FOTW Episode 6: DhiWise, FlutterFlow, Locofy & ShedLock
Trends, experiences and new stuff come and go between fluxers as part of our daily routine. Fluxers on the Watch is the way in which we share the trends that inspire our work with you. Check out our watchers’ sixth compilation!
DhiWise as a Tool to Translate Designs into Code
DhiWise is a no-code tool that uses multiple design sources such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, among others, and REST API definitions (established in apps like Postman) to generate front-end apps’ code with different technology options. It stands out from many others like Bubble.io since it generates readable code that traditional Software Devs can adjust.
This tool was discovered during research on ways to generate code from Figma designs so as to enable Software Devs to create executable code much faster, thus requiring only minor adjustments to the generated code to comply with product specifications.
After conducting some tests, we understood that the best way to leverage this type of code generator tool was to implement it in a project with a comprehensive design so as to alleviate the cold start of the project itself and no pre-assigned code or guidelines. However, this tool is not as useful in incremental designs where it is used to develop new components as they are designed.
Aside from this last scenario, it is possible to obtain a well-functioning app that will require some work to adjust much smaller details, and a final operational product in a much shorter period of time.
Contributor: Iván Dackiewicz
Low-Code with FlutterFlow
FlutterFlow is a low-code visual development environment based on the popular Flutter programming language, which facilitates the development of cross-platform apps (and it is especially aimed at mobile apps) and their production deployment, and the connection with databases and cloud services. Additionally, it enables the development of custom functions (in Flutter, of course) that push the boundaries of what is typically considered a limitation when using these tools.
Faced with a client’s need in the insurance sector to quickly enter the market with a functional and impactful app, we saw an excellent opportunity to test this tool. And it truly did not disappoint: the development was swift, and we went into production with the app in record time!
Pros and cons:
Even though FlutterFlow provided us with excellent results when working on the swift development of simple apps, we believe that it can also be useful for more complex apps with the right team.
One great advantage is that it is a multipurpose tool, adaptable to almost any development context. However, with greater complexity, a deeper knowledge of Flutter becomes more necessary.
Although the automated deployment section for both Apple and Android stores is not completely automated, it does come in handy when deploying consistently on both platforms.
Contributor: Gabriel García, Technical Leader
Locofy
Recently, I have been researching ways to translate Figma designs into React components.
Locofy is a beta tool that makes it possible, among other things, to import a Figma design, analyze it with AI (which is no surprise these days), and generate a React.js project while using Create-React-App as its basis, with all the components already written. Of all the tools I have seen, Locofy is amongst the most versatile ones when it comes to configuration options previous to code generation:
- It uses plain JavaScript or TypeScript
- It manages styles with plain CSS, CSS Modules, Tailwind CSS, Emotion, or styled-components
- It employs px or rem as measurement units
- It displays file names in pascal case or kebab case
- It uses UI libraries such as Material UI, Ant Design, Bootstrap, Chakra (this is optional).
How good is the result? Is it usable? And the answer is… yes, with some conditions.
Every React project is unique since there are no standards to guarantee that what is generated is exactly as desired. In many cases, this cannot be easily fixed. It is likely that the generated project will not match your style, and the final result largely depends on how neat the base design is.
Another issue is the number of designed components. The more components generated; the greater amount of time saved. Additionally, the less complexity and fewer variants a component has, the fewer adjustments will be needed, which also impacts on the required delivery time.
My personal opinion is that the generated code is useful for mass basic visual components, which can then be adjusted at your convenience. I would always set some time aside to review and adjust them, but this can indeed save both time and effort, especially if many components are imported.
It remains to be seen how this tool will continue to evolve.
Has anyone tried out similar tools? How has your experience been?
Contributor: Iván Dackiewicz
ShedLock with Spring
For development teams seeking to improve the efficiency and reliability of their Java apps, integrating ShedLock with Spring offers a comprehensive and effective solution.
ShedLock is a Java library that provides a distributed lock mechanism for scheduled tasks in apps that are run on a multi-instance environment. With ShedLock, Devs can make sure that scheduled tasks are executed on only one node of the cluster at a time, thus avoiding executing a task in duplicate and ensuring both data consistency and app integrity.
Benefits:
- It prevents concurrent executions in distributed and multi-instance environments by effectively locking scheduled tasks.
- It contributes to maintaining data consistency and app integrity by ensuring that only one instance executes a task at a given time.
- It enables efficient scaling of apps to handle increasing workloads without compromising performance.
- It facilitates integration: ShedLock integrates easily with Spring, and this integration can be quickly implemented in existing apps, thus reducing development time and accelerating deployment.
- It significantly enhances the reliability and stability of Java apps, since it avoids execution conflicts and ensures data consistency.
In a world where efficiency and reliability are imperative in software development, the combination of ShedLock with the Spring framework emerges as a powerful and agile solution.
