

Ask HN: Review App : Build Apps Online, over Google App Engine - ordinaryman
http://creator.ifreetools.com

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jarsj
Can you give a running example of atleast one application built using this ? I
tried creating something for a long time but couldn't do much.

~~~
ordinaryman
I do plan to provide default set of apps, which one can click to install. This
is just off the oven and I could not wait to share.

You can have a look at the following walk-through, to have an overview of the
app..

[http://ifreetools.blogspot.com/2010/01/build-apps-online-
ove...](http://ifreetools.blogspot.com/2010/01/build-apps-online-over-google-
app.html)

~~~
jarsj
I am not talking about the default-set-of-apps. I am talking about seeing an
app created using your tool in action. Would love to see what is the
possibility.

~~~
ordinaryman
I understand that you are talking about simple demo access to apps, to get to
know the features enabled.

Currently there is no demo/public access privilege for apps created using
iFreeTools Creator. If it was available I could have gladly pointed you out to
that demo app to check out the features.

Another option is install an app into your own account, choosing from a
default set of apps and using it as a demo to check out the features of
iFreeTools Creator - which I was referring to.

Also, the feature set in iFreeTools Creator is equivalent to those available
in iFreeTools CRM - which uses default _System_ entities, instead of requiring
_Custom_ entities, as in Creator. Both the apps are driven by the same
framework. So, you may login into <http://crm.ifreetools.com> and check out
the features.

I do not usually check old submissions at Hacker News for new comments and I
am glad that I did today to find your recent comment. If you have any further
queries, kindly send them directly to raj [at] sahasvat [dot] com.

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krakensden
Very cool, this was something I hoped/expected would happen with App Engine.

There's a lot of value (and hopefully some money) in making the answer to "I
need a web presence" simple for non-hackers.

Some questions: Why comic sans? It looks goofy. Why iFreeTools? 'Free' in the
name often projects an image of low-quality. How are you making money? Ads? If
I make an app, will it have your ads in it? (And can I pay to remove them...)

~~~
ordinaryman
Thanks.

Agree about the font and 'free'.

Wanted to have a distinctly different font for the first part of the name
which will be a brand/prefix to lot more apps like CRM, HRMS, Creator, etc.,.
Open to suggestions for other web-safe fonts, which could address that need.

'Free' because I believed it will help with better adoption rates. The plan is
to have it based on 'freemium' model. Free with restrictions on storage,
number of mails, etc.,. and with ads. For higher resource requirements or for
removing the ads, one can pay a nominal fee.

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dzenanr
Building a web application without programming is a challenging task. It is
relatively easy to support simple domain models that have a few entities. When
a domain model starts having relationships, things get more complicated. Will
you support relationships in future? Or your business strategy is to start
with simple domain models and then redirect users to your custom-made apps?

~~~
megamark16
It looks like he does support relationships ("References" field type),
although I don't see how those are displayed on the related record.

~~~
ordinaryman
_It looks like he does support relationships ("References" field type),
although I don't see how those are displayed on the related record._

As a link. Have a look at the screen-shots in the walk-through - particularly
the last image.

Mapping and accessing links are actually easy - relatively speaking. What is
more hard is having to work without "join", particularly if one comes in with
RDBMS baggage. One will have to unlearn certain rules.

------
teye
Some input on your homepage:

Every database application I create is already online. A more descriptive
headline would help.

Listing each cloud's contents in a vertical list will make them easier to
read/digest.

It's nice that it's made for App Engine, but that doesn't deserve more
prominence than your walk-through link.

~~~
ordinaryman
Thanks for the input.

Was trying to emphasize _Creating Online_. Updated the headline to "Build
Customizable Database Apps. Online." (For those who may read this after the
change : the earlier headline was "Create Database Applications, Online.")

Will see how I can improve the image or provide an alternate one. Suggestions
welcome.

Agree. Made the walk-through link more prominent than before.

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hello_moto
It looks like you took the ideas (CRM, Creator) from your previous employer
(Zoho) and put them in Google AppEngine...

~~~
ordinaryman
Well I tried not to (compete), for a very long time (almost a year).

After which I had to turn towards projects, which lead to Grails, which in
turn lead to iFreeTools CRM (you can read about it here :
[http://rrajkumar.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/grails-to-
ifreetoo...](http://rrajkumar.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/grails-to-ifreetools-
crm/)). This in turn lead to the requirement of CRM to be customizable, which
lead to Creator. And this post :-)

I do respect Zoho and lot of people in there.

Will be integrating with Zoho's online services where possible.

------
megamark16
Wow, very similar to the app I'm working on right now (though mine is based on
Django). Glad to see that other people are doing the same stuff, hopefully
that means it's worthwhile, right? Good luck!

~~~
ordinaryman
Yes. I have been preached about this, by my prof. in start-up school : If an
idea occurs to you, it very well has a possibility to have occurred to N other
people, a few of those would already be working on them.

A little competition is good for everyone and makes life interesting. Bring it
on :-).

