Choices — NuBuilderForte for rapid database application development
In the first 3 parts of choices, I mentioned which server we bought and why, selection and setup of the virtualization platform and Zentyal and Nethserver for active directory and network/file services.
Then I explained why I chose ProcessMaker for business process automation. Since then, besides supporting the company on the IT side, I’ve been busy developing a custom application to track product and raw material stocks and production.
Once again I started with a google search, for an open source rapid application development tool/platform, which could create the CRUD (create-read-update-delete) functionality. Something like Microsoft Access, but open source and cross platform.
I read some reviews about open office base, kexi and similar tools. But, even though they are nice tools for database management, they are not mainly for building a user interface.
Then I came across NuBuilder Forte, which is a tool for developing web-based database applications. Installation is easy, download and extract the files to a LAMP server, enter your database configuration in the config file, run an sql script to create the database and there you are, ready to go.
It has a plain interface, with easy to use tools for building the database and the application simultaneously. It uses HTML, PHP, JavaScript, and SQL, so nothing is unfamiliar. And nuBuilder is built upon itself, so it is definitely a powerful tool :)
It supports one-to-many relations, so building main-sub forms is a very easy task. You can have a look at this demo video, where the creator of nuBuilder is building and customizing an invoicing application. The flow of the video is very fast, so don’t try to understand how he does everything, just watch and try to get familiar with the logic :)
As the application is browser based, you have no platform dependencies.
Its event based logic allows you to insert javascript or php code to certain points in the flow and customize your application. nuBuilder provides some built in functions, to simplify your life while you’re doing this.
It also has a user and rights management tool builtin.
It also has a good report builder. I’m now evaluating whether I should build the reports for the application in Reportico, or inside nuBuilder itself.
There are not many code examples in the videos and other documentation, and searching for things might be a little bit difficult in the nuBuilder Forum, however, you eventually find your way. Community seems to be active, and the software is well maintained since 10 years.
And it can be used as a wordpress plugin, which means you can build the application within your wordpress website!
It might not be the tool for building the ERP for an enterprise, but a pretty complex database application can be built with nuBuilderForte. Have a look, and you will not regret it!