What you can expect:

• Launch of openapps.nl – Apps for municipalities.
• Presence of Appsemble at the open-source event T-DOSE.
• New functionalities on our platform.
• Appsemble training – learn to build apps yourself.

Launch of openapps.nl – Apps for municipalities

Discover OpenApps, a collection of apps developed by various municipalities, now available to everyone as fully working demos. These apps are made for Demodam, a fictional municipality. Discover which Common Ground components are already operational and how they work seamlessly together. See how digital services work for both citizens and employees, and gain insight into the possibilities for further development.

Appsemble at T-DOSE

On June 1 and 2, we will be present at the T-DOSE event. at the Weeffabriek in Geldrop. We will discuss various aspects of low-code development, including the importance of open-source and our experiences with the municipality of Amsterdam as a launching customer. Also expect insights into technical topics such as designing our low-code DSL and automated tests for apps.

New platform functionalities.

We are introducing some additions to our platform. The power lies in the bundling of it: Deployment of AI, but everything on your own infrastructure with full retention of privacy.

The first AI building block

When we think of AI, we think of OpenAI. This is also our first AI-related block. More advanced blocks will follow, such as AI Flow that can combine multiple LLMs (Large Language Models) to perform more complex tasks.

Own backend containers

Although Appsemble is easy to link with external services, it can be nice that there can also be an own backend included in the already existing app hosting. Soon in Appsemble SAAS, but the code is already available

Small improvements

Here are some important updates from the full list of additions and adjustments:

• Applications can easily be shared from the app store.
• Appsemble CLI has been further expanded.
• More and better examples of actions.
• Code examples in documentation are automatically validated so they always remain current.
• App import and exports are more complete and now also include screenshots and the README.
• Forms gained multiple options as input.

• Apps can now also be published in a demo mode where the data is reset every night.
• Improvements made for the internet.nl security report.
• Optional fields in forms are now also displayed as such.
• In the blocks catalog, words can now be searched.
• In de blokken catalogus kan voortaan woorden gezocht.

Appsemble training – Learn to build apps yourself

Recently, many possibilities have been added to Appsemble. We have set up a new course that starts in the fall in 3 half-days. For participants without technical experience, we build a number of small applications at a leisurely pace using the graphical environment. This includes: working with forms, database and an external data source. For participants with some technical baggage, we go through the above a bit faster and then go into depth on topics: modeling resources (database), linking external systems, developing own blocks in Javascript. Cases can be submitted in advance that we try to handle, we try to make it as useful and interactive as possible.

Starts in October 2024. Interested? Then email: support@appsemble.com

Build apps yourself with help from Appsemble where needed

Organizations are increasingly making the switch to low-code. Read more about it on this blog on pleio. Contact us for the possibilities. What works in practice is the purchase of a hours strip card. The hours can be spent as there is a need from an organization to:

• Support of employees with challenges during app development.
• Online or offline Appsemble course. After this, you will already develop simple apps yourself.
• Is an app or link too complex to develop yourself? Then we can do that on your behalf.
• Haven-compatible hosting as SAAS or self-hosted, with SLA.

Roadmap for the coming period

A visual representation of the roadmap makes it clear what we are working on.

In addition, it is expected that we will publish a few more apps in the fall and winter and further Appsemble platform improvement in the shorter term as a result.

The post Spring update – What’s new in Appsemble first appeared on Appsemble.

New apps

Workspace reservation app

There is this app for when we can return to the office. Employees can easily reserve their own workplace so that locations are not overbooked. The app was developed on behalf of the municipality of Amersfoort and is shared according to the open source principle.

The development of this app has resulted in the following reusable building blocks:

• Microsoft SAML integration (Single sign-on).
• Division of users into teams.
• Calculation module taking into account max. occupancy per workspace.
• Link with external BI systems for further analysis.

Visitors app

City hall employees can register their visitors themselves via this handy app. The reception has its own overview in which the registered visitors are clearly listed and can be registered. Naturally, the visitors themselves also receive an (optional) notification for confirmation.

• Users with different roles (screens for employees of the municipality, the secretariat and receptionists)
• Smart filters give the receptionists a quick overview of appointments.
• The details will be confirmed by email.
• No-shows are automatically processed every night.

