costs: Associating resources with their costs in the software catalogue and driving cost reduction initiatives.
Managing Feature Flags: Providing context and self-service actions for managing feature flags.

How Can Low-Code Help You Implement a Platform Engineering Approach?

Low-code platforms transform internal self-serve tool development, perfectly aligning with platform engineering principles. Low-code platforms offer a significant advantage in implementing a platform engineering approach by enabling rapid development and deployment of applications, supporting composable architecture, which allows developers to create reusable components quickly.

Modern low-code platforms, like DronaHQ, support composable architecture. This design pattern allows developers to create reusable components to build applications more quickly while also supporting an engineering approach that ensures these components meet the most stringent non-functional requirements like security and scalability.

For example, a team can use a low-code platform to develop a custom dashboard that integrates with CI/CD pipelines, allowing developers to monitor builds, deployments, and system health in real time without relying on DevOps specialists. This reduces operational dependencies and empowers developers to manage their workflows independently.

Furthermore, low-code tools can enforce standardized policies and guardrails, ensuring that all deployments adhere to security and compliance standards automatically. This combination of self-service and governance fosters an environment where developers can innovate rapidly while maintaining the integrity and security of the development lifecycle, making it ideal for teams of all sizes.

Example: API Downtime Management

Imagine a company that relies heavily on multiple APIs for its operations. Downtime in any of these APIs can disrupt services and affect customer satisfaction. Using a low-code platform, the company can develop a self-serve tool to manage API downtime efficiently within days and boast features such as Real-Time Monitoring Dashboard, Automated Incident Reporting, Self-Serve Recovery Actions, and Integration with Communication Tools.

Conclusion

Implementing self-service operations for internal developer teams enhances efficiency, reduces bottlenecks, and improves the overall developer experience. Leveraging automation tools, self-service portals, APIs, and comprehensive documentation empowers developers to work independently and innovate faster.

Low-code platforms like DronaHQ play a crucial role in this transition by simplifying development, enhancing collaboration, improving automation, and ensuring governance and compliance. For businesses looking to revolutionize their development operations, embracing a low-code approach can empower developers, drive innovation, and accelerate the journey towards more efficient software development processes.

Introducing Themes in DronaHQ: Pre-sets, dark mode, more

Gayatri Sachdeva — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 13:25:58 +0000

DronaHQ's groundbreaking Themes eliminate common frontend design struggles, offering design support for both light and dark modes, enabling dynamic theme changes, and deep customization.

No-code Low-code does not mean no-customization, monotonous, boring designs!

DronaHQ Themes promise your low-code apps can be as vibrant and stunning as pro-code counterparts.

Create visually stunning, functionally superior applications!

Learn more about the update
Book a demo with a specialist
Try DronaHQ for FREE (Now get 30-day Business Plan Trial)

Theme Creation | Arcade

app.arcade.software

Introducing DronaHQ-hosted SQL Database for Low-code Apps

Aaikansh Agrawal — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 11:32:13 +0000

What an enthralling journey it has been for us this year! As we take a moment to reflect on the milestones achieved and the incredible support from our cherished customers and the vibrant community of developers, we’re thrilled to unveil something that truly marks the next level of innovation on our platform. Introducing the all-new DronaHQ Database: Power of SQL, simplicity of spreadsheet, high speed all the way!

TL;DR

Built on PostgreSQL offering a secure solution for storing and managing data.
Spreadsheet-like interface for interacting with data, allowing users to add, edit, delete, and search records.
Cloud management on DronaHQ Cloud, ensuring reliability and accessibility.
CSV import and export are supported so users get flexibility in data usage and sharing.
Query and transformation to interact with the data and allow integration of database data into DronaHQ apps seamlessly.
Free trial license allows users to experience the database feature with 1 GB of storage for free.

Inspirations and aspirations

The addition of the Database to DronaHQ comes from our observations, conversations, and lessons learned. Despite the rise of digital transformations and powerful tools, we’ve noticed a common challenge persisting across businesses:

1. Dependance on existing data sources: Customers of DronaHQ generally leverage their own data sources to build applications on top of. But, we sometimes see greenfield applications being built that don’t need customers to rely on their existing data sources. Such as data collection forms, manufacturing log books etc. These are best built on top of a managed database.

2. Spreadsheet chaos still persists: At DronaHQ, over the past year we’ve had many interactions where customers have digital tools — the good ones — and still there is a lot of spreadsheet chaos across various business operations — from something as simple as employee data collection to a more complex ticket support management data. Excel-like spreadsheets are not true databases lack the features of true databases, such as interfaces for managing updates, workflows, and permissions.

3. Dependency on all stakeholders for our tool evaluation: Relying on all stakeholders for tool evaluation can lead to delays in realizing platform capabilities in the initial stages. Decision-makers often struggle in assessing the frontend capabilities without involving their entire team in the initial testing phase. Integrating a pre-built database into the system allows evaluators to seamlessly operate within the builder without any reliance on stakeholders.

4. No-code developers: Low-code technology is as inclusive as it gets. In addition to developers and product managers, we have seen a slew of no-code operators use DronaHQ to build simpler applications without wanting much dependency on the complexities of connecting to data sources.

5. Tied up in more complex software: Some customers we engage with find themselves entangled in unnecessarily complex software, such as Salesforce, only to discover that an upgrade from Excel spreadsheets to a simple database would more effectively meet their requirements.

The SQL power play with the spreadsheet simplicity

Our aim is simple: empower you to navigate the complexities of data management with the power of SQL and the simplicity of a spreadsheet. Built on the formidable foundation of PostgreSQL, it is a secure, cloud-hosted solution managed by DronaHQ offering the muscle of PostgreSQL without the hassles.

Database enables you to effortlessly store and access tables of data. Add, edit, and delete records seamlessly through a visually intuitive interface. without any complex SQL queries required.

Speed, versatility, and efficiency-all bundled into one, the database is perfect for when you are:

Evaluating the platforms frontend and automation capabilities for custom app development.
Need an upgrade from spreadsheets that are error-prone.
Adopting a data-centric approach for quick beta testing of app features (you may want to check out Environments ).
Having no need to integrate your organizational data sources.
Seeking seamless integration to simplify your workflow.
Scaling your business and need a flexible, no-code, growth-ready database.
Empowering citizen developers without diving into complex coding.
Prioritizing data security with managed storage on DronaHQ Cloud.

Access and explore DronaHQ Database

Getting started is a breeze! Simply navigate to the Connector’s tab on DronaHQ Cloud, locate the Database within the DronaHQ Managed section, and let the magic unfold. Activate your trial license for 1 GB of free database storage.

Under the hood, how it works with DronaHQ frontend app builder:

You can integrate and query DronaHQ Database seamlessly into your apps. Build subqueries, bind them to controls on your screen, and watch your app come to life.

