SpreadsheetDB
Data
database api
SHOW HN2017
How HN took it
1 positive, 1 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 9 critical, out of 11 comments about the project. Thread score -0.48.
Idea: 1 for, 5 againstDesign: 0 for, 3 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful idea for querying data with spreadsheet-style tools
From 2 comments
The idea is very nice, but I don't like the fact that it is just an API for calculations. That kind of defeats the purpose of a spreadsheet format. At first I thought it was an…
fiatjaf on HNpretty cool - I have been a fan of tools like Airtable.com (IMHO the best cloud spreadsheet I have seen). In my own startup, I have hacked together a version of a cloud…
sandGorgon on HN
Objections
Just an API for calculations, not a real spreadsheet app
From 1 comment
The idea is very nice, but I don't like the fact that it is just an API for calculations. That kind of defeats the purpose of a spreadsheet format. At first I thought it was an…
fiatjaf on HN
Logo reads as 'preadsheet' and wraps badly on mobile
From 2 comments
Cool idea, but that logo just reads as "preadsheet", which, is not exactly positive.
ukd1 on HNGood call out. I just want to add that the issue is exacerbated on a mobile phone. iPhone 6, portrait mode, the "S" and "preadsheet" are even on different lines! The linewrap…
Zombieball on HN
Hard for non-technical users since it needs curl and JSON
From 1 comment
Was going to post about this. The ODBC support is actually pretty awesome, but it is a pain in the ass to get working on some databases. If you want to connect to PostgreSQL, for…
dizzystar on HN
Google Sheets can already be accessed and manipulated programmatically
From 1 comment
Not sure what pain problems this solves. You can already programmatically access and manipulate Google Sheets. And no, you are not going to run in to their upper bound…
brilliantcode on HN
Requests
Write-back support to a SQL database from spreadsheet views
From 1 comment
I'd love to see this concept taken a step further and be able to write back changes (within reason, of course) to a SQL database. The piece I'd most love to see is some form of…
Mister_Snuggles on HN
Questions
Can you talk about the stack?
From 1 comment
pretty cool - I have been a fan of tools like Airtable.com (IMHO the best cloud spreadsheet I have seen). In my own startup, I have hacked together a version of a cloud…
sandGorgon on HN
Alternatives named
Google Sheets query language
From 1 comment
It's a little known fact (is it?) that you can use a SQL like query language on Google Sheets. You can query across different tabs on a single sheet, or query a totally different…
codezero on HN
Excel ODBC and pivot tables
From 1 comment
Other posters have mentioned Microsoft's Excel 20-year-old ODBC support [0]: you can connect any database as a source of data, then create pivot tables for live ad-hoc transforms…
falsedan on HN
Airtable
From 2 comments
pretty cool - I have been a fan of tools like Airtable.com (IMHO the best cloud spreadsheet I have seen). In my own startup, I have hacked together a version of a cloud…
sandGorgon on HNSomewhat related. I've been using AirTable (https://airtable.com/) to manage my consulting startups clients and even track hours. Absolutely loving it. You define tables and…
nodesocket on HN
Cloudstitch
From 1 comment
Cool idea. We've built a spreadsheet-powered web platform (Cloudstitch - YC S15) that lets you publish web forms and widgets that rely on spreadsheets as a backend. Several folks…
eob on HN