First Impressions? Outerbase is Outer this world!
Exploring the mystical lands of Outerbase and using it as a Database Explorer
The tech world is constantly evolving, with a slew of new technologies emerging regularly. These innovations aim to simplify and enhance the tech ecosystem. So when I stumbled upon Hashnode's hackathon offering for a database management tool, along with the enticing prize money, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up!
Outerbase, self-described as "the interface for your database," is on a mission to modernize database tooling. Their goal is to enable you and your entire team to simplify the database management process. With five years of experience working with databases, I've seen it all. I've collaborated with developers who struggle to understand databases, visualize data, or even access its contents. Hence, a tool that simplifies database work for my colleagues is a game-changer I wholeheartedly support.
When evaluating a new technology, one of my top priorities is the ability to hit the ground running with minimal or no documentation. This is particularly crucial when dealing with databases. Outerbase impressed me in this regard by providing a free-to-use SQLite database for experimentation. At the time of writing this article, there was a minor issue with Outerbase's table editor for updating values, but they have a feature called EZQL that came to the rescue.
I affectionately call EZQL my "Guiding Star." With just one simple message, I was:
Promptly directed to the part of the user interface to execute the query.
Provided with synthetic data to populate the database table.
While this might seem trivial for people familiar with SQL, Outerbase has drastically simplified the onboarding process. Why wouldn't you want to give it a try and explore the possibilities it offers?
My first impression of Outerbase has been quite positive. I've received valuable feedback from their Discord server, and I'm eager to continue exploring this tool. In the very least, it promises to make prototyping quicker and more efficient. Next on my agenda is delving into integrations with providers like Amazon RDS, given my heavy usage of AWS.
Stay tuned for my next post!
Cheers!