Seamless Integration: Integrate your database effortlessly with the DronaHQ Frontend App Builder. No more friction between backend and frontend development.
Schema Changes Made Easy: Inspect and release schema changes without breaking a sweat. DronaHQ Database and Frontend App Builder dance in harmony, ensuring your app evolves effortlessly.

Read about all DronaHQ Database features here.

Not sure where to begin your exploration? Build an AI app using DronaHQ database as backend and OpenAI connector. Say you upgrade from Google Sheets or Excel to Database, create a frontend in App builder, use GPT-4 connector, and enable a Chatbot that fetches any information you prompt it to from the Database.

Other powerful apps you can explore: Calendar-based appointment booking system, Embeddable form and submit to Database, Web app without code, Automate ETL tasks in DronaHQ Automation and use Database as data source.

Alongside the DronaHQ Database, there’s a world of exciting features waiting for you. From app-building tools to no-code automation, explore the possibilities and unleash the full potential of the DronaHQ platform.

DronaHQ Database is currently in beta. Your feedback is invaluable as we fine-tune and enhance the experience. We invite you to explore, experiment, and share your thoughts with us. Activate Database free trial.

Creating your first React Native table vs DronaHQ table! which one is easy?

Aaikansh Agrawal — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 14:50:35 +0000

Many business applications, data management systems, project management tools, and dashboards rely heavily on table grids to display and manage data. In data-heavy applications, table grids are often a central component.

Table grids are a fantastic user interface component that can handle and present large volumes of data in an easy-to-understand and navigable manner. Their versatility also allows for performing complex data operations, including sorting, filtering, and pagination.

Building table grids can be complex and challenging for frontend developers due to a variety of reasons:

Data Variability: Table grids often need to display various types of data with differing structures and content. This requires handling dynamic data rendering, sorting, filtering, and grouping, which can be challenging to implement in a consistent and efficient manner.

Performance: Rendering large datasets efficiently is crucial for a responsive user interface. Optimizing rendering, pagination, and handling real-time updates without causing performance issues can be difficult.

Responsive Design: Making table grids responsive across different devices and screen sizes requires careful design and development to ensure that the data remains readable and usable.

Accessibility: Ensuring that table grids are accessible to users with disabilities is essential. This includes proper labeling, keyboard navigation, and compatibility with assistive technologies.

User Interactions: Implementing features like sorting, filtering, selection, and inline editing can be complex. Coordinating these interactions seamlessly while maintaining a smooth user experience adds to the complexity.

Cross-Browser Compatibility: Different web browsers may render elements differently, so ensuring consistent behavior and appearance across various browsers can be challenging.

Data Formatting: Tables often display various types of data, such as text, numbers, dates, and images. Formatting and displaying these data types appropriately can be tricky.

Customization: Many applications require the ability to customize the appearance and behavior of table grids according to the application’s branding and user preferences. This adds an additional layer of complexity.

State Management: Handling the state of the table grid, including filters, sorting orders, and selected rows, requires robust state management to ensure data consistency and maintain a good user experience.

Internationalization: If an application needs to support multiple languages and regions, handling localized content within the table can be challenging.

We’ll be covering building of table grids with React and DronaHQ, focusing on the following key features:

Sorting
Filtering
Pagination + page size
Edit cells

Creating a table on React

Before diving into the nitty-gritty of building our table grid, we need to set up a few essential libraries that will help us achieve our goals.

React Native Paper: This fantastic library provides an array of UI components tailored for React Native, and among them is the DataTable component we’ll be using for our table grid.

React Native DataTable: Extending the functionality of the DataTable component, this library equips us with additional features like sorting, filtering, and pagination.

1. State Management with React Hooks: The component uses React’s “useState” hook to manage various states such as “tableData”, “currentPage”, “searchText”, “sortColumnIndex”, “sortAscending”, and “pageSize”. The “useState” hook allows functional components to have local state without using class components.

2. Data Pagination: The component implements data pagination, allowing users to navigate through different pages of data. The “nextPage” and “prevPage” functions handle page navigation, and “currentPage” and “totalPages” help determine the current page and the total number of pages. The “pageSize” state allows users to change the number of items displayed per page.

3. Data Sorting: The component allows users to sort the data based on different columns (Name, Age, Occupation) in ascending or descending order. The “handleSort” function sorts the data based on the selected column. The “sortColumnIndex” state keeps track of the column on which sorting is applied, and the “sortAscending” state determines the sort order.

4. Data Filtering/Search: The component provides a search input for users to filter the displayed data based on the entered text. The “handleSearch” function updates the “searchText” state and filters the data accordingly. The “filteredData” state stores the filtered data based on the search text, and the “paginatedFilteredData” state contains the filtered data for the current page.

5. Editing Cell Data: Each cell in the table is represented by a TextInput component, which allows users to edit the data in the cells. The “handleCellChange” function updates the “tableData” state when a cell value is modified. It calculates the correct index in the data array based on the current page and updates the specific cell data accordingly.

6. Styling with React Native StyleSheet: The component uses React Native’s “StyleSheet.create” to define the styling rules for various elements such as container, searchInput, headerRow, headerCell, row, cell, and pagination components. This helps in maintaining a clear separation between the presentation and logic in the component.

7. React Native Components: The component makes use of various React Native components like View, Text, Pressable, TextInput, and Picker to build the UI. These components provide a native-like look and feel to the application and ensure cross-platform compatibility.

8. Pagination and Page Size Options: The component includes pagination controls that allow users to navigate to the previous and next pages of data. Additionally, it provides a Picker component to change the page size dynamically, enabling users to choose how many items they want to view per page.

Creating a table on DronaHQ

While the Table Grid is a formidable tabular UI component, DronaHQ distinguishes itself by offering a pre-constructed table grid control embedded with essential CRUD capabilities such as adding, editing, and deleting.

The Table Grid UI control by DronaHQ presents an extensive range of table functionalities encompassing diverse data types, such as files, URLs, Geolocation, DateTime, and more. These options empower users to include and peruse more intricate details.

Through this functionality, users gain the ability to access information from various data sources (such as Postgres, Mongo, Firebase, Google Sheets, etc.), merge data across different sources (like combining customer ticket data from Zendesk with order data from MySQL), and seamlessly manipulate distinct data attributes within a unified data table.

This table grid confers users to effortlessly link and use all their data within a singular platform, enabling the creation of uncomplicated applications.

How to configure Table Grid in DronaHQ

Step 1: Create an account on DronaHQ, or if you already have an account sign in to studio

Step 2: Open any app you have already created or have access to, or create a blank application.

Step 3: Open the control section from the left panel, and search for the table grid control. Then just drag and drop it onto the screen.

Once you have added a table grid to the app screen, you can now bind data to it.

After the data is fetched into the table let’s see how filtering, sorting, pagination, and editing the cells works in DronaHQ.