Bread container app

The Municipality of Amsterdam combats pests in the city with bread containers. The app is for managers of the containers and drivers who empty them. The weighing carried out by the collection trucks is entered in the app and the container manager is immediately notified of the amount of gas and compost that the bin will generate in green energy during processing.

The development of this app has resulted in the following reusable building blocks:

• The block map can group markers when they are close to each other.
• Linking with external XML data sources.
• Access rights of app users can be set per role.
• User chooses the preferred method of receiving updates: email or push notification.

New app-store

Apps are now visible in our app store. This app store differs from other app stores on the following characteristics:

• An app store can be put together per organization. Employees are shown exactly the apps that are relevant to them.
• The open source apps can be cloned. With this, the app recipe is copied (without data) and the app can be further adjusted if desired and used for your organization.

New functionality

In this news update, the emphasis is on apps. We have described all new functions in more detail hier.

Appsemble på dansk

You read that right, we have become multilingual: Appsemble can now also be used in Danish. Via weblate, volunteers have already translated Appsemble into French and German. 360 Business Tool from Denmark has worked on the Danish translation and will also provide the Danish municipalities with low-code apps. Want to become a partner too? Get in touch and we’ll help you create apps.

Repeating actions

Cronjobs is the technical name for the possibility to perform a certain action at a predetermined time. For example, delete personal data from the database every night to comply with the GDPR.

The post Appsemble winter update first appeared on Appsemble.

New or updated blocks

Most blocks received updates. Only a couple are listed below:

Map block

• Allow grouping icons that would otherwise be too close together on this zoomlevel.
• Custom icons.

Form block

Radio buttons

Forms are one of the most important blocks in most applications. It’s used to gather user input. Yet radio buttons (where you could select only one option) were missing. They’re there now!

Data validation rules

Stacked validation rules can be applied to form input including powerful regular expressions. Along with it, custom error messages can be specified.

Validation using external services

Validating input like an address against a REST data services is possible using a request action:

New security features

OAuth2 login

OAuth 2.0 is the industry-standard protocol for authorization. This feature allows employees of your organisation to login to the app as they’d normally do. It’s often referred to as SSO (Single Sign On). To most users it just means they don’t need to remember yet another password, which is good for security.
Connect to any OAuth2 compatible identity provider, like Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD), Google or even Gitlab. More info.

App roles

In case you want some parts of the app or data to be accessible to some users, but not to others, you can use the new role based security approach in the app definition. On several levels you can protect your app, pages, blocks and even resources (the data in your app). The roles can be customized and assigned to users through the studio:

New studio features

Block store

This is a first step towards making our app editor more developer friendly. New app developers are guided in adding and configuring blocks to an app. It’s now much easier than before to explore the new blocks available to your app:

You’ll also see the publisher of the block. @appsemble means it’s a block supported by the Appsemble organisation. We’re hoping to see many contributions from all over the world. A block also has an icon. Perhaps there’s an artist in our community who likes drawing icons so the blocks get instantly recognizable.

In case you’d like to know more about a block, there’s more documentation available:

All parameter you’re able to set are documented as well:

CSV export

Data inside your app could already be exported through the API, but now there’s also the option to export to CSV. Ideal to further process the data in your favorite spreadsheet application.

GUI app editor

Until now, writing low-code YAML was the way to build your application using Appsemble. We’re pioneering easier ways to get the job done. While still rough around the edges, you might like our visuals aid for adding and configuring blocks to your app recipe. It guides you through the available options of the block so you don’t have to figure out what YAML to write.

Project and client updates

• The blocks and apps commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam are now open sourced now we’ve replaced a proprietary font (Avenir) that was in their brand guide originally.
• We’re happy to welcome the municipality of Amersfoort as new client.
  • New blocks and the bezoekers app that’ll be built for them in H2 2020 will of course be open source.
    The OAuth2 login feature to allow integration with their Microsoft Active Directory was a first contribution.
  • The way our contract was structured may serve as template for other municipalities as well. Saves everyone the legal work.
• We’re just as happy to welcome TBV Wonen, a housing cooperation. They’ve chosen Appsemble to build an app to let their tenants report defects (along with a photo) through a branded app. It’ll be released towards the end of Q3 2020.
• All recent platform updates can be found on the releases page.

