Quickstart
Using our internal database to hit the ground running
This tutorial will take less than 5 minutes, and at the end, you will have successfully built a complete CRUD application.
We will use the Sample data, which includes a few tables with various data types to look at.
Getting started
- Create a new account at https://account.budibase.app/register (onboarding takes a few seconds).
- Once registered, you will be able to login.
- Step through the first app wizard, selecting the Budibase Sample data.
Data
Most of the columns, for example First Name, Last Name and Email, are Text data types, which is the most common.
Other types include Number, Date/Time, and more!
The values of some fields are highlighted in a coloured pill. This indicates the value to be either a Multi-select value such as the Employee Level in the Employees table, or a Relationships link such as Assigned in the Jobs table.
Data section with sample data
External datasource
If you want to connect to external datasources, have a look at our Datasources section for a list of available connectors.
Further information can be found in the Introduction to Data page.
Design
As we have some data, we can now start building out the front-end of our app. This is done in the Design section, which can be navigated to via the tab at the top of the page.
Navigating to the Design section
The left hand panel includes two core areas for building out your apps:
When building apps you will mostly be focused on the Screen and Component views.
When the Screen is selected in the component tree Theme and Navigation settings are available in the right hand panel.
Autogenerated screens
To get started quickly, click on Add screen. Next select Table to create new CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) screens for each of your tables.
These autogenerated CRUD screens will make use of the Table and Side panels for fast, all-in-one data interaction.
Adding autogenerated screens
Creating an auto screen for each table
When creating screens you will be asked to provide an access level, but this can always be changed later.
You can read more about screen access levels, but in this tutorial we will stick to the default of Basic access.
Selecting new screen access level
Upon click Done a new screen will be generated for each table selected.
Autogenerated screens
Components
With the screens created we can view and edit the components for each.
With the Table component selected, you will be able to edit its settings via the Settings Panel. Here you can change the Data Source, Filters, Sort Column, and more! These settings are explained on the Table page.
You can also click Add component to add another component to your screen. You can view a list of available core Components and learn more about Data in design.
Blocks
In Budibase there is a category of components known as Blocks, which are collections of pre-built components designed to make building your apps easier and faster.
A list of them can be found in the Blocks section of the components view.
Available Budibase blocks
Sometimes you will find yourself needing to make a fine-grain tweak that cannot be done through the settings panel alone.
If you wanted to edit the form fields in the side panel of a Form Block, for example, you will need to click the Eject button to pop open the block.
Ejected Form Block resulting in a detailed component tree
Preview and Publish
During development you may wish to test out your app so far. Click the Preview button in the top-right to open the app in a modal. The app preview will always open the screen selected within the builder.
Preview and Publish buttons
App preview showing an Employees table
You will also notice that navigation links were automatically added to the nav bar when we created the autogenerated screens.
To view the app with a different permission level, change the View as basic user option.
A public user does not have permission to view the app by default
When you are happy with your app, click Publish to make your app live in production.
Publishing an app
Published app
When an app is published, green text will show you when your app was last published. In addition you will have a few other options available:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Unpublish | Remove your app entirely from production |
| Revert | Sync your production app into dev (overwriting any changes) |
| Publish | Sync your dev app into production |
| Embed | Get the iframe code for Embedding your app |
| Open link | Click on the title of your app to open your production app in a new tab |
Automate
Automations are not needed for all use-cases, however they offer powerful workflow options such as Cron jobs and Webhooks integrations.
More information can be found in the Automations page.
Settings
The settings tab includes a variety of options for your app. These include:
In addition you can Delete app. After confirmation, this will unpublish and permanently delete your app.
Settings tab
Further exploration
At this point you can see the speed and convenience at which Budibase allows you to get your users interacting with data.
There is however much more to explore, and a broad range of possibilities. If you wish to add logic and interactivity to your apps, these docs pages may be a good place to check out:
The Budibase community
If you have any questions or want to browse what other people have been building, please reach out on GitHub Discussions or join our Discord server.
Updated 8 months ago