1. Filtering & Sorting

DronaHQ gives you a straightforward solution for implementing filtering and sorting within a table. There’s no requirement to write code or perform any complex tasks.

For implementing sorting in the table grid, you just need to toggle on the Sorting property. This empowers end users to establish sorting criteria that persist even when they return to the screen, as the sorting preferences become the default.

To activate filters within the table grid, simply toggle on the Filters property. This enables users to set filter conditions based on the data types assigned to various columns. Notably, distinct user interfaces are presented for varying data types, enhancing usability.

2. Pagination

For utilizing this functionality, you’ll need to activate the “Allow” option within the pagination group. Additionally, your API must have pagination support to make use of this capability. DronaHQ accommodates two pagination methods: limit offset-based and cursor-based. You’re also given the flexibility to determine where the pagination bar is positioned through the Pagination Bar Location property setting.

Learn more about it here

3. Edit cells

Once you’ve linked data to the table grid control, you gain the ability to enable column editing and perform real-time data edits directly within the respective cells. To achieve this, navigate to the Property section where you’ll find a dropdown labeled “Choose columns that will be editable.” Here, you can select the specific columns you wish to render editable.

Modifications can now be applied to the rows within the editable columns. Following any alterations, a “Save Changes” button becomes available, complete with a trigger dependency that facilitates the initiation of an event to record the edits within the backend database. For further insights on editing rows within the table grid and its practical applications, additional information is available here.

Simplifying Data Management with DronaHQ and React

In this comparison between building tables using React and DronaHQ, we’ve seen two approaches. In the React part, we dived into coding and saw how things can get complex. On the other hand, DronaHQ offered a quicker path. With just a toggle, you could set up filtering, sorting, pagination, and even edit cells on the spot.

React gives you precise control but takes more time and effort. DronaHQ, however, makes things easy. You choose between customization (React) and customization with convenience (DronaHQ). Whether you code with React or go for DronaHQ’s simplicity, the end goal of managing data effectively is achievable.

Overall, the challenges and complexity associated with building table grids stem from the need to balance various factors such as data representation, performance, user experience, and customization while ensuring the final product meets the requirements of the application and its users.

Get started building tables on DronaHQ now. Sign up for free!

Building a dynamic frontend UI for Neon’s serverless postgres

Smit Mange — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 06:39:27 +0000

Building a frontend user interface from scratch can be time-consuming, but with the help of low-code platforms like DronaHQ, developers can create custom UIs quickly and efficiently. In this tutorial, we will explore how to leverage DronaHQ’s capabilities to build a rich frontend UI that connects to Neon, a serverless Postgres database. By following a few simple steps, you can create an admin tool or a lead management app with ease.

What is Neon?

Neon is open-source serverless Postgres built for the cloud.

With Neon, developers can focus on application development without worrying about managing and scaling infrastructure.

Neon provides features such as data branching, on-demand scalability, and bottomless storage, making it an ideal choice for modern applications.

What is DronaHQ?

DronaHQ is a leading low-code platform designed to accelerate the development and deployment of comprehensive internal tools. It offers an intuitive interface to developers to create multi-screen web and mobile applications by simply dragging and dropping UI components. With DronaHQ, developers can connect to any database or API, making it a versatile platform for building robust frontend user interfaces.

At DronaHQ, we pride ourselves on our developer-centric approach. We have found that the powerful features offered by Neon DB also complement DronaHQ’s low-code capabilities.

As mentioned above, Neon.tech offers a fully managed multi-cloud Postgres while DronaHQ is compatible with PostgreSQL from the start, giving you the ability to quickly create all of the functionality you need for a custom operational tool like an admin panel along with data visualization and manipulation, activity logs, permission controls, automations, PDF report generation, dashboards, and much more.

This compatibility between the two technologies significantly simplifies the process of creating an admin panel for a Neon.tech Postgres database, eliminating the need for developers to build from scratch.

Set up your database on Neon

Step 1: Sign up on Neon and create a new project

Visit the Neon website and sign up for an account. Once you have signed up, create a new project in Neon. This project will serve as the backend for your DronaHQ application.

Step 2: Obtain the connection string

After creating the project in Neon, navigate to the project dashboard. In the dashboard, you will find the connection string for your database. This connection string is required to establish a connection between Neon and DronaHQ.

Designing the admin tool in DronaHQ

Step 1: Adding Neon as a data source in DronaHQ

DronaHQ offers an exhaustive list of ready connectors to databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL, MS SQL, MongoDB, etc. (you can explore the entire list of connectors here > dronahq.com/integrations)

In this tutorial, we use the PostgreSQL ready connector to add Neon as a data source.

Head over to ‘Connectors’, select Postgres
Enter the Connector Name
The most important part of the process is to provide the connection string. It will be dependent upon the different types of relational databses that you might want to use. You would now need to add the Connection string or the connection parameters

Step 2: Adding queries to Neon (Postgres) connector

Now that you have configured the connector you will find it under the Custom Database connectors list. Further to fetch data or undertake any other action, click the Add query option available after your connection is ready.

Here you can add your queries – simple as well as complex ones. On the right-hand side of the screen, you can see the list of tables from the database. You can expand the tables to view the fields from the table. You’ll need to configure two queries for our use case –

Insert data
Get data

[Bonus] Using OpenAI enabled Ask AI you can type prompts to generate queries (read more)

Step 3: Designing the Tabular UI for the Admin Tool

We are interfacing with a sales lead database and building a lead management app.

On the left menu, click on “Apps,” and then click on the “ + “ sign to start building your app.
To kick things off we will add a Table Grid
Go to its data binding properties and click on ‘Quick Select’ and then ‘Connector Library’
Then a new tray will open from the bottom which you can use to bind your data with the tablegrid. We created a bunch of Data queries to pull our sales lead data from the Neon database.
Then you can use the right sidebar section to configure which columns you want to add/hide/remove from your tablegrid control.

Bonus: Format Data for UI beautification and aesthetic. Learn more

You can also configure Tablegrid properties to enable search, filter, sort. Options to perform CRUD operations and more, by just turning on the Toggle switch
To kick things off we will add a Table Grid
Go to its data binding properties and click on ‘Quick Select’ and then ‘Connector Library’
Then a new tray will open from the bottom which you can use to bind your data with the tablegrid. We created a bunch of Data queries to pull our sales lead data from the Neon database.
Then you can use the right sidebar section to configure which columns you want to add/hide/remove from your tablegrid control. Bonus: Format Data for UI beautification and aesthetic. Learn more
You can also configure Tablegrid properties to enable search, filter, sort. Options to perform CRUD operations and more, by just turning on the Toggle switch
We set up some quick filters for easier data interactions
We went ahead and created a new screen, dropped some display UI controls like ‘Dashboard’, ‘Plotly-enabled Charts’ and more to create a dashboard view for our sales leads captured. The process to pull data for each of the UI components remains the same as above.
You can use JavaScript to transform any data you pull from your Neon database. For the Bar Graph for example, we wrote custom JS to pull leads data for the Interval and Year selected in the drop down menus (as in screenshot above)

Screenshots of the final Admin view and Dashboard view:

(Enabled by turning on the ‘Add Data’ toggle in the Table grid properties and a simple data collection screen to the app that button click navigates to)

We also added a Menu screen to ease out navigation within the app. Read here how you can create different screen types in DronaHQ > Screens, Layouts and Navigation

To Edit Rows:

You can use the tablegrid’s inline editing feature to Edit your data from the table itself.

