Appsemble is most often used for forms, registrations and processes at municipalities and other organisations. That is where the platform is strong, but it is not where it ends. To find out how far we could get with design, offline use and hardware, we built Rooster: an app to control a nursery lamp.

What Rooster does

Rooster controls a Fisher-Price Lumalou (GLD09) directly over Bluetooth. You add a lamp, give it the name of the room, and control it from a dashboard: night light, sound, naps with a duration of their own, saved scenes and a sleep trainer that shows when it is bedtime and when it is time to get up again.

On top of that you put together a routine per day, out of steps such as brushing teeth, getting dressed, reading and tidying up. A day you have set up can be copied in one go to the weekdays you tick, so you do not have to fill in the same thing seven times.

Two things are deliberately absent: an account and a cloud. There is no server that knows your lamp or your child. The app talks to the lamp directly through Web Bluetooth in the browser and keeps the settings in IndexedDB on the device itself. If you are not near the lamp, you can still change your settings. They are then queued and applied as soon as the lamp is back in range.

The lamp we built it for still works perfectly well. Only the manufacturer’s app is gone, which is a story of its own: when the app disappears, working hardware becomes waste.

How it is built

Rooster is an ordinary Appsemble app: an app definition in YAML, with pages made up of blocks. Most of it comes from the platform itself, with blocks such as markdown, button-list, html, form, list, tiles and detail-viewer. Two blocks are new and specific to this app: one for the shelf of lamps on the home screen, and one that shows the lamp itself, including the glow that belongs to the selected setting.

The Bluetooth logic sits in the app controller. That is a piece of TypeScript belonging to the app that offers its own actions to the blocks, just like the built-in actions do. As a result, the blocks know nothing about Bluetooth or about the lamp’s protocol: they call an action and show the result. Storage goes through the regular storage.read and storage.write actions.

The looks come entirely from the theme: a dark palette in theme variables, two custom fonts and a stylesheet per block. No separate framework was involved.

What the platform gets out of it

An app that works well but does not look the part gets used less. That is why Rooster is, above all, a reason for us to push the design side of the platform forward. What we work out here lands in the blocks everyone uses: roomier sizing for images, a footer block to close off a page with, a markdown field with an adjustable height, and pages with a grid layout that moves with the screen width.

It works the other way around too. The way Rooster handles being offline, keeping changes until the device is reachable again, is exactly the pattern an inspection or registration app needs out in the field.

Where it does not work yet

Web Bluetooth is not in every browser. Chrome on Android and on desktop works; on Linux you first have to switch Web Bluetooth on through a browser flag. Firefox and Safari do not support it. On iPhone and iPad you therefore open Rooster in Bluefy, a browser that does offer Web Bluetooth. Rooster checks this up front and shows what is needed instead of quietly doing nothing.

Building something that does not look like a form

Rooster is an extreme, but it shows where the room is: an app made from the same building blocks as an application form, yet nothing like it. If you would like to talk through what is possible for your organisation, get in touch.

The post Rooster: controlling a night light with Appsemble first appeared on Appsemble.

It is the Fisher-Price Lumalou (GLD09), one of the products in the Smart Connect line. The announcement arrived as a notice inside the app itself: you could log in until 31 July 2025, on 1 August 2025 the functionality and the services of the app were shut down, and since then the product can no longer be operated from a phone. Existing accounts are anonymised. What is left is the buttons on the device itself.

In hindsight it was not a surprise. The manual that came in the box carries two sentences right after one another: “Most features of this product only work with the Fisher-Price Smart Connect app” and “We reserve the right to terminate digital applications after April 30, 2022”. There is nothing wrong with the device itself. The app that made it adjustable is gone.

This is e-waste, it just does not look like it

Most people picture broken devices when they think of electronic waste. More and more often it is about devices that still work, but whose accompanying software has been phased out. An app that disappears from the store, a cloud connection that is switched off, an account that can no longer be created: the result is the same. What made the device more than an object is gone.

The environmental bill for that is a hefty one, because with electronics the impact sits mostly in production. A device replaced years earlier than necessary does not only cost those years of use. A whole new one gets made to take its place.

None of this is a reproach aimed at one particular manufacturer, by the way. Supporting software forever is free for nobody, and at some point a line is drawn somewhere. The point is what happens to the hardware after that.

What we did about it

We built our own app for our own lamps: Rooster. It does what we needed ourselves, and nothing more remarkable than that. Lamps in a list, a night light setting, a time to wake up. The app talks to the lamp directly over Bluetooth, there is no account and no cloud.

The app is built on Appsemble, our open source low-code platform, so its definition can be read and changed. Anyone who wants to adjust it tomorrow, or run it themselves, can.

A replacement you actually want to use

Giving hardware a second life only works if the replacement software does not feel like a stopgap. Something you use at the moment you are putting a child to bed should not look like an admin screen.

That is why we put as much attention into how the app looks as into what it does: a dark theme that does not sting your eyes in a darkened room, custom illustrations for the lamps, a typeface of its own, and a list that shows at a glance what is on and when the light comes up.

That is also exactly why we take on projects like this. With low-code, design is quickly the poor relation, and it is one of the first reasons people leave an app alone. What we work out here about themes, custom fonts and visual building blocks lands back in the platform, and with it in the apps of everyone who uses Appsemble.

The same principle, a few sizes up

That idea, that things do not have to disappear because the process around them is missing, comes back in a very different project. For the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security we built RePurposed, a pilot application that brings seized goods to organisations with a social purpose instead of to destruction.

There too, the technology is not the problem. The problem is that destruction is administratively the easiest route and reuse the hardest. Organisations register in RePurposed themselves and submit their own request, and an administrator approves or rejects it. What is left of the manual work is the assessment itself.

A night light and a depot full of seized goods have little to do with each other. The barrier is the same in both cases: there is no working way to give the thing a second life, so it disappears.

Software increasingly decides how long hardware lasts

Whoever buys a device with an app attached today is buying the lifespan of that app. That is rarely what the conversation is about at the time of purchase, and it is what decides in five years whether the thing can still do what it could.

Something can be done about that, and it does not have to be big. Local control instead of a mandatory cloud. An open protocol, or at the very least documentation. An app definition someone else can take over if the maker stops.

We would rather build software nobody has to replace if we fall over tomorrow. That is not only decent towards our customers. It also saves a pile of devices that worked perfectly well.

Appsemble and d-centralize are not affiliated with Mattel or Fisher-Price, and this article has not been approved or sponsored by them. Fisher-Price, Lumalou and Smart Connect are trademarks of their respective owners and are mentioned here only to refer to the product in question. Rooster was made by us for our own devices.

The post When the app disappears, working hardware becomes waste first appeared on Appsemble.

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.