Hello Djanglers (I don’t know if that’s a thing, but I just came up with it).
Before 2022, I used Django for about 3/4 of 2021 where I learned the basics and then I created a smaller project. I never really left Django’s environment, meaning I didn’t really play too much with creating my own API and then creating the front end with some JS framework. I only played a little with Vue JS and Svelte.
Then I put my coding-learning plans on hold because in the end of 2021 I discovered that there is this so called “no-code” web development and there are several platforms and tools. I’ve had my fair share of experience with Bubble(dot)io and now I am playing a bit around with Wappler(dot)io.
All the time while using those no-code tools I’ve been wondering if Django would be a good candidate for the Back end of a no-code or maybe low-code tool. There is this Web-Builder Framework, GrapesJS, which could be used for assisting in the visual design aspect of the front end. Using ElectronJS to build the visual tool, then with a lot of magic and hard work there could be a low-code / no-code tool for Django some day, if there would be interest.
After some quick googling I found 2 similar websites from the same person ( this is one of them Django Builder ) that are using the code from the same GitHub repository. These builders start scratching the surface.
Honestly, if had a background in IT I might like the idea of this as a bigger project, if with my IT knowledge I still believed that this is a promising idea. However, I’m just a medical student who spontaneously took interest in programming and I don’t know what I don’t know and I don’t have the skills that would allow me to build something like that. I wouldn’t even know from where to begin.
My guess is using ElectronJS and some basic JavaScript or maybe with a framework like Svelte, start creating a visual tool that does what I do manually with the terminal when I create a new project and then I would somehow add textboxes and what not to match all the different configuration files of Django. It would be like a big text-files management software let’s say, with predefined functions and where the user would be able to select from a myriad of options depending on what they want to do and where they are. Then I would also have to think and plan how the front-end would work and in the end how to automatically connect the back with the front. To me it looks like a huge project which would also need some project manager and at least an expert in Django and an expert in JS and some Framework.
What I wonder is how are you people seeing this? Can some IT expert comment on this and maybe even write what a project like this would take? How difficult would something like this really be? Why do you think it is a good or a bad idea? Should there be a broader discussion on how something like this could be implemented?
One reason I think Django would be a good case is because it already has many things setup for at least a low-code tool. It has an admin panel out of the box and ready to use user models. IMO it already beats the some no-code tools in the “user” aspect and I find it much easier to create models in Django. Apart from that, because Python is easy to pick up, users of a low-code Django tool could add their own snippets here and there.
Please share your thoughts.
Edit: Another thing I failed to mention is, if Django-unicorn gains more traction a Django no-code tool could be created without using any front end framework (other than for the tool itself in ElectronJS).