In development

These features are expected to be landing soon in an upcoming release:

• Multilingual apps should make it to a release in August 2020. With this feature your users can choose in which language they’ll see your app as long as you provide the translations for it.
• Email templates should make it to a release in September 2020. It’s quite handy to send notification emails that can also be localised.
• We’ve got loads of feedback from developers that tried building blocks and apps. We know there’s a lot to improve. We’re balancing time between building client apps with the framework (dogfooding and a way fund further development) and improving the developer workflow. We’ve planned several developer UX and documentation improvements for the remainder of the year.
• A visually new app store that promotes best rated apps and allow you to clone and adapt each app easily.

The post Appsemble summer release first appeared on Appsemble.

Of course, if you just want to build apps using existing blocks, you can just use our SAAS and don’t need to install anything.

We hope this video helps you avoid pitfalls. In case you’re still having issues, drop by on discord and we’re happy to help.

The post Appsemble development tutorial first appeared on Appsemble.

When developing a (web) application you normally need a software developer. This developer needs knowledge of different programming languages, usually a backend language (PHP, Python, NodeJS) and a frontend language (HTML, JavaScript, ReactJS). Complicated code language that someone who ultimately uses or manages the app often has little knowledge of. A small adjustment in your application, therefore, takes more time than you think; report the desired changes to the developer, have them implemented, check and have it put online.

The solution for this is low-code platforms. With the low-code editor, it is possible to make adjustments yourself without programmer on the basis of existing templates (app recipes). These recipes are written in a language (YAML) that is easy to read and use with some practice. Combine the existing in your application building blocks or start with a fully working example application such as the observation app that you can adjust yourself afterward. Adapting existing apps that you can take as a basis is a lot easier than coming up from scratch on your own.

Advantages of low-code platforms

Companies often cannot keep up with the ever-accelerating digital transformation. Soon, systems that have recently been built are already being overtaken by renewed principles and new frameworks. There are more and more wishes for complex applications that require a lot of manpower and the associated high workload for developers – which everyone is looking for and cannot find. To solve this problem, companies are looking for an alternative in (external) developers or IT consultancy companies.

There are high costs associated with both building and maintenance of these solutions. Also often on not always favorable conditions. Contracts that are concluded with a software development company are often cleverly put together. For example, do you acquire ownership of the code supplied? Or are you connected to this supplier through vendor lock-in?

More municipalities have shown an interest in the open source low-code platform of OpenApps.

Differences between the low-code platforms

Prices low-code and no-code platforms

One low-code platform is not the other. Where are the differences?

Well-known parties in this corner include Mendix and Betty Blocks. They are known for their low-code and no-code platform. You can of course make great apps with it, that’s how sporty we are to admit that. However, there are major differences.

Developing an application in low code speeds up the innovation of your application. But what is it ultimately worth? Betty blocks requires a monthly fee of € 1000 per application. This includes cloud storage. Mendix competes with a subscription per user of an application. An application with 10 users will cost € 370 per month. (the prices were compared in July 2019).

Prices of Appsemble SAAS are far below that. Partly because this year we also offer fewer building blocks compared. However, these are all temporary restrictions. What matters is that you do not create dependence on platform suppliers for yourself. Appsemble is open source. The continuity of your app will never be compromised.

Not only vendor lock-in and lower costs are advantageous. The fact that open source is always expandable by Appsemble but also by other parties also ensures that you can not only use the blocks that the supplier offers, but you can use and link your own APIs and datasets much more easily. Customization is always possible (to be carried out by Appsemble itself, but also any other supplier), you are never limited in the possibilities.

Affordable solution: low-code platform as open source

The prices for a low-code platform as a subscription are still too expensive for small companies and smaller municipalities. When your subscription ends, your application that you have invested money and time into immediately becomes unusable.

This is different when using an open source low-code platform. Open source means open source, you get free access to the source material. Appsemble offers a low-code platform as open source. You can take care of the hosting of your app yourself. If this does not work or you prefer to outsource it, it is possible to request a hosting from Appsemble. Just as easy and you can decide to do the hosting yourself at any time.

Do you want more information about Appsemble and OpenApps? Then sign up for the newsletter. Also view the FAQ page for interesting information.

The post low-code first appeared on Appsemble.