Wanted: Simplest possible "quick start"

1

I am looking for the simplest possible “quick start.” While I have enjoyed working my way through the React “quick start,” I am not a React developer and my use cases will not be built using React.

Does anyone have a simple, entirely generic, example of how to use 8Base?

Here’s what I’d like to see:

  • Execute a serverless function, via curl, that returns a value, via GraphQL, from the database.
  • Execute a serverless function, via a http request in a web browser, that returns a value, via GraphQL, from the database.

The examples should not even use Express.

Can anyone help?

Thank you.

2

Hey Talgolan!

I accept your challenge ♘

Give me the weekend and I’ll give toy something that fits the vision.

Sebastian

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3

Sebastian: Thank you.

If you use GitHub, please let me know and I will be happy to collaborate with you.

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4

Hey Tal!

I just started on this. Here is the repo. It’s not done.

What do you think should be possible in the simplest app? As in, what functionality should be possible?

Thanks!

5

Thanks for asking. :slight_smile:

Minimum requirements for the “simplest app.”

  • Define a schema for a basic table (Contact): UniqueID, FName, LName, Email

  • Populate the (Contact) table with some random data (ex. use https://swapi.co/ and grab 10 random characters).

  • Expose an endpoint that can be called from the command-line, via a curl request, that will return a JSON record. Something like:

    Return all (Contact) records

    curl -i -H “Accept: application/json” -H “Content-Type: application/json” -X GET “http://hostname/contacts/all”

    Return the (Contact) record matching id=

    curl -i -H “Accept: application/json” -H “Content-Type: application/json” -X GET “http://hostname/contacts/id=”

    Return the (Contact) record matching graphql query

    curl -i -H “Accept: application/json” -H “Content-Type: application/json” -X GET “http://hostname/contacts/query=”

  • Expose an endpoint that can be called via http(s), via a curl request, that will return a JSON record in the browser. Something like:

    Return all (Contact) records

    http://hostname/contacts/all

    Return the (Contact) record matching id=

    http://hostname/contacts/id=

    Return the (Contact) record matching graphql query

    http://hostname/contacts/query=

  • Both of the above, but with basic authentication.

6

Ahhh! We don’t even need custom functions in this case. Everything will be auto generated by 8base for the Contacts table and available via the GraphQL endpoint.

Revisiting the application now.

7

Wonderful. Like I said… The “simplest application” for the sake of a “fastest quick start.”

8

Alright man, I think I have you covered! Check it out: https://github.com/8base/simplest-starter-app

Usage

Go into the contacts.sh file and replace the following variables with valid values.

  1. API_TOKEN=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
  2. WORKSPACE_ENDPONT=<YOUR_WORKSPACE_ENDPOINT>

CURL

There are three commands.

all

bash contacts.sh all

id

bash contacts.sh id "123_id_of_some_record"

query

bash contacts.sh query "{ contactsList { count } }"

BROWSER

There are three HTTP options.

all

https://api.8base.com/<WORKSPACE_ID>/webhook/contacts?type=all

id

https://api.8base.com/<WORKSPACE_ID>/webhook/contacts?type=id&value=<CONTACT_ID>

query

Note: query only queries by the email field, as it is difficult passing an query object through the browser’s URL input
https://api.8base.com/<WORKSPACE_ID>/webhook/contacts?type=query&value=<SOME_QUERY>

Auth

I added auth to the Curl, but not the webhook. If you’re using an API client, like Postman, it would be easy to add an Authorization Header.

9

Thank you. I will give this a try as soon as possible (later tonight or tomorrow).

10

Sebastian: You nailed it. Thank you.

I have a couple of suggestions that I would like to submit as a pull request.

Are you comfortable adding me to the repo?

GitHub Username: talgolan

Let me know.

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11

Wooo hooo!

Invite sent. It should allow you to make pull requests.

12

I think “simplest” is subjective, in terms of what and how simple. For example, the simplest to me is:

8base:

Create a table with a few fields
Create a new role to access tables
Create a new API token and associate with role

Client:

Create a new npm app with npm init
Install apollo-boost, graphql-tag, …
Create a simple React/Vue/LitElement app
Use Apollo client.query() to get and present data

For me, the key is using JavaScript, and focused on the front-end. If there were a CDN version of the Apollo client, you wouldn’t even need a specific framework, just an HTML page with JavaScript.

I found https://www.jsdelivr.com/package/npm/apollo-boost but I’m not familiar with loading libraries any more ever since using Webpack… but we’re heading in that direction again with JS modules.

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13

Simplest JavaScript app? Could be a thing!