Are custom frontends for Airtable feasible?

Hi 4N,  There are 3rd party interface tools that some of the Partners can point you to.  Your requirements sound pretty basic however,  and would seem that the standard Airtable Interfaces should be able to provide these for you.

I tried to do it with the Standard Airtable Interface but the problem is that I need to there are multiple steps involved: 
1. create report according to chosen proj/date/user
2. create "work done" item thats linked to the previously created report
3. "work done" item needs to be linked to a contract position but only contract positions that are part of the project the report is linked to should be shown 
etc. 

So in terms of data its quite straight forwards but its importat the UX is good here. It seemed to be impossible with the standard Interface builder. 

I'm happy to pay for a custom solution, im not sure where to look/ask tho. 
And if its generally easy enough to connect a custom frontend to an Airtable Database

I went through a similar process about 15 months ago, and ended up being very frustrated trying to find a developer who wanted to build something other than a copy of what they had previously done, and something that would be remotely supportable moving forward.  I believe there are a lot of options in between the Airtable interfaces and building totally from scratch, and you might want to look into some of those.  Noloco is mentioned often here, and they have a one month free trial, so its and example of a good place to start looking if you haven't already done so.  There are many others, I know Softr is also popular with many, but you're mention of reporting by user might require something more robust.

You might want to check out the Built on Air podcasts for some insights as well.  https://builtonair.com/

Good luck either way.

Here are some thoughts off the top of my head.

You could use a third party portal system combined with an automation system. However, it may be difficult to get the exact look and feel you want. It may also run slower or need more refreshing than you want.

You can try a native Airtable interface combined with automations and automation scripts. However, you said that you tried this and did not like the result. 

You could hire a developer to build a custom web app that uses the Airtable Web API. This is the same Web API that the third-party portal systems use. While the system could be completely customized to your use case, it would be very expensive to build and maintain. I would recommend against this choice unless you have money to burn and a good relationship with a developer. 

You can also try hiring a developer to build a custom extension using Airtable’s custom extension SDK. This could be used in conjunction with Airtable’s existing grid views. However, all users would need direct access to the entire base. It also requires a developer familiar with React. This could be more affordable and easier to maintain than a system that requires outside servers, but is also likely to be expensive. 

You say you are “happy to pay” for a custom solution, but that can mean different things to different people. I would expect complete custom (from the ground up) development job to start at tens of thousands of dollars, if not more.

Bubble.io is a good front-end builder for Airtable due to it's Airtable plugin which I've used. There are many options out there but Bubble.io already has a plugin to connect to Airtable's API so it makes the most sense in my opinion.

Thanks for the responses and input so far!

@BillH Did you manage to get what you need in the end or did you choose a different path? 
I'll definitely have a look into Noloco, this might be interesting for some other things too. 

@kuovonne I guess I haven't tried native Airtable Interfaces + Scripts/Automations yet, i was under the impression it would not be possible anyways. But to be fair i probably need to dig deeper in that direction anyways. 

As for paying for a custom solution, I would potentially be willing to spend a couple thousand but not tens of thousands of dollars considering all I need is a more sophisticated Form with some extra steps. I might very well underestimate the workload that comes with a fully custom solution though. 
The extension is not an option unfortunately because of the access level needed.

@Alex_N Thanks for the tip, gonna check that one out aswell!

Seems like my best bet for now is to dig into some tools mentioned here and get familiar with airtable scripting

A few of the leading Airtable portals are:

Noloco
JetAdmin
Softr
Glide

JetAdmin is probably my favorite for sheer simplicity & user-friendliness, while Noloco is probably the most powerful & customizable one.

The CEO of Noloco gave a demonstration of his product on this Airtable podcast episode.

I also give a brief tutorial of Noloco on this Airtable podcast episode.

And I also presented a full one-hour webinar on Noloco called Building a Client Portal on Noloco powered by Airtable.

p.s. If you have a budget for your project and you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with any of this, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consulting — ScottWorld 

Thanks for the List @ScottWorld 

I am having a look at these now, particularly Noloco looks quite interesting. 

I did also find https://web.miniextensions.com/ . With their Form Builder it is actually possible create an Item via form and create additional linked items within the previously created item without leaving the form.

There are some small issues still but this is definitely a good step in the right direction. 

For the project I was speaking of I needed to get something in place quickly, so I used used Airtable's interfaces to create a prototype which worked far better than I expected but still had limitations.  So I ended up using another third party product, Stacker (or Stackerhq to be more accurate), which actually works well.  It's been around for a while and has a mostly dependable reputation, but changes and updates come far too slowly for my liking.  

