My last blog (here)

The people who are running nuBuilder now are doing a great job.

And they also have started a blog so I'll be using that (its just around the corner from here)...

nuBuilder Forte

Bye

 

The Release of nuBuilder 4.5 - A Major Upgrade

The nuBuilder team have been busy.

After taking over in December they have already produced a major update (nuBuilder 4.5).

This update includes...

• Extra features.
• Better security.
• Improvements to the Graphic User Interface.
• Speed optimisations.

For more information check out the official explanation on the Forum.

nuTimes

 Hello everyone,

I have been creating nuBuilder for the last 10 or so years - with a little bit of help from my friends.

I’ve done as much as I can do, to get nuBuilder Forte to where it is but there is so much more that could be done.

So I am handing over the further development and complete direction of nuBuilder to 2 people.

These guys have shown they enjoy helping others on the Forum and they know their way around nuBuilder Forte.

And I have spoken to both guys over Zoom.

They are (forum names):

kev1n :  Director of Programming and Innovation.

Janusz :  Director of User Experience and Quality Control

kev1n Now has complete creative control over nuBuilder. He has already started a nuBuilder community on Discord to encourage conversations with other nuBuilder users.

(kev1n is also the most prolific contributor on the nuBuilder Forum)

I am looking forward to seeing where he (and the community) take nuBuilder in the future.

Yours Sincerely,

Steven Copley

New for nuBuilder.

As part of continuously improving nuBuilder.

We have a new webpage here... Webpage.

And the new User Guide can be found here... User Guide

4 More New Video Tutorials available on Youtube.

How to use nuBuilder Forte Forms

12 New Video Tutorials available on Youtube.

Back by popular demand!

More Video Tutorials... 

How to use nuBuilder Forte Objects





.

New Video Tutorials

Here are some videos for the new look nuBuilder Forte!

Video Tutorials

New look for nuBuilder Forte.

Attention nuBuilder Developers.

The latest version of nuBuilder Forte is available at... 

https://sourceforge.net/projects/nubuilder/

Here's a preview.

nuBuilder CSS Styles

They say if you are trying to sell a house don't put up any wallpaper because you might think its an improvement but your preferences might not be the same as a potential buyer's.

Leave things as plain as you can so that the buyer can add their own style to the property.

That's what we have done with nuBuilder Forte. We have left the style plain so that users can add their own.

And it's pretty easy.

Here is a simple example...

Add the following in the Header Tab of Setup:

</script>

<style>    

.nuButton {border-radius: 8px;}

.nuCellOdd{background-color : #F0F0F0;}

.nuCellEven{background-color : white;}

.nuTabHolder{background-color : #E0E0E0;}

.nuBrowseTitle{background-color : #E0E0E0;}

.nuEditBody{background-color : #F5F5F5;}

.nuRECORD{background-color : #F5F5F5;}

.nuTabSelected{background-color : #F5F5F5;}

</style>

<script>

And this is what you'll get:

Merry Christmas from everyone at nuSoftware

The E Myth and Low-Code Application Builders.

Perhaps the best business book I've read is the E Myth.

It dispels the theory that if you work for yourself you are an entrepreneur. It explains that there are 3 types of workers in a business, Entrepreneur, Manager and Technician.

Obviously, if you work for yourself and you can't afford to employ others to start with, you have the responsibility for all 3 positions.

The person that builds a software application is a technician.

If you have this responsibility and you are not necessarily a technical person then the best way to achieve this is with a Low-Code Application Builder.

Which is something Matt D'Angelo mentions in his article titled Low-Code App Makers Turn Small Business Owners Into Developers?

Avoiding Monkey Traps

It doesn't matter if your application is no-code, low-code or nearly all code.

If you can't move your app. You're in a Monkey Trap.

A guy called George A. Ricker once wrote a blog called How to spot a monkey trap and avoid it.

He explains a technique hunters use to catch monkeys and how humans can easily fall for the same type of trap.



In cases such as accounting systems like Xero and document management systems like Dropbox, a Platform as a Service (PaaS) can be a great business model.

A PaaS allows a company to outsource the management of some of their daily tasks without needing to supply the hardware infrastructure to support it.

And if for some reason you find a better PaaS solution in the future you can move that accounting data or those documents to a similar Service.




But if you use a PaaS to build business applications, you could be putting your hand directly into a monkey trap.

Building any worthwhile application can cost a lot of time and money, and in some cases, the application once built, can become so vital to your business that you eventually can't do without it.

Now, if this service provider goes out of business or increases the price of their service to a point you can no longer afford.

