Top Things You Must Know about Amazon Honeycode
Amazon announced it’s entry into codeless development platform with the Amazon Honeycode App Builder, aimed to create web and mobile apps without any programming or coding knowledge.
Amazon Web Services’ new Amazon Honeycode — Codeless development platform — allows users to build mobile and web applications without writing any programming code.
A few days ago, AWS launched its newest service — Amazon Honeycode is available in beta version and only supports us-west-2, Oregon region, puts an aws into the codeless application competition with Microsoft Power Apps and Google Cloud’s AppSheet. Users can easily register with this beta version through an AWS console.
According to AWS, Amazon Honeycode allows users to hire developers to build costly custom applications, resorting to emailing spreadsheets or documents, tasks ranging from approving purchase orders, inventory management to managing complex project workflows for large teams or departments. Amazon Honeycode integrates the familiar interface of a spreadsheet with the data management capability of a database. users can make use of a visual application builder to develop interactive web and mobile applications by an AWS-built database to manage tasks including tracking data over time, routing approvals and providing interactive business processes.
Honeycode is still available in beta version, but it’s already attracted users from all over the world including applications like Slack and SmugMug. Another important feature of Honeycode is it’s drag and drop interface builder.
According to Jeff Barr, The applications built with honeycode can make use of a rich palette of user interfaces including lists, buttons, input fields and many more.
Amazon Honeycode And The APN
According to Meera Vaidyanathan, AWS’ director of product management for Amazon Honeycode, the APN (AWS Partner Network) members can use Honeycode internally to improve their business processes and productivity needs.
“Honey represents something sweet, enjoyable and familiar,” said Vaidyanathan. “By bringing honey and code together, we wanted the service name to convey that building applications is now available to users, and that it can even be fun.”
“Honeycode is an amazing product for services partners to use to develop apps for their customers that they might not have had time to develop with scratch code.” Service partners can sign up and start learning, building using honeycode.
Basics of Amazon Honeycode
Honeycode services include templates for common applications like simple to-do lists, inventory management, customer tracking, event management, simple surveys, content tracking, team task tracking, demo schedules along with purchase order approvals. Amazon honeycode also allows users to import data into a blank work spreadsheet and use interfaces to define the data model and design applications screens with objects like buttons, lists and input fields. Users can build applications upto 20 for free and pay only storage for larger applications, according to AWS.
You can customize applications at any time and the changes will be deployed immediately. Users can use built-in repertoire, trigger-driven actions that will help to generate email notifications and to modify tables. Built-in functions include spreadsheets and some honeycode-specific functions like FindRow, which was a more powerful version of the Excel VLOOkup function.
According to AWS, applications can scale upto 100,000 rows in each workbook. Amazon honeycode allows users to link and build the three tiers of functionality important for most of the business applications like database, business logic and user interface.
Amazon Honeycode provides two application programming interfaces (API) — GetScreendata and InvokeScreenAutomation which allows users to programmatically interact with Honeycode apps. External applications also can use the API’s to interact with Honeycode built-in applications. The APIs used to read, write, update and delete data sorted in Honeycode workbooks.
Amazon Honeycode applications can be shared with a click of button. Users can install the Honeycode player on their mobile devices. Amazon Honeycode applications available for both the versions android and iOS.
AWS has an online Amazon Honeycode Forum, where users can post their queries, find Honeycode announcements including updates, access to Honeycode courses, read and watch how-to articles and videos, and find other resources about Amazon Honeycode.
Features of Amazon Honeycode
Lightweight Tool
Amazon Honeycode is very “Lightweight” compared to Microsoft and Google’s no-code application development platform. This tool is lightweight in this initial stage and would not be a substitute for any custom solution using AWS.
Codeless Development Platform
Amazon Honeycode is aimed squarely at citizen developers — non-professional developers — who are end-users inside enterprises, according to Jason Wong, research vice president at Gartner, the Stamford, Conn.-based research and advisory firm.
Stay In The Loop
Amazon Honeycode apps help your team to stay in the loop. Team members can share real-time data instantly with everyone on your team. Any changes made to the application will be rolled out immediately.