You can add the columns that you want to edit from the table in the Properties section of the tablegrid

Then in the Save changes event of the table grid you can write the logic for the inline editing.

First add a iterate task to edit multiple rows at a time.

The in the JS code add a small JSCode to sanitize the data from the the current instance of the Iterate task.

Then take the JS Codes output and store them in a variable to be used in the Postgres query.

Then add the output of the JSCode to your queries dynamic fields.

At the end add a “Run Data Queries” to refresh the table and fetch the newly edited data in the table.

DronaHQ has a growing library of native integrations to let you pull in and combine data from different sources, including your databases and APIs. So you can easily design tools that join data from Neon to data from your other repositories.

If you’re interested in using a database that is not listed on our website as an integration, please let us know about it by raising a request on our community and we will do our best to include it at the earliest.

Join our growing community on Discord, and follow us on Youtube and Twitter to stay up to date.

How to embed Twilio conversations in a DronaHQ app to send SMSs and WhatsApp messages.

Smit Mange — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 06:39:10 +0000

DronaHQ is a low-code platform that allows you to build enterprise applications quickly and easily. One of the most common use cases for enterprise applications is sending SMSs and WhatsApp messages to customers, employees, or other stakeholders. Twilio is a cloud communications platform that provides APIs for sending SMSs and WhatsApp messages. In this blog, we’ll show you how to embed Twilio Conversations in a custom DronaHQ app to capture customer ratings and send SMSs.

Tools:

Twilio – a cloud communications platform
DronaHQ – a low-code platform for building custom applications

Prerequisites:

Twilio account
DronaHQ account

Twilio Setup

Verify your phone number
Twilio Conversations, you must first verify the phone number you plan to use for outbound messaging. This verification step is mandatory only for Twilio trial accounts. Twilio Conversations also supports several other messaging channels, including in-app messaging, Facebook Messenger that you can configure for your use case.
Obtaining the Account SID and Auth Token for your project.
a. Create an API Key
Create an API Key and note the API Key SID (string identifier) and Secret for later. The API Key will authenticate and authorize you to interact with Twilio APIs.
b. Create a Twilio Conversations Service
Create a Conversation Service and note the Conversation Service SID for later. A Conversation Service is a top-level container for other resources in the Twilio Conversations REST API.

DronaHQ Setup

Configuring the DronaHQ REST API connector for Twilio a. Once logged in to your DronaHQ account, head over to ‘Connectors’ and look for the Twilio icon. b. Enter the Account SID and Auth Token generated in the above steps and click on Save. Your Twilio connector is now configured and ready to be used to send SMSs.
Creating the UI in DronaHQ a. Create a blank application, and add two text input controls for the user name and email. Add a phone control for the phone number to which we want to send the messages to. Also, add rating and text area control for rating and feedback description respectively. At the end add a button, on whose “button_click” action we will configure the Twilio send SMS event. b. To configure the Twilio SMS event, click on the “Submit Form” button and then the flash icon on the right.

–Firstly add a Validate Screen action, which will check for all the validations and mandatory fields have been filled or not.

-Then add a “Compute” action which will be used to concatenate our phone number to the country code provided by the Phone control. You can use the CONCATENATE() function here like “CONCATENATE( phone.country , phone.number)”

–Then, add a “Set Message” action to set a message for your SMS with dynamic values.

–Add the Twilio connector from the server-side actions.

–Then, select “Send Message” Ready API.

-Select your account from the respective Environment.

-Then bind the “Message Text” with the “message” action we created, “Recipient’s Number” with the concatenated phone number from the action flow, and at the end add the “Sender’s Number” from Twilio.

–In the end, on the “SUCCESS” side of the Twilio action add a “Toast”, to be present on the screen when the Twilio Send Message action performs successfully.

–Following a similar set of steps you can configure the Twilio connector once again to send WhatsApp messages. You will need to add “whatsapp: “ before adding the sender’s and recipient’s numbers.

–Now, you can preview your app and check by submitting the form that will send an SMS and WhatsApp message to the phone provided in the phone control.

Conclusion

In conclusion, by combining the power of Twilio’s cloud communications platform and DronaHQ’s low-code platform, you can create a personalized messaging app for enhancing the in-store customer experience. This tutorial has guided you through the process of embedding Twilio Conversations in a custom DronaHQ app to send SMS and WhatsApp messages.

You can configure the Twilio API to send WhatsApp messages, configure bidirectional SMSes, make a call and more. The UI design created in DronaHQ for capturing customer ratings and feedback can be easily repurposed to capture additional data as per the specific use case requirements. By integrating Twilio capabilities into your DronaHQ app, you have a powerful tool at your disposal to enable seamless communication and data capture with your customers.

Zero to MVP: A Roadmap for Product Managers

Smit Mange — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 06:38:49 +0000

As a product manager working in the fast-paced world of SaaS companies, I have experienced firsthand the exhilarating journey of taking an idea from zero to a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The role of a product manager is multifaceted, requiring a deep understanding of the market, the ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams, and the skills to prioritize and iterate on features. In this blog, I will guide you through a comprehensive roadmap for product managers, outlining the essential steps and strategies to navigate the Zero to MVP journey successfully. Let’s dive into the exciting world of product management and discover how to turn ideas into reality, one milestone at a time.

MVP unboxed: Decoding the minimum viable product

In the realm of product development, a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the distilled essence of your idea, stripped down to its core functionalities. It serves as a preliminary version of your product that showcases its fundamental value proposition. The concept behind an MVP is to deliver the bare minimum features required to meet your customers’ needs and provide a tangible experience of your product.

For instance, let’s consider a hypothetical mobile app designed to connect fitness enthusiasts. An MVP for this app could include basic features like user registration, profile creation, and the ability to search and connect with other users. By focusing on these core functionalities, you can gather valuable feedback from early users, validate your assumptions, and refine your product in subsequent iterations. Remember, an MVP is not about perfection; it’s about delivering value quickly and iteratively improving based on user feedback.

Delving into customer dynamics: Understanding the pulse of the market

In the journey of creating a successful Minimum Viable Product (MVP), one of the critical steps for product managers is gaining a deep understanding of the market. This process involves comprehensive research, analysis, and staying attuned to the ever-evolving dynamics of the industry. By understanding the market, product managers can make informed decisions and shape the direction of their MVP effectively.