You will be left with nothing but the data you can export - no forms, reports or customised business logic.




If you use nuBuilder Forte, this is not the case.

We provide a simple PaaS, that allows you to get up and running straight away.

This service sends you a backup of all you need should you decide to install your application on a new server.

All you have to do is...

• Install nuBuilder Forte  - which is open source, free and available on Github.
• Import the backup file that has been emailed to you, into the database.

And you are up and running.

Everything you have created is there and you have total ownership and control over it.

Some important rules to remember (and our marketing strategy).

There are a number of people starting to use nuBuilder Forte (a club if you like).

The first rule of Forte Club is

- Please talk about Forte Club. 

The second rule of Forte Club is

- PLEASE talk about Forte Club! 

Third rule of Forte Club

- Please don't fight with each other.

Italian and Malay Languages added to nuBuilder Forte.

With the help of Google Translate we have now added Italian and Malay Translations.

Which brings the list of translations to 10...

1. Italian
2. Malay
3. Arabic
4. Chinese
5. German
6. Greek
7. Hindi
8. Russian
9. Spanish
10. Vietnamese

Why is nuBuilder Forte low-code?

Here is a comparison between nuBuilder 3 and the new nuBuilder 4.

What does it take to total values from a subform column and put them in another field?

nuBuilder Pro (3) ...

nuBuilder Forte (4) ...

Look out world!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11th December 2017

nuSoftware is proud to announce the release of nuBuilder Forte.

The 4th version of its Application Development Tool is now a low-code, open-source alternative for Citizen Developers.

Adelaide, South Australia: 

A Citizen Developer is typically a person not employed as a programmer, that builds software applications to help manage processes inside a business. 

Often because an IT department is too busy with other projects.

The release of nuBuilder Forte gives the growing community of Citizen Developers an open-source alternative for low-code software development. 

Allowing developers to own what they create and host it wherever they want.

Building applications for such things as...

• Invoicing.
• Customer Relation Management. (CRM)​
• Asset Tracking.

Like other low-code vendors, nuBuilder Forte uses design tools to vastly reduce the need for custom written code.

Tools that...

• Build Forms
• Build Reports
• Create Calculated fields.
• Build SQL Statements.
• Drag, drop and resize Objects.

Most of these vendors provide access to their low-code tools through a model called Platform as a Service (PaaS).

​

Which generally locks the developer in to using only that vendor, because any application created on their platform will only work on their platform.

Even low-code applications can take hours to build and cost thousands of dollars to create. 

Which means that if these systems become crucial to the running of a company, it may create risk management issues that the developer  has no control over.

Issues with the vendor like increasing charges to access the application they have created or even the vendor going out of business.

Shane Gelven - General Manager of nuSoftware, says "Its like renting a house and filling it with expensive furniture that you can't take with you if you move."

But nuBuilder Forte is designed to contain everything created by the developer in its database.

This includes...

• Forms
• Reports
• Custom Code
• Data

This makes it easy for developers to backup and restore applications to whereever they want and not be locked into any one vendor's platform.

More information on nuBuilder Forte can be found at www.nubuilder.com.

nuBuilder Forte release

nuBuilder 4 will be released in the next few days.

But here are some links now.

Demo - https://v4dev.nubuilder.net/sample1/

Files on Github - https://github.com/nuSoftware/nuBuilder4

Our first video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=tdh9ILCUAco

Wiki  - http://wiki.nubuilder.net/nubuilderforte/index.php

There is no upgrade path from version 3 to version 4.

As a small team, we have been focused on other priorities.

But...

Version 3 and version 4 can live in that same database as their system files either start with zzzsys_ or zzzzsys_ and all reports designed with version 3 can be cut and pasted into version 4 as they use the same JSON object.

nuBuilder 4 - sneak peak

Here are some screen shots from nuBuilder 4

Forms allow more flexability.

From within an Edit Form, you can edit, save or view records from another table.

Subforms can have Tabs.

New Drag Drop and resize improvements.

Rearranged Objects.

New nuBuilderPro Video Series

If you are nu to nuBuilder, take a look at our new tutorials .. Videos

Rent or Own?

​nuBuilder is Open Source. ..

This means any nuBuilder application you create can be moved from the server it originally started on, 

to another server, any time you want.​ 

Because you can download and install nuBuilder from github and  restore your data from a backup.

Developing applications on platforms that cannot be moved is like furnishing  your house, 

but not being able to take any of it with you if you leave.

With nuBuilder you own the software you create, you don't just rent it.