In my case some additional parties got involved, and based on the products already approved I made the best choice at the time, but given the opportunity to start over I'd say there's a 99% chance I would use Noloco.

Interesting. I played around with noloco for a bit and it looks like it can actually solve my Problem too. 
Since I can just have user Accounts (Wanted that anyways), the User can just login, open their reports and then add their work hours. Since the data is edited live, I dont need to worry about any multistep forms anymore, which is actually really nice! 

The only thing that currently concerns me is that the live app feels very slow. Especially updating a formula that is being calculated from data I just added takes minutes. 
I suppose its because the data is not synced with Airtable at a very fast rate, but this feels almost unusable (which would be a shame). 

Is this generally a known problem? 
Looks like they offer their own database aswell, now I'm wondering if I can just use their database and abandom airtable altogether. My guess is it would be quicker but offer less options. Will do some more research. Anyone have experience with their database tho? 

I think once you start discussing the other databases you might want to move to another forum such as

https://air.tableforums.com or their slack channel. 

Yea it looks like it wont be an option anyways because it does not offer lookup fields in Databases. 

Shame the synchronisation is so slow with Airtable. But I guess thats gonna be the case with all other Interfaces too, no? 

Not necessarily. You can get fresh data anytime you want by making a new API call. I have no experience with Noloco but it seems their API calls are automatically set to certain time intervals? I've only worked with the Airtable API calls from within Bubble io and how often you get fresh data is entirely controlled by you in that platform. It is possible that Noloco lets you change how often your data gets refreshed somehow. I know that Airtable limits your API calls to 5 per second per base so this might be a reason why Noloco is limiting you this way.

From what it looks like it seems to be random, yes. Sometimes its very quick but most of the time it takes quite a while. 
Guess I'd have to ask them if its possible to make an API call after one specific action... but I doubt it's realistic. 

I just tried and managed to get (almost) the same functionality out of the native Airtable interface but now lacking the Login/user specific display of content again. **bleep** it.

Guess I'm reaching the point where I do need to consult an expert. Feels like all functionalities I want are available but just spread out over different plattforms. hmmm....

edit: hah the censoring of the word I used makes it look worse than the word i actually used. 

I believe the different options have to weigh in the changes to the Airtable api call pricing that went into effect last summer.  Increasing the speed by decreasing the time between fetches may push airtable users over the limits on the team plan (did with Stacker, they wanted me to move to their database, but they don't support Make and probably others, but that's a deal breaker).  I believe Noloco has a faster synch available, but you need to ask in, and I'm not at that point yet.

I'm not sure which tool you’ve chosen to build an Airtable frontend, so here's another solution in case you're still looking.

Hiring a programmer for a custom solution can be time-consuming and expensive. Instead, consider using Softr.io. It's a cost-effective and quicker alternative, and experts can help you build it if needed.

With Softr you can create custom front end for your Airtable data without coding. Here’s why it might be perfect for your project:

1. User-Friendly Interface: With Softr.io’s drag-and-drop interface, you can easily create custom forms, lists, and dashboards, making it simpler for workers to submit their reports.
2. Custom Logic: Ensure task hours don't exceed total hours worked using Airtable formulas, which can be mapped to Softr’s List block or individual user pages(List details block).
3. Report functionality: With our conditional forms, you can customize reports based on project, date, and user inputs. Another option is automating reports with tools like Zapier and Make + ChatGPT. We also have advanced visibility and permissions settings to restrict users to their data, ensuring privacy and preventing unauthorized access to other's information.
4. File Uploads: Users can attach receipts, photos, and other documents directly through the interface.
5. Integration with Airtable: Softr.io works seamlessly with your existing Airtable structure, so no need to migrate or reconfigure your database.

Example Workflow

1. Worker Logs In: A user logs into the Softr.io app and navigates to the “Daily Report” form.
2. Fill Out Report: The user selects the date, enters start and end times, and the total hours worked. They choose from a dropdown list of project-specific tasks, documenting the hours spent on each task. They also attach necessary files (e.g., receipts, photos) and submit the report.
3. Manager Review: A manager, assigned to a specific project or user, views the aggregated data on the dashboard, and reviews individual reports for accuracy and completeness.
4. Data Sync: All data entered through the Softr.io app is synced with Airtable, ensuring the database is up-to-date and accessible for further analysis and reporting.

Please get in touch if you have any questions!