To understand the market, product managers embark on a multi-faceted exploration that encompasses three key sub-sections:

1. Conducting market research:
Thorough market research is the foundation of understanding the landscape in which your product will compete. It involves gathering data, analyzing industry trends, and studying customer behaviors. Through market research, product managers gain insights into customer needs, pain points, and emerging market opportunities. This knowledge forms the bedrock for developing an MVP that addresses real user demands.
2. Identifying target audience and user needs:
Within the broader market, product managers need to identify their specific target audience and understand their unique needs. By creating detailed user personas and conducting user interviews, product managers gain valuable insights into the preferences, motivations, and pain points of their target users. This understanding enables them to tailor the MVP’s features and functionalities to meet the specific requirements of their intended audience.
3. Analyzing competitors and market trends:
A thorough analysis of competitors and market trends is essential for product managers. By studying the competitive landscape, product managers gain insights into existing products, their strengths, weaknesses, and unique selling propositions. This analysis helps identify gaps in the market that the MVP can address, as well as potential differentiators that can make the product stand out.

Crafting a compelling product vision: The north star for MVP success

In the journey from zero to a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), product managers hold the reins in shaping a clear and compelling product vision. By defining the product vision, product managers set the course for development, aligning teams and stakeholders towards a common goal. This crucial step involves three key aspects:

1. Setting clear goals and objectives:
Setting clear goals and objectives is the foundation upon which the product vision is built. Product managers need to establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that guide the MVP development process.
For example, a goal could be to achieve 10,000 active users within the first six months of launching the MVP. Clear goals provide a direction for decision-making, resource allocation, and prioritization throughout the product journey.
2. Creating user personas and user stories:
Understanding the target users is essential to craft an MVP that resonates with their needs and aspirations. Product managers create user personas, which are fictional representations of the ideal customers, based on research and insights. These personas capture demographic details, pain points, motivations, and behaviors, allowing product managers to empathize with their target audience. Building upon the user personas, product managers create user stories that outline specific scenarios, actions, and desired outcomes.
For instance, a user story could be: “As a busy professional, I want a mobile banking app that enables me to easily transfer funds and pay bills on the go.” User stories bring the user perspective to the forefront and serve as guiding principles for feature development.
3. Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs):
To measure the success and impact of the MVP, product managers establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are quantifiable metrics that reflect the achievement of specific business objectives.
For instance, a KPI could be the conversion rate of free trial users to paying customers. By defining KPIs, product managers can track progress, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions. KPIs also ensure that the product remains aligned with the overall business strategy.

Ideation strategies and feature prioritization: Building the MVP blueprint

In the journey of bringing an innovative Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to life, the phase of ideation and prioritization sets the stage for success. Product managers play a critical role in this phase, driving the generation of ideas, analyzing their potential, and strategically prioritizing features. Let’s delve into the three key aspects of ideation and prioritization:

1. Generating ideas and brainstorming:
Ideas are the lifeblood of any successful MVP. Product managers foster an environment of creativity and collaboration to generate a multitude of ideas. Through brainstorming sessions, team discussions, and even input from stakeholders, a rich pool of ideas emerges. The key is to encourage a free flow of thoughts, without judgment, allowing for both wild and practical ideas to surface. By embracing a diverse range of perspectives, product managers can uncover unique solutions and untapped opportunities.
2. Utilizing techniques like SWOT analysis and value proposition canvas:
To evaluate and refine ideas, product managers leverage strategic techniques like SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and the Value Proposition Canvas. SWOT analysis helps identify the internal strengths and weaknesses of the MVP idea, as well as external opportunities and threats posed by the market and competitors. The Value Proposition Canvas helps assess how well the MVP addresses customer needs and creates value compared to alternatives. These techniques provide a structured framework for analyzing and refining ideas, ensuring that only the most promising ones proceed to the next stage.
3. Prioritizing features and creating a product roadmap:
With a pool of ideas at hand, product managers embark on the crucial task of prioritizing features. By considering factors such as customer value, business impact, technical feasibility, and market demand, they strategically decide which features will make it into the MVP. Through careful evaluation and data-informed decision-making, product managers ensure that the selected features align with the product vision and contribute to the overall value proposition. They then create a product roadmap that outlines the sequence and timelines for implementing these features, providing a clear direction for the development team.

Building a cohort of experts for cross-functional MVP delivery

Building a cross-functional team is a crucial step for product managers. By assembling a team with diverse expertise and fostering effective collaboration, product managers set the stage for seamless development and optimal outcomes. Let’s explore the three key aspects of building a cross-functional team:

Roles and responsibilities of product managers:
Product managers play a pivotal role in orchestrating the MVP development process. They act as the glue that binds together the various team members and stakeholders. Product managers define clear roles and responsibilities, ensuring that each team member understands their contributions to the MVP’s success. They provide guidance, support, and leadership, aligning the team towards a common vision and objectives. By clarifying roles, product managers facilitate smooth coordination and accountability within the cross-functional team.

1. Collaboration with designers, engineers, and stakeholders:
Effective collaboration between product managers, designers, engineers, and stakeholders is key to delivering a successful MVP. Product managers collaborate closely with designers to translate user needs and insights into compelling user experiences. They work hand in hand with engineers to ensure the technical feasibility and efficient implementation of features. Additionally, product managers actively engage with stakeholders, including marketing, sales, and customer support teams, to gather feedback, align strategies, and ensure a holistic approach to product development. Through this collaborative effort, the cross-functional team leverages each other’s expertise, leading to a well-rounded MVP that meets user expectations.
2. Effective communication and agile methodologies:
Clear and open communication is paramount for effective cross-functional team collaboration. Product managers foster an environment of transparency and open dialogue, ensuring that information flows smoothly across all team members. They facilitate regular team meetings, stand-ups, and feedback sessions to keep everyone aligned and engaged. Agile methodologies, such as Scrum or Kanban, provide a framework for iterative development, frequent feedback loops, and adapting to changing requirements. Product managers guide the team in implementing agile practices, enabling them to deliver high-quality MVP increments within set timelines.

