New data administration tool - anyone interested in providing feedback?
Hey everyone! DataRoute.co is a tool which connects directly to your database and provides an easy to use interface to help you manage your data. It's at a pretty early stage but I've been testing on my own databases and it makes navigating and updating your data a whole lot easier than working with a database admin tool like SQL Server Mgmt Studio or similar so I think it's a good time to open it up for beta testing.
The idea is pretty simple - once you're signed up add your database connection details (currently only SQL Server is supported - Postgres and MySQL coming soon...), import any or all table and column definitions, define relationships between the tables and then you can view, navigate around and update your data in customisable lists and forms. There's a lot more to come and the interface needs some work but if anyone's interested sign up on the site and I'll activate you, or you can contact me through the site.
Thanks for listening, and any questions just ask! Matt
Hi !
Nice job !
Have a great day !
Thanks for your feedback, much appreciated!
Small thing: when the header goes white, I can't see the logo any more.
Big thing: Database navigation is a pretty crowded space. (https://alternativeto.net/software/squirrel-sql/) What's your differentiator? It's not clear from this page why you're better than other options.
Bigger thing: From the home page, it looks like you want to run this as a SaaS. (Is that right?) Any database with half-decent security won't be open to the internet, so I'm not sure this will work for most DBs. (Unless you have a JS DB driver that runs in the browser and can connect straight to DBs that the user has access to on their local network / VPN.)
Hi! Thanks for your feedback, I'll fix the logo :-). In terms of the data management tools you mention they're great for updating database structure, running queries and updating data in individual tables, but DataRoute gives you a more structured view of your data, making it easy to navigate related records, see and update related records from a single list or data, create or update relationships between records etc. It is just a starting point so functionally there's a lot more to come but even where it is now I find it useful for managing the data in my own sites. It's easy enough to code admin pages for your own sites but when a lot of functionality you'd build is just for updating data in a user friendly way, e.g. activating users, updating or creating content in a custom CMS, changing record relationships etc then that;s where DataRoute comes in, saving that time and effort and making the whole process easier.
In terms of security it's a tricky one. It is a saas solution and at the moment it's only suitable for setups with basic connections but I think this is still a big market and I think there will be plenty of users who will find it useful. But time will tell - it's at a very early stage in the project and I'm just testing the water really to see if there is any interest.
I think I'll focus on a few more USPs to make it easier to highlight why it's useful; I'm convinced the concept is right but I need to be able explain why a bit more succinctly!
Thanks for your feedback, it's really useful.
Okay, I think I understand it a bit better now. You see it as an alternative to making back-office admin web pages for your own site. That's a nifty idea, and I could see myself using it for a small business where developers have access to the prod DB.
I see you lead with "Instant Admin Pages." but that didn't really click with me at first. Maybe something like this would have been more obvious to me:
"Stop wasting time coding admin pages. Use DataRoute to generate them in seconds."
Yep that's it! It's something I'm already finding useful and I'm hoping others will as well. Really appreciate the comments on the messaging too - it's not something I've spent too much time on yet as a typical techie founder but it will be the big focus soon and this kind of feedback really helps.
Interesting! I use MySQL for all my databases (plus Airtable), so I won't be able to try your solution. What are the pain points with other tools that you're looking to address?
Hi! So DataRoute is about managing and navigating data in an existing database, rather than performing data admin tasks. For typical IndieHacker types the ideal use case is probably replacing data admin pages which would normally need to be coded for each database, helping with for example managing user accounts, updating content page data, showing related data in a single list and exporting to Excel etc.
The key difference to the usual data admin tool is how DataRoute knows how your data is related, and lets you quickly and easily view master/detail pages, so you might be viewing a list of customers in a Customers table, select a single record and see all related Orders, Events, Quotes etc. Click an order and see all related items making up the order. Click a line item product to see details for the selected product etc. All of this is done with just clicks, no SQL needed.
Standard database tools let you either update data in single tables, or display and update data through SQL statements, but it's horribly user-unfriendly and typically very time consuming. DataRoute is meant to make the data management part easier, it won't be for everyone but I think the right people will find it really useful.
Got it! Interesting. I can see how that would solve a bunch of admin tasks that I tend to use SQL for right now. Thanks for the explanation!