Can Bubble.io handle the data model for my App?

Data and Bubble.io

I started my journey with Bubble.io after 5 years of working as a Solution Analyst/Architect for NSW Health in Sydney, Australia, implementing data warehouse tables, workflows, and analytics dashboards. I came across Bubble.io when looking for a way to transition into the Start-Up world.

Bubble.io is sold as a way to significantly speed up Web Application development. My first reaction was to be sceptical about the claims made on the Bubble.io landing page, but early signs were that Bubble.io could deliver on its promises.

Naturally, I was very interested to understand what was possible in the Bubble.io database world, how it all worked, and what was the best ways/practices to use and structure data effectively.

In this article, I will explain some of the interesting things I’ve done and seen others do with data in Bubble.io! (Admittedly many of my friends tell me that the topic of databases is dry — who knew — so you be the judge!).

Which data structures could I model in Bubble.io?

Quite a few! But first things first. If you are new to Bubble.io, when it comes to data, Bubble.io is not:

• a CRM with a couple of extra custom fields tagged on, or
• a one or two table spreadsheet you hook up to a UI, like some other no-code tools.

It’s really whatever you want it to be - with few limitations.

Underlying Bubble.io is a PostgresSQL database hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). PostgresSQL is a relational database (based on SQL — or Structured Query Language), enabling you to build data models for many common application scenarios.

Think of the many web applications you use regularly. For example:

• social networks
• online stores
• chat apps
• blogs
• forums
• customer relationship management (CRM) platforms
• email tools
• media platforms
• software-as-a-service (SAAS) productivity tools

It is possible to build the underlying data structures for all of these on Bubble.io.

I listen to many start-up founders pitch their ideas and I’ve found that many applications borrow aspects from one or more of the above types of applications.

If your idea is similar to any of the above (or a mashup of a few), have confidence that you could implement its data structure on Bubble.io.

Advanced use cases

Some other interesting use cases for Bubble.io’s database that I have implemented or seen implemented by colleagues or clients include:

• analytics dashboards
• extract, transform and load tools (ETL), for example with staging data, cleaning data and joining data between two data sources.
• receiving and sending data via API (application programming interface) by exposing your Bubble.io App’s API Endpoint and by using the API Connector plugin.
• connecting Bubble.io up to an external database (hosted anywhere) using the SQL Connector plugin.

Data structures

For the data nerds, you may be interested to learn that Bubble.io’s database can easily handle:

• One to many relationships
• Many to many relationships
• Prepopulated lists of external data from CSV files or APIs
• Nested and hierarchical data structures (with some considerations)

Limitations

There are a few limitations to what you can do in Bubble.io. However, given the overall reduction in development time, my colleagues and I often choose to accept these limitations and work with Bubble.io anyway.

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One of the main limitations is that you can’t directly run SQL commands on the database (e.g. Delete * From tablename). Instead, commands like this need to be run by executing an API Workflow that deletes records from a particular table, by using a Bulk action in the Data Tab.

Read about why we started MomentumGroup.tech — a no-code tech product agency.

More about me: willericksson.com

Getting started with data modelling in Bubble.io

So now you’ve made the plunge and opened up your Bubble.io editor. You decide it’s time to start structuring your data.

Here is the basic process I suggest you use when starting out creating your initial Bubble.io data structures.

1. Map out your Things

Grab some paper. Or maybe open a Miro page (my current favourite brainstorming tool).

Start by listing the Things your app will need. A Thing in Bubble.io is the same as an Entity, or a Database Table, or a Data Type. Things are the ‘nouns’ of your app.

Identifying the Things you will need

If you don’t already have a clear idea of the Things you need to create, creating low-fidelity wireframes of your main User Interfaces (UIs) will better help you to visualise them.

For example, a Food Ordering App may include the following Things:

• Users
• Orders
• Menu Items
• Messages

2. Identify the fields for each Thing

For each thing, we need to figure out which fields it requires. For example, the thing “User” might require a:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Email
• Address

Another way to think about this is in terms of Spreadsheets. Things are like the Tabs in a spreadsheet. Fields are like Columns.

3. Identify the likely relationships between Things

Bubble enables you to define relationships between things. Rather than the typical database which uses Primary and Foreign Keys, Bubble allows you to add Fields of the data type for a Thing to another Thing.

For example, the Order table may have a field called “Customer” which is data type User. By creating this field in Orders, we can later retrieve the customer’s orders by searching for Orders where Customer = Current User.

At this point, we need to identify how Things join together, and what kind of relationships they will have. The best way to do this is by using an Entity Relationship Diagram.

4. Implement and iterate.

When you are learning Bubble.io, and even when you have become quite practised at it, you will often find that you need to redefine parts of your Bubble.io data structure as you go.

Sometimes the way you need to query the data didn’t quite work the way you saw it in your mind. Other times, your idea worked but the performance isn’t optimal.

In these situations, be kind to yourself and make tweaks to your data structure to achieve your user’s objectives in a performant way.

Conclusion

In this article, I’ve described the kinds of Apps you can build in Bubble.io from the perspective of the underlying data model. I’ve also suggested an initial strategy to start creating your Bubble.io data model.

Keep an eye out for more articles about Bubble.io and data modelling coming soon.

MomentumGroup.techis a no-code tech product agency specialising in Bubble.io Development, UXUI Design and Marketing Automation based in Sydney, Australia with team and clients from around the world.

Read our Blog Post on Why We Started Momentum Group

Will founded Momentum Academy to enable more people to learn and build a career in Bubble with our Intensive Bootcamp Course.

Will is the Director and Lead Developer (Bubble.io) — More about Will here: willericksson.com).

*The views expressed here are those of Will Ericksson and do not represent Bubble. Bubble is a trademark of the Bubble Group Inc.

Shoutout to

and

who challenge me with their data-related questions and impress me with their abilities!