Iteration in action: Prototyping the path to MVP excellence

This phase allows product managers to refine their ideas, gather valuable user feedback, and strike the delicate balance between speed and quality. Let’s delve into the three key aspects of prototyping and iterative development:

1. Rapid prototyping and user testing:
Rapid prototyping enables product managers to bring their MVP concepts to life quickly. By creating mockups, wireframes, or interactive prototypes, they can visualize the user experience and validate their assumptions. These prototypes serve as a tangible representation of the product idea, allowing for early user testing and feedback. Product managers conduct usability tests, gather insights, and iterate on the design and functionality based on user reactions. This iterative approach ensures that the MVP is user-centric and aligns with user needs and expectations.
2. Continuous iteration based on user feedback:
User feedback is a goldmine of insights for improving the MVP. Product managers actively seek feedback from early users, whether through surveys, interviews, or feedback sessions. They analyze and distill this feedback to identify pain points, areas for improvement, and opportunities to enhance the product’s value proposition. Based on this feedback, product managers iterate on features, refine the user experience, and address any usability issues. Continuous iteration ensures that the MVP evolves and matures with each cycle, resulting in a product that resonates with users.
3. Balancing speed and quality in development:
The MVP journey is characterized by the need for speed, but without compromising quality. Product managers are responsible for striking the right balance between rapid development and maintaining high standards. They work closely with development teams to ensure that the iterative process is efficient, allowing for quick turnaround times while adhering to quality standards. Through effective project management, agile methodologies, and collaboration, product managers optimize the development process, ensuring that the MVP achieves a balance between speed, quality, and user satisfaction.

Metrics that matter: Empowering MVP success through measuring and analyzing data

By implementing analytics tools and metrics, monitoring user behavior and conversion rates, and making data-driven decisions for improvements, product managers can optimize their MVPs for success. Let’s explore the three key aspects of measuring and analyzing data:

1. Implementing analytics tools and metrics:
To gain valuable insights into user behavior and product performance, product managers implement analytics tools and define relevant metrics. These tools, such as Google Analytics or Mixpanel, provide a wealth of data on user interactions, engagement, and retention. Product managers establish key metrics aligned with their MVP goals, such as user acquisition, retention rates, or conversion rates. By tracking these metrics, product managers gain a comprehensive understanding of how users engage with the MVP and identify areas for improvement.
2. Monitoring user behavior and conversion rates:
Understanding how users interact with the MVP is vital for its success. Product managers closely monitor user behavior, analyzing how users navigate through the product, which features they use the most, and any bottlenecks they encounter. By examining conversion rates, product managers gain insights into the effectiveness of user onboarding, user experience, and the overall value proposition. This data informs product managers about user satisfaction, identifies pain points, and reveals opportunities for enhancing the MVP.
3. Making data-driven decisions for improvements:
Data-driven decision-making is the cornerstone of optimizing the MVP. Product managers leverage the insights obtained from data analysis to make informed decisions about feature enhancements, UX/UI improvements, or even pivots in the product strategy. For example, if data shows that a particular feature has low user engagement, product managers can iterate on it or consider removing it altogether. By embracing a data-driven approach, product managers ensure that improvements are based on evidence, increasing the chances of delivering an MVP that meets user needs and expectations.

Launching with impact: Driving success through validation and iteration

Product managers play a crucial role in preparing for the MVP launch, gathering user feedback and validation, and iterating and scaling the product based on feedback. Let’s explore the three key aspects of the launch and validation phase:

1. Preparing for the MVP launch:
Preparing for the MVP launch involves meticulous planning and execution. Product managers work closely with development teams, designers, and other stakeholders to ensure that the product is ready for the market. They conduct comprehensive quality assurance testing to identify and address any bugs or issues. Additionally, product managers define the go-to-market strategy, considering factors such as pricing, distribution channels, and marketing campaigns. By laying a solid foundation and fine-tuning the product, product managers ensure a smooth and impactful launch.
2. Gathering user feedback and validation:
User feedback and validation are invaluable in shaping the success of an MVP. Product managers actively engage with early adopters and target users to gather feedback on their experience with the MVP. This can be done through surveys, interviews, or user testing sessions. By listening to user perspectives, product managers gain insights into what works well and what needs improvement. User validation is crucial for verifying that the MVP meets user expectations and addresses their pain points. This feedback and validation process allows product managers to iterate and refine the product based on real user insights.
3. Iterating and scaling the product based on feedback:
Based on user feedback and validation, product managers initiate an iterative process of refining and enhancing the MVP. They prioritize and implement changes, focusing on addressing critical user needs and pain points. This iterative approach ensures that the product evolves and adapts to meet user expectations, increasing its chances of success in the market. As the product gains traction and user base, product managers work on scaling the product, ensuring that it can handle increased demand and usage.

Post-launch strategies to propel your MVP forward

Once a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is launched, the journey doesn’t end there. Product managers employ post-launch strategies to ensure continued success and drive the product forward. This phase involves monitoring and analyzing product performance, providing customer support and bug fixing, and focusing on continuous improvement and feature expansion. Let’s explore these three key aspects of post-launch strategies:

1. Monitoring and analyzing product performance:
After the MVP launch, product managers closely monitor product performance using various analytics tools and metrics. They track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as user engagement, conversion rates, and customer feedback. By analyzing this data, product managers gain insights into how the product is performing in the market. This information helps identify areas of strength, areas for improvement, and emerging trends. By continuously monitoring and analyzing product performance, product managers can make informed decisions to optimize the product and enhance its success.
2. Customer support and bug fixing:
Providing excellent customer support is essential for maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Product managers ensure there is a robust customer support system in place, including channels for users to report issues, ask questions, or provide feedback. They work closely with support teams to address customer inquiries promptly and efficiently. Additionally, product managers prioritize bug fixing and release regular updates to resolve any issues that arise post-launch. By addressing customer concerns and fixing bugs in a timely manner, product managers foster positive user experiences and build trust in the product.

3. Continuous improvement and feature expansion:
Post-launch, product managers focus on continuous improvement and feature expansion to keep the product competitive and aligned with customer needs. They gather user feedback, conduct market research, and analyze industry trends to identify opportunities for enhancement. Based on these insights, product managers prioritize and plan iterative development cycles to add new features and improve existing ones. This iterative approach ensures that the product remains relevant and provides increasing value to users over time. By continuously iterating and expanding the product’s features, product managers drive growth and secure long-term success.

Leveraging DronaHQ, a low code platform for rapid MVP development

DronaHQ is a powerful low code platform that empowers product managers to accelerate MVP development. With its intuitive visual interface, pre-built components, and seamless integrations, DronaHQ enables rapid prototyping, iterative development, and efficient collaboration.

Here’s why 100s of PMs choose us to build their MVP quickly:

Drag and drop support
With the drag-and-drop functionality offered by DronaHQ, product managers can effortlessly build MVPs. No coding is required. Simply select and drag components, dropping them onto the canvas. This user-friendly feature streamlines the development process, empowering product managers to create interactive prototypes and iterate quickly, bringing their ideas to life with ease.

20+ Ready app templates
Get a wide range of ready-to-use app templates, saving product managers valuable time and effort. Choose from a diverse collection of templates for various industries and use cases, such as admin panels, project management, or customer support. These templates provide a solid foundation, enabling product managers to quickly customize and tailor the MVP to meet specific business needs, accelerating the development process.

Easy backend configuration
Simplify backend configuration with ready-to-use databases like MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Google Sheets, and third-party connectors such as Twilio, Gmail, SendGrid, and many more. No need to worry about complex setup or integration challenges. Easily configure backend services and APIs with a few clicks, empowering product managers to effortlessly integrate, scale, and extend the functionality of their MVPs.

