Point, Click, Launch – Instant Apps With App Blueprints

We are excited to roll out the first 3 of our new App Blueprints for the Backendless platform. With App Blueprint templates, you can build a fully functional web app with connected database in just a few clicks!

Perhaps the greatest strength of codeless/no-code development is the ability to prototype quickly so you can start gathering feedback. Whether you’re building a simple proof of concept or a more fleshed-out MVP, codeless development makes the process much faster.

To further give you a leg up on development, we have created App Blueprints. These act as basic templates for common app/website types. When you select an App Blueprint, you are starting with a fully developed app, complete with UI, logic, and database integration.

About App Blueprints

With App Blueprints, you can customize and publish a fully-functional, responsive website or app with just a few clicks. Every element of every Blueprint is built using UI Builder and Codeless logic. As a result, every element in each Blueprint is completely customizable.

App Blueprints are database-driven. This means that a lot of the on-page content is pulled from your database rather than being static on the page. Thus, you can easily make changes and updates on the fly without your users having to update the app to get the most up-to-date user experience.

You can see a demo of any App Blueprint before you create your new app by clicking the DEMO button:

Even if a template doesn’t fit your business needs, Blueprints are a great way to learn how things work in Backendless.

For example, you can dig into the “guts” of the Business Consulting app template to learn how to create a contact form with email automation. Similarly, you can learn about implementing an animated countdown clock using the Countdown template.

Blueprints can also be a great place to experiment with global app themes. Blueprints come with their own pre-built CSS extensions that you can tweak or completely replace to fit your needs.

Each app you create on Backendless Cloud starts on the Free Plan, meaning you can play around with the template all you want. This makes templates a perfect playground for experimenting with the platform in general and UI Builder in particular.

Introducing Three New Blueprints

In this article, we’ll briefly introduce you to three new Blueprints. Full instructions for deploying and modifying these Blueprints can be found throughout your Backendless Console:

Click the link to jump to the App Blueprint that most interests you:

• Business Consulting App – Complete informational app/website for a professional business to capture leads.
• Cool App – Beautiful, responsive home page for virtually any business.
• Countdown App – Countdown to an event, such as an app launch, while capturing leads/taking registrations.

Check out what each of these apps look like on mobile:

Business Consulting App

The Business Consulting app template is only new template with multiple pages in the default UI. This means you have tons of flexibility for personalization and customization of the app.

As with all Blueprints, the Business Consulting app is built entirely with UI Builder and Codeless logic. Every element is customizable without coding, right in the Backendless platform.

Per the app’s instructions:

The layout and the structure of the site enables any service business to have an online presence. It ideally suits websites for service-oriented businesses such as business consultants, law professionals, fitness instructors, business and personal coaches, etc. The site has a clean and modern responsive layout, and provides information about important functions such as services, testimonials, contacts, feedback form, etc.

With this template, you can create an app for your business (or your client’s business) in just a few clicks. Then, you simply follow the instructions to modify that text and image content to showcase who you are and what you do best.

Database-Driven Apps

When you first open an App Blueprint, you may be wondering why you see something like this:

Why does the text block say Text rather than the phone number, address, email, etc. that show up in the preview? The answer is simple: Backendless App Blueprints are database-driven.

This means that, as much as possible, your app content will be populated from the database rather than being “hard-coded” onto the page. The result is that you can easily update your app’s info from your Backendless Console. No more digging through your pages to find every instance of that info. No more app updates for small content changes. Most everything is controlled from the backend!

Contact Form Included

Included in the Business Consulting app template is a fully integrated contact form. In addition to collecting leads and adding them to your database, the contact form includes automation to send the submitter an automatic email response.

By including functionality like automatic response emails, App Blueprints give you a taste of working with Codeless logic in Backendless. Taking these bitesize morsels, you get introduced to basic concepts in a structured environment.

As you become more comfortable working with your app, you can further expand your horizons with our many tutorial videos on our YouTube channel.

Cool App Landing Page Template

“Cool App” is a single page application that can function as a detailed landing page for almost any business. Cool app is structured to be a landing page for app developers to promote their product or for app and web development agencies.

For example, a SaaS developer can utilize the basic elements of the Cool App template – About, Features, Screenshots, Testimonials, and Pricing – to give a high-level introduction to their product.

As with all Blueprints, Cool App is built entirely with UI Builder and Codeless logic. Every element is customizable without coding, right in the Backendless platform.

You can easily add additional sections, such as a contact form or lead magnet such as a newsletter signup or white paper download.

Database-Driven Content

Like the Business Consulting app discussed above, much of the content in the Cool App is pulled from the database. To update items such as your features, screenshots, and testimonials, you simply need to update the items in the appropriate data table.

So, for example, in UI Builder, you will see this:

The “Lorem Lorem” box you see will be replicated and populated based on the features you include in your database:

When you preview the app, the magic happens automatically!

Countdown App Event Registration

The simple yet elegant Countdown App provides two basic features – an animated countdown clock and email capture form. The countdown clock counts down based on a date you specify in the backend.

As with all Blueprints, the Countdown app is built entirely with UI Builder and Codeless logic. Every element is customizable without coding, right in the Backendless platform.

When a person submits their name and email using the form, this data is stored in your database. The app comes pre-built with validators in place. This ensures that only text is submitted in the name field, and only email addresses are submitted in the email field.

You also have the ability to customize the message that appears when the countdown expires. To do so, simply change one field in your database.

Finally, the Countdown App can also serve as a playground for learning about visibility toggles. Logic in the Page component toggles the visibility of certain blocks when the countdown concludes.

Going forward, we will be introducing new App Blueprints on a regular basis. Additionally, with the upcoming launch of the new Backendless Marketplace, you will have the ability to create your own Blueprints to list for sale or download for other members of the community!

Stay tuned for more information very soon.

Thanks for reading and Happy Codeless Coding!