Resources

Application Directory

Welcome to the Rollbase Application Directory, a web marketplace that lets you browse, evaluate, and select from a growing number of on-demand business applications designed to run on the Rollbase platform.

Find. Test Drive. Install into Your Rollbase Account.

The best way to get started with Rollbase is by browsing the Application Directory and installing an application into your Rollbase account. Once installed, each application can be customized to meet your specific business needs using easy to learn point & click, drag & drop tools in your browser.

Browse All Applications or Browse by Category:

If you don't already have an account, you will be prompted to create one before the selected application is installed. Or you can get started now by signing up for a Free 30 Day Trial

 

 

Featured Applications

 

Employee Management (HRMS)   CRM (Customer Relationship Management) An HR system for employee information along with dependents, education, work history, skills, assets, leave, PTO, and a self-service employee portal that integrates with your intranet. More... Related Applications: Company Manager, Travel Management, Class Management, Policy Tracker   A central system for your sales, marketing, and support staff to access and manage customer accounts, contacts, leads and opportunities, along with a leads portal that integrates with your website. More... Related Applications: Order Management

Can't find what you are looking for? Roll Your Own...

With Rollbase, in just a few hours you can learn to create custom web-based business applications for your specific needs and instantly share them with your colleagues. More...

Application Directory FAQ

 

• Understanding the Application Directory
• Installing and Upgrading Applications
• Security, Quality Control and Data Ownership
• More Details

Understanding the Application Directory

What is the Application Directory?
The Progress Rollbase Application Directory contains a growing number of business applications that you can browse, test drive and install into your Progress Rollbase account with a single click. All applications available in this directory have been built using Progress Rollbase and are designed to run exclusively on the Progress Rollbase platform.

Who can use the Application Directory?
Anyone with a Progress Rollbase account, including trial users, can test drive and install applications from the directory. If you don't already have an account, sign up now for a Free 30-Day Trial.

Who creates the applications in the Application Directory?
All applications currently available in the directory have been built and published by our own in-house Rollbase experts. As more users become familar with Progress Rollbase, you will see applications published by partners, developers and anyone else that chooses to participate. Each application is reviewed by Progress Rollbase staff before it becomes available in the Application Directory.

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Installing and Upgrading Applications

How do I evaluate an application before installing it?
Most applications provide a Test Drive button allowing you to login to a fully functional read-only version of that application to experience it first-hand. You do not need to have a Progress Rollbase account to access Test Drives. In addition, the Application Directory includes a rating and reviews system providing a way for Rollbase users to voice opinions and feedback on each application.

How many applications can I install?
You can install as many applications as you want. Many applications include portals which can be integrated with your website. However, you are limited in the number of portals that can be deployed at any given time. If you are using a Trial version of Progress Rollbase you can only have 1 deployed portal.

Once I install an application, who can use it?
After an application is installed, only Administrator users will be able to access it. As an Administrator you can edit the application's permissions to provide access on a role and user-specific basis.

Can applications installed from the Application Directory be customized?
Yes. Any application in your account can be completely customized to meet your specific business needs. In this respect there is no difference between applications created by you and those installed into your account from the Application Directory.

How do upgrades work for applications installed from the Application Directory?
Application publishers can update their applications at any time. If you have installed an application that has updates available, you will see "Updates Available" when viewing the application's details in the Setup area. By clicking "Check Updates" you will be taken to the application's page in the Application Directory where you will see an "Install Updates" button. This will install any new components included in the updated version of that application. You will also be given the option to overwrite any changes you may have made to components installed from previous versions (we do not typically recommend this option unless you are sure you have not made any important customizations to the application since you installed it).

Can I uninstall applications installed from the Application Directory?
Yes. Any Progress Rollbase application can be deleted from your account, regardless of whether it was created by you or installed from the Application Directory. Progress Rollbase enforces a safety precaution for applications, objects and portals by not allowing you to delete them until 1 hour after they have been undeployed.

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Security, Quality Control and Data Ownership

Can anyone else access applications that I install?
No. Only users in your Progress Rollbase account that you give access to can access applications you have installed. Publishers do not have the ability to access your applications, they can only publish new versions of the application for you to install if you choose to.

Does Progress Rollbase enforce any quality control on published applications?
Yes. All applications are reviewed by Progress Rollbase staff to ensure they meet basic certification guidelines before they are made available for installation. These certification guidelines will be made available prior to the completion of the beta period.

Do I own all of the data stored in an application that I install?
Yes. All of the data stored in any of your applications is exclusively owned by you and Progress Rollbase includes features that make it easy to extract all of your data on-demand. If you delete an application all of the data inside it will be permanently deleted.

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More Details

What happens when an application is installed?
Installing an application from the Application Directory is the equivalent of using the Setup area to create an Application instance along with a number of Tabs, Portals, Objects, and their components such as Fields, Relationships, Pages, Views, Charts, etc. Once an application is installed you will see all of its Objects and other components in the same Setup locations you use to manage components from other applications.

Can applications share objects and other components?
Yes. Many applications share object definitions. When you install an application that uses an object you already have installed, that object will not be overwritten. Instead, Progress Rollbase will only add any object components that are missing from that object to bring it up to date with the application being installed. This may include the creation of fields, relationships, views, charts, and other object components.

How does object sharing work across multiple applications?
Although you don't see this as a Rollbase Administrator, all objects have a unique global ID that allows Rollbase to track which objects have been installed in any given account. In this way, Rollbase automatically takes care of any object conflicts for you. When publishing an application that should share an object from another application, you must first install an application containing that object and use it in the application you intend to publish.