Automation as an add-on
With scheduled-based triggers, tasks can be automated at specific times or intervals. Additionally, webhook-based triggers enable seamless integration with external systems, triggering actions based on real-time events. Boost efficiency and eliminate manual effort by configuring intelligent automation workflows within your MVP using DronaHQ.

Role-based access control
With role-based access control, product managers have granular control over user permissions. Assign specific roles to team members, granting them appropriate access levels. Ensure data security and maintain confidentiality by defining who can view, edit, or manage specific features or data within the MVP.

Self-hosting
In just a single click, effortlessly deploy a secure self-hosted version of DronaHQ within your infrastructure. Seamlessly connect to your trusted data sources and accelerate app and tool development at an impressive pace.

How to build UI on HarperDB database

Aaikansh Agrawal — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 13:44:40 +0000

Imagine you’re a developer tasked with building an inventory management tool for a growing e-commerce platform. With HarperDB’s powerful database management capabilities, you have the foundation to efficiently store and manage vast amounts of product data. Now, it’s time to craft the perfect user interface that seamlessly interacts with this data. Enter DronaHQ, a low-code platform that simplifies the process of building intuitive UI. By integrating DronaHQ with HarperDB, you can design a visually appealing and user-friendly frontend that enables smooth inventory tracking, real-time updates, and actionable insights for enhanced inventory control.

But the possibilities don’t end there. Consider a data-driven dashboard that showcases vital business metrics, allowing executives to make informed decisions. With HarperDB’s robust API and DronaHQ’s UI-building capabilities, you can create dynamic dashboards that pull data in real-time, presenting it in a visually engaging manner. From sales analytics to customer behavior insights, this powerful combination opens doors to unparalleled data visualization and actionable insights.

Together, they unlock a world of possibilities, enabling you to build stunning UI on top of the reliable foundation of HarperDB’s database.

🗓️ Join us on July 19th at 12 PM CT for an exclusive webinar that unravels the art of seamlessly integrating UI with HarperDB’s robust database, powered by DronaHQ.

During this engaging session, you will:

Learn the art of integrating HarperDB’s powerful API with DronaHQ’s low-code platform.
Explore real-world use cases, from inventory management tools to data-driven dashboards.
Gain practical insights, best practices, and expert tips for seamless UI design.
Witness a step-by-step walkthrough of building stunning UI on top of HarperDB.
Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting your coding journey, this webinar is designed to empower you with the skills to take your app development to the next level.

Register now to secure your spot and elevate your UI-building prowess: https://www.dronahq.com/building-ui-on-harperdb-with-dronahq-live-webinar/

Launched DronaHQ Embed on Product Hunt

Gayatri Sachdeva — Tue, 09 May 2023 09:17:17 +0000

DronaHQ is a low code app development platform that helps developers build internal tools 10x faster.

We are excited to announce that DronaHQ’s Secure Embed feature is now live on Product Hunt! With Secure Embed, users can embed their custom applications into any website or portal, providing a seamless and consistent user experience.

Try it out today and let us know what you think!
Here is the link: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/dronahq-embed

Database querying with GPT-3: Introducing Ask AI

Aaikansh Agrawal — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 12:48:38 +0000

Introducing our latest feature “Ask AI” in SQL database querying, which is powered by GPT-3 and aimed at simplifying your daily routine by generating SQL queries using natural language prompts.

We believe that the natural next step for a developer toolkit is to integrate new-age tech like GPT-3 to aid app developers. Writing complex SQL queries can be time-consuming, and it requires a high level of expertise. Developers play around multiple times to finally get the right SQL queries, which can lead to errors and inefficiencies. This problem is further compounded when developers have to work with multiple databases with different structures and syntaxes.

With “Ask AI,” you can generate SQL queries quickly and easily using natural language prompts, without requiring any expertise in SQL query writing.

A more powerful assistant for database querying

With “Ask AI,” you don’t need to be an expert in SQL query writing, as the GPT-3 powered feature can understand your natural language prompts and generate the required SQL queries automatically. This not only saves you time and effort but also reduces the chance of errors, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your development work.

Let’s take an example. Say you have a product inventory database with columns such as category, market price, sale price, and balance quantity. If you want to create a table with several filters, just input “Give me all from Product inventory where balance quantity is more than 55,” and the Ask AI feature will generate the query automatically for you.

This feature is currently available for SQL databases, and we plan to extend it to other areas like writing custom JavaScript code and basic content generation in the future.

Here’s how “Ask AI” can help you:

Saves Time and Effort:

With “Ask AI,” you can generate SQL queries quickly and easily using natural language prompts, saving you time and effort.

Easy to Use:

“Ask AI” is designed to be user-friendly. The AI assistant understands natural language prompts, which makes it easy for developers to generate SQL queries without any expertise in writing SQL queries.

Reduces Errors:

“Ask AI” reduces the likelihood of errors and inefficiencies by generating optimized SQL queries automatically. This ensures that your queries are correct, efficient, and optimized.

Getting started with Ask AI

We invite you to try out “Ask AI” and see how it can simplify your development work. It’s an easy-to-use feature that generates SQL queries automatically, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your development work.

Get started here.

Deep dive into how to build intuitive UI/UX design using low code

Aaikansh Agrawal — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 13:16:10 +0000

UI and UX of an application have a significant impact on its success.

Effective UI and UX design can help achieve business goals such as increased revenue, user retention, and customer loyalty. Furthermore, these are essential skills in any designer’s arsenal, and designers who excel in UI/UX design can contribute significantly to the success of an application.

In addition to improving user engagement and satisfaction, UI and UX design also impact the overall business value of the application. A well-designed UI/UX can result in increased user productivity. Conversely, a poorly designed UI/UX can lead to decreased user productivity.

The UI refers to the visual aspects of an app, such as the layout, colors, and typography, while the UX refers to the entire user journey, including how easy it is to use the app, the responsiveness of the app, and the overall satisfaction of the user.

However, UI and UX design go hand in hand. A visually appealing UI will attract users, but a great UX will keep them coming back for more. They complement each other, and without one, the other falls short.

How UI/UX can impact apps success

A well-designed UI can attract users and increase engagement, while a positive UX can result in higher user satisfaction and retention rates. Isn’t this enough to be considered as a success, yes it can be.

So, it’s crucial to ensure your app’s UI and UX align with the app’s goals and target audience.

Let’s see where else it impacts:

Efficiency:

Efficient UI/UX design can help users complete tasks quickly and easily, making the app more enjoyable to use. This can lead to increased user satisfaction and loyalty, as users will appreciate how easy it is to use the app.

