i am in a process to build a Project Management set of apps. Not just tasks to be assigned, but a system to run the entire projects from inception to deception. The database will be bit big.
my question is:
Do you recommended to use the generous Oracle free tier or just continue with Google sheet which could be enough.
I am talking from two point of views:
the app speed in connecting and dealing with the long data set of rows and tables.
data storage. Now i am using separate worksheet for each table i am using to maximize the benefits of 5 Million cell rule of google sheets.
OR,
Is it easy to shift my database source from google sheet to the Oracle free tier later after finishing testing and evaluation of my apps?
Do you recommended to use the generous Oracle free tier or just continue with Google sheet which could be enough.
Though the usage of the database may be free, the connection from AppSheet to that database is not. Adding a database connection to an app requires, at a minimum, the Enterprise Standard plan.
The good news is, if your app and data are not extremely large, Google sheets will serve your needs very well for a very long time. Additionally, there are things that can be done to keep performance exceptionally good even for large datasets.
Hani_Ibrahim:
Is it easy to shift my database source from google sheet to the Oracle free tier later after finishing testing and evaluation of my apps?
Yes! This can be as simple as exporting a CSV from Google and importing that CSV directly into the database, adjust the database column data types and you will be ready to go!
HOWEVER…for it to be that easy, you must make sure to treat the Google sheet strictly as a datasource. This means no direct user access and NO FORMULAS in the sheet tables. If you need to make any sheet data available externally, do so from a dedicated sheet that copies row data from the main source. For any utility data tables that are created, e.g. Weekly summary of Sales used only in a generated report that gets emailed, consider how that might be migrated to the database, if ever needed, to help drive design and still make migration to database easy.
That was a real detailed reply from you both @WillowMobileSystems and @Steve, so thank you.
However, the speed of transferring the data and sync time, do you think it worth using the Oracle? Since three projects only, used 10K rows in google sheet in just three months, that was in inventory module only. In my set of apps, i am still in need for further tables to serve just the inventory module.
In fact, i am avoiding using any formulas and treating google sheets the same way i used to deal with Microsoft Access tables and workbench, no access to data except from form or "View”.
So far I saw, AppSheet got a lot of opportunities, but it overlooked a lot of important issues such as syncing time, multiuser applicability, record refreshment lag, not possible to declare a number type as unique ID, limited data handling capability. I am scared, whether the future of appsheet wouldn’t be like msaccess. Because ms access also had a lot of advanced tools during that time but in terms of multi-user and online accessibility it was worse. I wish AppSheet should give focus on those issue. Actually I can provide a long list of issues with appsheet. Anyway, wish AppSheet all the best.
but it overlooked a lot of important issues such as syncing time, multiuser applicability, record refreshment lag, not possible to declare a number type as unique ID, limited data handling capability.
I don’t know what you are comparing AppSheet to but I believe your impressions noted above are all wrong.
Comparing AppSheet to MS Access is like comparing Apples to Lima Beans. They are not even in the same technology species.
AppSheet is a multi-user INTERNET distributed system and functions extremely well in that regard. I know you haven’t been using AppSheet long. As such, most of your impressions are based on lack of experience or lack of knowledge about what is possible in a multi-user distributed system.
But AppSheet is not for everyone. If you are looking for an in-house system that is speedy and has less restraints, then AppSheet is not the tool. It can never complete with on-premise LAN systems where speed is the deciding factor.
But my experience is that one simple SAVE record execution takes more than 10 seconds to refresh back to the client (Client to Server to Client). I am talking about AppSheet together with Google Sheet. Because when I buy in any online system, it is very quick by one-two seconds any purchase cart can commit the transaction.
What I found in AppSheet that it calculate in the local cache of google sheet. So, obviously there is a chance to have a mis-calculation in any transaction. Because if user A find a stock of an item is 10 then User B will also find the stock at 10 for the same item. Then if both of the users go for purchase of 10 items, then how appsheet will handle as its calculation is based on the local cache. I don’t know whether Field Valid If Event is enough to avoid this kind of situations. If AppSheet could calculate from the server the result would more precise.