How does application publishing and installation work behind the scenes?
Progress Rollbase is a purely model-driven, multi-tenant, on-demand application development and delivery platform that is based on a proprietary application serialization, publishing and execution engine. Whenever an application is published, the entire application including all of its components and component configurations, including images and document templates, get serialized into the Rollbase XML format which is then stored in the Application Directory. The only thing not included in the published version of an application is the actual data in the publisher's account. When another user installs this published application, the XML representation is parsed and recreated in the user's environment as if it was copied directly from the publisher.

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Rollbase in Action: The Fast Path to SaaS

A Complete Guide to Developing and Delivering Custom SaaS Applications with Rollbase

Download the whole book
All chapters in one searchable PDF
Over 550 pages of detailed documentation
 

Individual Chapters (PDF)

Chapter 1. Introduction
Platform as a Service. The structure and infrastructure of Rollbase. Getting started with a Rollbase subscription. Signing up for a free trial. Sample Applications. An overview of the Rollbase user interface, calendar and recycle bin.

Chapter 2. Basic Concepts
An introduction to core concepts: Applications, Objects, Fields, Relationships, Tabs and Menus, Portals and Calendar.

Chapter 3. Views and Search
Views and View configuration. Sorting, grouping, totaling, filtering and filter expressions. Dynamic filtering. Exporting. Group operations: compare, merge, convert, mass update. Template-based emails. Full-text search and advanced search. Radius search by US ZIP code. Quick Create. Tags. Selecting records in Views. Customizable search components.

Chapter 4. Pages, the Page Editor, and Grid Control
Page Types. Using the Rollbase page editor. Configuring and customizing grid controls.

Chapter 5. Reports, Charts and Guages
Reports (tabular, document-based and JavaScript-based). Auto-emailed reports via batch jobs. Charts. Guages. Building Dashboards.

Chapter 6. Server-side Code: Templates, Formulas and the Rollbase Query API
Introduction to templates and custom code. Single-record templates. Looping through related records in templates. Email templates. Document templates. Server-side Formulas (JavaScript). Group functions (SUM, COUNT, MIN, MAX). Introduction to the Rollbase Query API. Use of EVAL. Understanding Formula fields. Field-level validation.

Chapter 7. Client-side Code: HTML event-handling and the Rollbase AJAX API
Introduction to HTML event-handling code for defining custom user interface behavior. Using the Rollbase AJAX API to extend and enhance the user experience and add custom, dynamic capabilities to Rollbase applications and portals.

Chapter 8. Additional Application Tools
Auditing (object level, field level and custom audit trail entries). Record conversion and conversion templates. Cloning records (including related records). Communication logs. PDF generation. New Record templates.

Chapter 9. Importing and Exporting
Importing records from CSV and XLS files. Updating existing records from CSV and XLS files. Defining import data maps. Creating an object definition from a CSV or XLS file. Creating applications from a Microsoft Access database. Exporting from views and reports.

Chapter 10. Workflow and Triggers
Workflow concepts: process, status, action. Types of actions. Group actions. Examples. Triggers. Rules for running triggers for complex updates. Using formulas for triggers and actions. Delayed and recursive triggers.

Chapter 11. Security, Access Control and Authentication
Rollbase security and permissions concepts. User roles. Access control to objects, actions, views, etc. (role-based and individual). Page versions and assignments. Location-Department-Function permission hierarchies. User Groups (LDF-based). User permissions hierarchy. Field-level permissions. Single Sign-On (SSO) and LDAP authentication.

Chapter 12. Portals
Introduction to portals. Planning and building portals. Configuring portal links. Assigning pages. Page properties. Templates. Hosted files. Introduction to portal visitors. Portal visitor authentication and login.

Chapter 13. Additional Application Tools: Advanced
Mult-Currency ane exchange rates. Approval process (parallel and sequential). Surveys (online questions) and answers. Integration with Google Apps (Gmail, Calendar, Docs).

Chapter 14. Setup and Administration
Personal setup. Account administrative functions. Transfer ownership. Company-wide settings. Localization and multilingual support. Backups. Automated and scheduled batch jobs.

Chapter 15. Integration and Rollbase APIs: SOAP, REST and RSS
Web Services APIs: SOAP API, REST API (XML or JSON responses). RSS.

Chapter 16. Publishing and Distributing Applications
Introduction to Rollbase applications as a container for objects, menus, portals, etc. Publishing applications. Locked and partially locked applications. Fixing publishing errors. Approval for published applications. Installing applications from the Applications Directory. Publishing and installing application updates.

Chapter 17. Setup and Administration for ISVs
Introduction to ISV features. Overview of white label features. Overview of the setup process (what to expect). Details regarding pages to host and what to provide Rollbase for Hosted customers. Instructions for creating and managing tenants, trials, etc. Billing suggestions.

Chapter 18. Private Cloud Installation and Configuration Guide
Types of Rollbase private cloud licenses. Downloading and installing Rollbase Private Cloud. Configuration and maintenance.

Chapter 19. Wrapping Up
Summary of Rollbase. Using Customer support tickets and the Rollbase forums. Contacting Rollbase. Finding help building applications. How and when to become a Hosted Cloud or Private Cloud reseller.

Appendix A. Migrating Applications from Microsoft Access to Rollbase
Importing a Microsoft Access Database. Mapping Tables to Objects. Mapping Relationships. Importing Records.

Appendix B. Migrating Applications from Salesforce.com and Force.com to Rollbase
Migrating Salesforce CRM and custom Force.com applications. Selecting Objects to migrate. Migration of Page layouts and application data.

Appendix C. External Database Tables as Rollbase Objects
Defining an External Database. Defining an External Object. Adjusting SQL Queries. Using External Objects in Rollbase applications.

Appendix D. CSS Class Reference
Summary of CSS classes used throughout the Rollbase user interface.

Glossary of Terms