Usability:

Good UI/UX design can make an app more intuitive and user-friendly. This means that users can navigate the app with ease, which can result in higher user engagement and better retention rates. Additionally, a well-designed UI/UX can reduce the likelihood of negative reviews, as users will be more likely to have a positive experience.

Brand Perception:

The look and feel of an app can greatly impact how users perceive a brand. Good UI/UX design can make an app look polished and professional, which can lead to a positive brand perception. A well-designed app can also help differentiate a brand from its competitors, which can be a competitive advantage.

User Satisfaction:

Ultimately, good UI/UX design can lead to increased user satisfaction. Users are more likely to continue using an app if they have a positive experience, which can result in increased app usage and positive word-of-mouth marketing.

Adding low code to your design tech stack

Low code is a new and exciting way for software developers to create great user interfaces and user experiences with minimal effort. It can be intimidating to start designing an app from scratch, especially if you are not a pro frontend developer, but with low code, you can quickly create UI/UX designs that are tailored to your specific needs. This technology is ideal for junior developers that are just beginning, senior developers who are under a time crunch, backend developers who need to create reliable ui on top of their data, and product managers that need to do quick prototyping or PoCs, the list can go on really.

Here are some ways in which low code capabilities are making UI designing simpler:

Pre-built UI components: Low code platforms provide a library of pre-built components that can be used to build UIs without the need for manual coding. These components include buttons, menus, forms, and other UI elements, making it easy for designers to create UIs quickly. Brings standardization, branding, and validations, across the app in an easy way.

Drag and drop interface: Low code platforms provide a visual interface that allows designers to drag and drop components onto a canvas to create UIs quickly. This eliminates the need for manual coding and allows designers to focus on the visual aspect of UI design.

Easy customization: Low code platforms allow developers to customize pre-built components by changing their properties, such as color, font, and size. This makes it easy for designers to create unique UI designs that match their brand or style.

Reusability: Low-code platforms allow designers to create reusable components that can be used across multiple UI designs. This saves time and effort by allowing designers to create components once and use them multiple times.

JavaScript: By using custom JavaScript, designers can create a unique and engaging user experience that sets their app apart from the competition. For example, they can create custom UI elements according to the need and that enhances the user’s experience.

Testing and feedback: Low code platforms provide built-in testing and feedback features that allow designers to test their UI designs and receive feedback from stakeholders. This makes it easy for designers to iterate on their designs and make improvements based on feedback.

The key elements to focus on and how low code can help

Creating a user-friendly and intuitive interface is essential to the success of any application, but knowing which UI and UX elements to prioritize can be challenging.

However, low code can assist in the UI/UX design process by offering powerful tools and capabilities that simplify the design process, enable faster iterations, and ultimately help create a better user experience.

Here are a few key elements that will eventually make your app better:

Interactive elements:
Putting interactive components enables users to take various actions, and their presence can enhance the overall user experience. For instance, incorporating clickable elements like buttons can significantly improve user engagement and facilitate smoother navigation within the application.

For example, when a user clicks on a button, they may see a loading animation, which lets them know that the application is processing their request, or let’s say a button can be used to navigate to another page or link and many more such cases.

DronaHQ offers a wide range of ready UI components, including buttons, tables, and more, which can be easily integrated into your application. And using actionflows these can be turned into interactive components.

Navigational elements:
Navigational elements are a critical component of UI/UX design as they facilitate easy access to all screens in the fewest clicks possible. It’s essential to ensure that users can move between different areas of the application without getting lost or confused.

With DronaHQ, designers can leverage our pre-built components, such as menus, navigation bars, or breadcrumbs, to simplify the implementation of these functionalities. And using routing users can even adjust screen visibility and accessibility with respect to the users, conditions, and more.

Visualization elements:
Visualization elements are crucial in presenting tools or dashboards in a visually appealing manner. These elements include charts, graphs, and tables that help users interpret data and insights effectively. Incorporating these elements into the UI/UX design can enhance the overall user experience, making it easier for users to digest complex information.

At DronaHQ, we offer a wide range of pre-built visualization components like bar charts, pie charts, line charts, and other types of graphs, making it easier for designers to incorporate these elements into their UI/UX design.

Role and visibility:
Good UI design displays only the minimum number of elements necessary for users to carry out their tasks. Designers must consider the needs of each user role and limit access to certain features to reduce cognitive overload and improve usability.

DronaHQ offers role-based access and granular permissions to tailor the user experience, ensuring that users see only the necessary elements

Theme and branding:
Theme and branding play a crucial role in designing the UI/UX of an app. It helps to establish trust and build a strong connection with users by creating a cohesive and visually appealing user interface that aligns with the overall brand identity.

To maintain consistency and strong brand identity, DronaHQ offers the option to add external CSS to all UI controls. Additionally, the white labeling feature allows users to customize the app’s appearance to reflect their brand identity.

Cross-browser compatibility and mobile-friendly UI:
Have you ever come across a website or app that doesn’t work as intended on your preferred browser or device? It can be frustrating, right? That’s where cross-browser compatibility comes in. It ensures the application works seamlessly across all web browsers and devices, providing a consistent user experience.

DronaHQ allows you to create apps that are functional across all browsers and devices. Interestingly users don’t have to design apps separately for mobile devices, which saves a lot of time and effort.

Appropriate CTAs:
A well-placed CTA button can encourage users to take action, leading to a higher conversion rate. It’s important to use CTAs that are clear, concise, and visually appealing.

The size, color, shape, and positioning of the CTA button are also essential. The button should be prominent and easy to locate, with a clear message that tells the user what to do. The color should contrast with the surrounding background to draw attention to the button, and the shape should be visually distinctive.

Additionally, DronaHQ gives you the ability to customize the button’s color, shape, and size and also ensures that it fits seamlessly into the app’s design.

Layouts and screens:
A well-designed layout can help improve the user experience by making it easy for users to navigate and access information. Additionally, the screen type determines how information is displayed, making it essential to choose the right screen type to convey information effectively.

DronaHQ recognizes the importance of layouts and screen types in app design and offers a range of pre-built options to choose from. Users can select from various layout options such as one-column, two-column, left sidebar, right sidebar, and more. Additionally, the platform provides different screen types like menu, tray, panel, pop-up, and more, making it easy to choose the right layout and screen type to fit the needs of the app.

Design your low code app with DronaHQ

Building UI/UX with low code is a game-changer in the world of app development. With low code, creating an app has become more accessible and convenient than ever before. And when it comes to designing your low code app, DronaHQ is undoubtedly an excellent option.

DronaHQ provides the ability to quickly design a tailored business app or internal tool with features such as automatic CRUD screen generation, custom conditionality rules, and a wide selection of pre-built components. In just a matter of minutes, you can have your ideal application up and running.

Instead of spending valuable time and resources on creating a UI/UX design from scratch, why not utilize DronaHQ to quickly construct your dream app? With its efficient platform, you can have your ideal application up and running in no time.

Get started here!