The documentation also provides examples of the basic CRUD operations (create, retrieve, update, and delete) for each table as well as documentation related to rate limits, authentication, and error codes. The self-documenting API provides us with a description of each field, example values, and example responses from the API. For example, the questions table references data in the options table. The Airtable base for this project includes five different tables:Įvery table has at least one field referencing other tables. One project where we leveraged Airtable’s API is Should I Ask For Gender. Setting out to build an MVP with your next great idea can be as easy as entering your test data into a spreadsheet - creating and configuring the schema as you go - then popping over to the documentation specific to your project. From a developer perspective, this is one of the absolute best features of Airtable. Once you create a base with the data you need to get up and running on your app, it provides a self-documenting API. However, with views, automation, apps, sync, and integrations, it offers loads of features that can be leveraged in an array of ways. An API is tricky because you need to interact with a service, and you want to both learn what the service exposes, and how can you use the API to do what you need. Excel power users know that you can use Excel as a database.Īirtable markets itself as having the "familiarity of a spreadsheet, and the power of a database." Its default functionality is to be a database, first and foremost. Here is the Airtable API documentation: As developers we spend a lot of time reading through docs and trying to figure out how things work. Most of us forget that the entire purpose of Excel is to present data in compelling ways. Isn’t Airtable just a glorified version of Excel or Google Sheets? The short answer is yes but bear with me while I give you the long answer. One tool we’ve leveraged to solve this problem on some of our Labs initiatives is Airtable. I often find myself thinking, "I want to build the IDEA, not be stuck in the weeds of data structure." Trying to set up even a basic database and API can take the wind out of your sails and leave you feeling frustrated. Setting up a custom database and API is even more time-consuming. Writing static JSON while creating a data structure on the fly eats up time and isn’t realistic in terms of scaffolding future iterations. One of the most challenging things in bootstrapping a new app to create an MVP of your next great idea is handling data. To be honest, "half-finished" is probably pretty generous for me…half-started is more accurate. If you’re anything like me as a web developer, you probably have a slew of half-finished side projects that you were really excited about, only to lose steam and give up on.
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