Is Google Spreadsheets / Docs a viable database option for real-world applications?
+4
A:
Without knowing what this application does, I'd say no. Simply on the basis that a spreadshet != a database.
mopoke
2009-12-26 21:22:59
+3
A:
no, a spreadsheet and a database are distinct concepts. Spreadsheets do not allow you to query the data. Spreadsheets (especially "hosted" like Google's) will not support real world load.
Josh Ribakoff
2009-12-26 21:23:36
Josh, thanks for the response. GData lets you do queries and insert into spreadsheets and documents, this is why I thought about using it.
visua
2009-12-28 18:51:55
In SQL? Spreadsheets are not normalized. For example below answerer suggests using it as backend of contact form. My company uses not only a database but a full CRM (sugarCRM) to manage my contact forms, and that affords me a lot of power. Using it as a user interface to let users work with the data sounds like its intended use. I wouldn't trust any 3rd party company with the sole copy of my data.Its always easier to de-normalize then to normalize. Your data is an asset, treat it right.
Josh Ribakoff
2009-12-29 05:18:55
+2
A:
Depends on your application. As a database, typically not. It can be useful in instances where you need "Excel With Web Features" or as an alternative to a database.
Especially now that Spreadsheets, Presentations and Docs are all basically used under the "Google Docs" moniker, the entire "Google Docs" suite is best used as the sum of its parts.
Two examples:
Web forms. Create a form using the Forms application, and all its entrants are stored in a Google Spreadsheet. Personally I've found this to be a pretty quick and easy way to collect names and contact information online, and its all output into a very easy-to-use and portable format.
Using the spreadsheet to interact with other web content. See this example of displaying and grabbing content from Wikipedia for editing: http://ouseful.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/data-scraping-wikipedia-with-google-spreadsheets/
LoganFrederick
2009-12-26 21:27:29
Thanks for the response.I had a 'nifty' idea for developing a simple CMS solution using Google Docs to host the pages/content rather than on the localhost.My 'application' would navigate to a specified folder, grab the hierarchy of documents and folders to build the site navigation. The pages would query the contents of the document, and render it in my page.Many of my client's are on the web, using Google Docs, Flickr, to manage their 'presence'. I thought an interesting approach would be aggregating the data into a custom template, rather than starting from scratch.thanks again!
visua
2009-12-28 18:56:55
The google docs thing could work, but I still think you need a file or database on localhost, if anything for cache.
Josh Ribakoff
2009-12-29 05:22:34
+2
A:
You might see for MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite to use in applications, for example, to archive my books.
Facon
2009-12-26 22:25:39