I see in Eastgate's Winterfest (http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/Specials/WinterFest.html there is a database application called Panorama X. I've always been interested in ways to mine data. For good, not evil, of course, and in some cases to fight evil when it comes to what you can find in government data.

This looks very intriguing. I have used MySQL extensively, but I'm lazy. I'd like a database app for my iMac that would let me maintain and manipulate data.

Anyone have any experience with Panorama X? For details, see http://www.provue.com/winterfest2017/

Crud. Just went back to the site and looked further - pricing is subscription only. Takes the fun out of it for me.

Yes, the subscription does put a damper on it; however, they do do things a bit differently with their subscription model. Months you don't use the app don't count toward your subscription. And they don't keep your credit card info, so you don't end up automatically resubscribing unless you decide to. Here's a video about the pricing:

https://www.provue.com



Amontillado wrote:

Crud. Just went back to the site and looked further - pricing is
subscription only. Takes the fun out of it for me.

Just a suggestion, but having had a quick look over Panorama X's features, I'm wondering if Tap Forms Organizer can't do many of the same things?

For a lot less lolly...?

Would love to see a comparison between the two.

MadaboutDana wrote:

Just a suggestion, but having had a quick look over Panorama X's
features, I'm wondering if Tap Forms Organizer can't do many of the same
things?

For a lot less lolly...?

Take a look at Airtable. My office has started to use this a lot for conference and committee organization. A very powerful and flexible relational database.

I'd tried Airtable a while ago but never really got it; however, there are many situations where I've used other tools (Trello, Dynalist, Google Sheets, etc.) as a database and after seeing the name come up in this thread I tried it again and I have to say, I'm very impressed. It is truly easy to create a custom database (or set of interlinked databases) that adapts to your needs. And the free version is very generous, more than enough for what I use it for. The main reason I didn't get it before is that I had only tried the iOS app, but the iOS app is rather basic compared to what you can do in the web app version. I was under the mistaken impression that it was an iOS app first, but it is really a web app first. (The iOS app is actually quite useful, it is just hard to appreciate the app if that's how you start using it.)

I use Airtable for a number of purposes, none of which is all that sophisticated. It handles them all very well. My biggest problem with Airtable is it doesn't have a function for printing mailing labels. You have to export your data then import into another application.

Steve Z.

The 60-month choice at $5 a month makes it affordable for me, but I am still smarting from the Novamind situation in which my lifetime subscription was more like a "going steady" subscription.

Amontillado wrote:

Crud. Just went back to the site and looked further - pricing is
subscription only. Takes the fun out of it for me.

Panorama X looks fantastic. As a retired Filemaker Pro developer, I've been wondering if someone would do something like this, and am very impressed with what Panorama has done.

I have a few reservations and questions, however.

It should be cross-platform. I'd expect it to run easily on iOS, but their interface apparently has to be rewritten (http://forum.provue.com/t/panorama-x-work-on-iphone/554/2 I wonder if they are planning any kind of cross-platform development system, but since it's based on Cocoa, I doubt that that is even possible. So lock-in. (I personally plan on sticking with Apple if they ever update their Mac-Mini or MacPro computers.)

I would also like direct connections to "real" relational databases such as MySQL and PostgreSQL. I just feel better knowing that the data is in an open source format. Where is Panorama X's data stored? Is it limited by one's hard drive?

I'd also like to know how it does with images since I'm interested in photographic data. Images can fill up RAM pretty fast.

If you're considering Panorama X, take advantage of the year end discount:

http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/Specials/WinterFest.html

Steve Z.

George Entenman wrote:

It should be cross-platform. I'd expect it to run easily on iOS, but
their interface apparently has to be rewritten
(http://forum.provue.com/t/panorama-x-work-on-iphone/554/2 I wonder
if they are planning any kind of cross-platform development system, but
since it's based on Cocoa, I doubt that that is even possible.

The previous version of Panorama was cross-platform for more than two decades, but the developer has announced that it won't be developed further. (They weren't making enough money from Windows users.) You can still buy it for Windows though, but it's a lot more clunky.

This new version is all-in Cocoa and looks pretty good -- I'll probably pick it up for a project I'm working on.

One thing that I like is that it's not really a subscription model, it's more of a metered model (you literally don't pay if you don't use), which actually seems perfect for specialized software like this that you might only use occasionally.

Have we heard anything about their plans for the "lite" version, Panorama Sheets? It is essentially just a tabular version of the app. That too used to be cross-platform. I have the trial version on my Windows machine still, though it has been six years, I think, since it was updated.

Steve Z.

jaslar wrote:

Take a look at Airtable. My office has started to use this a lot for
conference and committee organization. A very powerful and flexible
relational database.

Thx for sharing this. Super powerful especially w/ collab.