When Should You Use AWS Honeycode ?
Every couple of months I see a new headline signaling the end of highly paid software developers, each time I am re-affirmed that the profession is still safe and sound from the boogeymen of No-Code providers.
The flavor of the month is AWS Honeycode. I saw it show up on my AWS console the other day and decided to go ahead and give it a go, let’s see if this thing can really replace us.
Setup
Start by signing up for an AWS account for first time users, if you already have an account skip ahead.
Signing up was a breeze, they basically just ask you to type in your credit card information and ta-da! You have an the full power of the AWS account and can proceed to using the console.
At this point you can search for the Honeycode service and view the payment plans, here is where some of the pricing frightened me.
Pricing
Looking at this, I don’t understand why you would pay money for access to 10,000 rows. Honestly, you could use an excel sheet and get 100,000 rows right off the bat. Since it’s not just table rows that you get with Honeycode, you can justify that the cost since a couple hours of paying someone to build this could get up into the thousands of dollars very quickly.
Honeycode provides immediate cost benefits when compared to building out these features in your own software.
Another account
I actually needed to create another account just to use Honeycode, you can’t log in using your AWS Console credentials, however you can link these accounts together afterwards if you want a paid plan. This time no credit card was required when I signed up for Honeycode.
My first workbook
Honeycode allows you to create your own workbook schema, import one from an excel file, or pick from a list of templates. I went ahead and picked a template for inventory management to see how serious these things can get. Upon creation I realized that Honeycode is a little more powerful than an excel file and more like a relational database where tables can be associated to one another. (If you are an Excel power user, Power Pivot can be used for relational data.)
The inventory management schema is well-prepared with relational status columns linking back to other tables in the form of drop-downs. I decided to instead make my own schema for a simple article tracker that my partner and I could use to keep track of which article has been reviewed and any comments to go with it.
Creating new tables is as easy as clicking the plus sign and the interface resembles an excel sheet. I renamed my tables and made one for keeping track of articles and another to use as a list of categories. Working with this table software was not very exciting, you do have the ability to use formulas if you want to do more complicated calculations.
App builder
I focused on making a simple CRUD (Create Read Update Delete) application to test out how much functionality Honeycode provides us.
Inside the builder where views can be created, you get a limited set of objects that you can place on the screen. All objects are mobile friendly so that’s a plus, however we are severely limited in terms of styling and ways to present our data.
We have the option of using buttons, tables, and inputs. I went ahead and added a table to list out all my articles. Each row cell can be editable so that finished off the update portion of the app. I placed a button down below and used the Automations feature to create a workflow.
Clicking the button redirects the user to a form where they can enter in information for creating a new table row. Honeycode made this part simple with the ability to click on the form object and ask you which table and columns you want to fill out.
This was a nice feature, I prefer for the ability to use a dialog form instead of being redirected, however this is fine for a simple office app.
The last part of this CRUD app is adding the ability to delete a row, I added a button to the table and automated a workflow for it to remove the associated row.
At this point we have a fully functional mobile friendly CRUD application. The last thing I’ve read about Honeycode is that you can have it send notifications to users.
On the automations section you can add an email address with a message or link back to the application. This is a very useful tool, and AWS makes having a notification service a cakewalk.
Finished product
When you should not use Honeycode
There is a limited amount of objects to be placed on the screen. If you are used to software development, you can modify every pixel of a website. With Honeycode you can change colors, font sizes, and not much else. If you are expecting to be able to modify the look of your website… look elsewhere.
Tools like Excel and Google Sheets make summarizing tabular data much simpler and with the ability to link forms you could get by using Google forms.
If you are on the verge of creating your own website in order to automate a workflow I might recommend you use Honeycode the way you would use mockup software. Honeycode can be used to test and validate your ideas with mobile friendly functionality and user accounts, once you start to scale, you can decide if you want to keep using Honeycode or transition over to a different software.
The question remains, should you start using AWS Honeycode to automate your business?
It depends…
As a software developer, I would not recommend it for complex workflows. For any simple office workflow that can’t be satisfied using Airtable, Excel, or Google Sheets go ahead and give Honeycode a try. There is enough out of the box functionality with no need to set up an API, database server or sign-on solutions.
