How to Build a CRUD Application

If you deal with custom software development, you must have heard of the CRUD acronym. But this is not some distant, narrowly focused concept. Indeed, we engage with CRUD apps at every turn.

These apps allow users to perform fundamental operations on data, such as creating new records, reading or viewing existing data, changing it, and deleting undesirable entries. But how to make a CRUD application?

What Do CRUD Operations Mean?

What is CRUD? CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update, and Delete.

• Create: Create action lets you insert new records, such as signing up a new user or adding a product to a store.
• Read: Read allows you to look through existing data, for example, viewing a user’s profile or showing a list of products.
• Update: With Update, you modify existing records, such as a user’s profile or a product’s price.
• Delete: Delete removes data, for instance, a user account from the system or a product from the store.

The Meaning of CRUD in Software Development

CRUD operations are the basic actions you use to work with data in a database. They help you create, read, update, and delete information, which is important whether you’re making a big business application or a simple website.

Understanding CRUD is a must because it also helps you build more complex features, such as checking data for errors, managing different user permissions, and developing APIs.

Understanding CRUD Applications

CRUD apps are a type of software that lets you do the actions listed above. They form the backbone of many web and mobile programs and are often used to arrange information stored in databases.

Examples of Basic CRUD Applications

CRUD apps are common and are used in all sorts of tasks. For instance, in a library management system users can add new books to the database, view the available collection, revise details of existing titles, and terminate books that are no longer part of the library.

Another example is a task management application, which helps people order their to-do checklists. Users can start new tasks, access the current list along with their statuses, edit task details such as deadlines, and delete completed or unnecessary items.

A customer relationship management (CRM) system, which makes an important instrument for controlling client information, allows users to add new prospects, check their interaction history, correct the attributes, and clear old records that are no longer needed.

Lastly, a blog platform provides a space for users to write and publish short posts and long articles. Users can make up new content, read existing writings and comments, slightly rework published pieces or completely correct them, and delete posts that are no longer relevant.

Ideas for Your Own CRUD Applications

Nothing comes to your mind? Here are some fun concepts that could echo with people.

How about a personal wealth tracker? This software would help people govern their income and expenses, easily add new points, request financial overviews, update transaction details, and erase outdated records when they need to.

For those who adore cooking, a recipe manager could be a true hit. Imagine a platform where users can save and rank their favorite recipes. They’d be able to replenish the list, skim their collection, alter the ingredients, and remove recipes they’ve lost interest in.

Another amazing project could be an event planning app that would support people arranging events. Users could schedule new events, check out attributes (let’s say, the date and location), revise guest lists or agendas, and delete events that have been canceled or wrapped up.

For the fitness buffs out there, a fitness tracker could help them keep tabs on their workouts. Users could log new workouts, follow their progress, update duration or intensity, and even stop workouts they’re no longer interested in.

Frameworks and Technologies for Building CRUD Apps

One of the most important problems when developing an application (any) is the choice of a technology stack.

The modern market offers hundreds of different tools—something is suitable for one but not for another, something is already outdated, and something is not yet sufficiently tested.

Therefore, it is important to understand what to pay attention to, and what not to even waste effort on.

Frontend Frameworks

• React: React is a JavaScript library for constructing UIs, especially single-page apps, as well as manipulating and updating them.
• Vue.js: Vue is a progressive JavaScript framework that helps you create interactive UIs and works well with other projects.
• Angular: Angular is a complete framework from Google that offers a ton of features for different purposes.

Backend Instruments

• Node.js with Express: If you like JavaScript, you’ll appreciate Node.js. Pair it with Express, a lightweight framework, and you’ve got a good setup for running CRUD operations.
• Django: This is a fantastic Python web framework that speeds up development with its built-in elements.
• Ruby on Rails: A classic choice for web development, Rails follows “convention over configuration” principles to quickly get started with a wealth of built-in goodies.

Databases

• MongoDB: MongoDB keeps data in JSON-like documents, which is great if your app needs to manage different types of data.
• PostgreSQL: A robust open-source relational database that’s known for its reliability. It’s awesome for applications that need to run complex queries and ensure data integrity.
• MySQL: In simple words, MySQL is a database that makes it easy to keep, manage, and restore your data.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Simple CRUD App

Now, let’s move to the central part of this post. How to literally create an application? To begin, you need to set up your environment and get your server up and running.

After that, you’ll define how your tasks will look and set up routes so users can easily create, read, update, and delete tasks. Don’t forget to test everything and prove it’s all working as expected.

And if you run into any troubles, SCAND is pleased to provide assistance. We offer services to help you build your CRUD app from start to finish and can take over the whole process.

Resources for Building CRUD Applications

If you believe there is no limit to perfection, there are plenty of wonderful resources to help you out.

freeCodeCamp is an incredible place to begin. It is replete with many free, easy-to-follow tutorials on creating CRUD apps with different technologies.

In case you’re working with ASP.NET, try CRUD UI Generator Suite by SCAND. It can automatically create user screens for adding, editing, viewing, and deleting data, so you don’t have to write all that code yourself.

Stack Overflow is full of answers to pretty much any CRUD-related question you might have and can serve as a cheat sheet for solving serious problems.

If you are convinced that it is better to see once, what comes to your mind? Of course, YouTube channels. Subscribe to Traversy Media and Academind as they are full of all-inclusive walkthroughs on building CRUD apps step-by-step.