Naxl-Server

This project is the server for Naxl. It has been created as a fork of Evolutility-server-node. Naxl is a Personal Database Manager for no-coders. Not Another eXceL.

The aim is to produce a web-based tool that anyone can use to create and manage databases (sets of tables) for their own use. The target user is someone with a degree of technical skill but no specific programming ability. Anyone who can create and edit an Excel spreadsheet should qualify.

The focus is on the ability to store and retrieve personally useful data from a variety of sources in a variety of relevant formats. It is not about transactional updates, detailed validation or multi-user access.

The technology used should be state of the art, hence the choice of JavaScript, React, Express, JSON and NoSQL.

Installation

Follow the instructions much as for Evolutility-Server-Node.

• Download or clone the repo from GitHub.
• npm install to install dependencies.
• npm run setup-nedb to create the sample database.
• npm run smoke or npm run test to run some tests.
• npm start to run the server.

Then download, install and start the Naxl-UI project, or there won't be much to see.

Demonstration

The initial browser displays a menu of sample data files. It also shows the current locale, obtained from the browser. You may need to configure that.

The 'master table' contains an entry for every table, including itself. Editing this can break the system!

Create a new record in the master table and upload a CSV file by drag and drop into the 'source' field. The table will go live once the record is saved (currently the browser needs to be restarted). A sample file called 'member.csv' will be found in the 'test' directory.

Modifications

• Host name and port configurable at start up.
• REST API reimplemented using NEDB local noSQL database (and various renaming and refactoring).
• Contains no models. All models are stored in the database, as set up initially, and loaded dynamically.
• The table model is a 'table of tables', directly usable by the UI.
• new field type 'content' supports the uploading of data files, just CSV for now.
• better handling of locales for date display
• Remove CORS headers - not needed.
• Added some tests, more to come.

Todo

• Upload more data files from XLS or JSON.
• Edit model (table, field and panel attributes).

License

MIT.