Webflow
I’ve watched every Rowy tutorial and read through every Rowy blog post. None of that mentions single or multi reference fields and how to add that to my Rowy table. It also never explains how to utilize the unlimited CMS items by displaying them on Webflow. It claims to do both of those things on the nocodecms .co website yet there are no resources to help get started with those claims. I am just trying to set up my Rowy with my 20 collections from Webflow so I can allow my team to start managing our content from there. Can I set up a meeting or call?
16 Replies
Hi @Grant - thanks for the detailed usecase that you shared. So for Webflow CMS management via Rowy - you have a couple of option. If you plan to only manage it via Rowy it can be a one way sync and as shown in the video. This will however have the CMS record count limit as per what webflow allows and Rowy will not help you go over that. Also 2 way sync would be possible with BuildShip in the mix but we do not have a tutorial or docs for this at the moment.
If you are looking for a way to access the data in Rowy via API and show it on webflow then it is possible using BuildShip to create a simple API on top of either Rowy table or BuildShip table and show that on webflow using external API fetch. This will allow you to go beyond the cms limit of webflow as you can technically have unlimited rows of data to be shown via API and pagination. Since this is not native CMS as you are trying to overcome its limitation - this will not have the benefits of native CMS of website like seo etc.
Hopefully either one of these is an option for you based on the type of data you are trying to showcase on the webflow website.
Hi Harini, thank you for the response. I have some content that needs to be counted towards the Webflow CMS limit, and some content (ie. blogs, category pages etc.) that can be dynamically shown. I have a shopping blog that features products links that I would like to be dynamically shown from Rowy. These product links do not need their own page within webflow, they just need to be pulled from Rowy and displayed on page. Now, I am aware you can create this functionality with low code, I found a competitor featuring a tutorial using their database (https://www.xano.com/blog/how-to-display-data-from-an-external-api-endpoint-in-webflow/), I was wondering if Rowy had the same resources to fully utilize the “unlimited cms items” capabilities. This was possible before even buildship was launched and I have been waiting for some code snippets or tutorials of how to do this as it seems like the biggest benefit of leveraging nocodecms and Webflow. I will also be building a Real Estate website that will need the same functionality. Additionally, I am trying to figure out how to create the same structure in my Webflow CMS as the Rowy CMS. Its a little confusing because there isn’t documentation on single or multi reference fields like in Webflow.
I urge you to go through this playlist with Xano and Webflow as I think Rowy should replicate these tutorials to fully empower webflow users like me to unlock the full capabilities of rowy.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOch5nUqQ_Y4uDKHUc4NiKQhhZkI31vJK&feature=shared
What is the purpose of having unlimited cms items on Rowy if I can’t display them on my Webflow site. That is what I’m trying to get help for. I’m not interested in buildship at the moment. I am only trying to create this functionality with Rowy and Webflow alone. Once I get this setup I will add some buildship automations.
@Harini Are multi reference fields and displaying data from Rowy in Webflow very advanced? I’m sorry if I am being annoying, but it is a roadblock in my development without any resources or tutorials. I am a low code person who has zero experience with any database other than Webflow. And I’m afraid I cannot proceed with Rowy unless I am able to figure that out.
Thanks for sharing that @Grant - I looked at these tutorials and these actually use external API option as I mentioned. I.e these will not be SEO friendly similar to native CMS of webflow. You can do something similar with Rowy super easily (btw BuildShip comes with Tables just like Rowy Tables so you can just use BuildShip if you want) - I will prioritise and get a tutorial on this in video and blog format ready soon. Also, can you book a call here, and we can go over your usecase on a call and get you setup: https://cal.com/buildship/demo
@Harini Thank you very much for your response, I appreciate it. Yes, SOME of my collections do not need to sync with native Webflow CMS. For those collections, I am trying to avoid the CMS item limit and Webflow's nested collection list limit. Instead, I am trying to dynamically display them just like in the XANO example (which I know affects SEO, which is fine). And yes, this is exactly what I am looking to solve with Rowy. Would it be better to wait for the tutorial, or should I book a call? I know you guys are plenty busy with Buildship videos so I'm just curious about a timeline for when it would become available. I am more of a visual learner so tutorials might be easier for me to understand, especially when it is technical. And, if this can be accomplished solely with Rowy, I can guarantee many Webflowers will switch to Rowy to manage their CMS. I can't think of a reason as to why someone would not. Thank you again!
We actually had a plan to make a video for this with BuildShip Tables (which is just like Rowy) but with the added benefit of BuildShip APIs instantly to access on Webflow. Unless there is a reason you specifically want it on Rowy?
@Harini For me personally, I'm more interested in Rowy. I can't say the same for others though. Maybe its because I don't 100% understand the pricing of Buildship. The projects I am building, are focused on volume of page views, and the plans/pricing of Buildship. Maybe you can clarify a question about it. The pro plan mentions about 250k executions, would that mean the functionality I am trying to achieve would count as one execution for every time a page is loaded and dynamically displayed items from Buildship Tables is shown? And if I have several different sections of this data being displayed, will all those be independent executions or count as one? Or would those not count as an execution?
@Harini The reason I am asking that, is that it seems like it would add up tremendously in cost if I have a few different executions on the same page. A good problem to have with people viewing my content, but it doesn't make sense to me if Rowy can achieve the same without a cost for each load. Instead, I would be paying per seat for my team, which is more manageable. Maybe I am missing something.
@Grant - Rowy is connected to your own Firebase project you will incur cost via billing on Firebase based on volume of read and on your pages. Also API calls incur cost invariable of whether you build it via any platform. Doesn't matter if Rowy, BuildShip, or other platforms or you own code hosted on some cloud platform. Rowy does not natively support API creation visually with no code- you can write code on your Firebase to do so.
Given you mentioned you are a visual builder and geared towards visually managing your data on spreadsheet and building API for use in other apps BuildShip is better suited for you. Note 250K executions is not number of times the API is called. BuildShip pricing is based on how much time each execution of the API call takes and execution hours. So a simple API to read data from your database on BuildShip table and serve it will be fast and give you lot more executions and you can add more hours / credits as needed. Happy to chat on call if you want further.
@Harini Thank you for the clarification. The only issue I see with Buildship is the number of tables. I would need the Pro plan to start if I wanted to manage all 20 of my Webflow collections. It's a little too much for me when I am only in the testing phase right now. Especially difficult when I plan to have multiple smaller projects with 20 collections/tables each.
@Harini I think I am interested in Rowy at the moment. If what I am trying to achieve can be done "super easily" with Rowy, then I think that approach is best for my scale right now. I appreciate the help. I just saw a video of adding a Buildship extension to Rowy, I may have to explore that in the future as I get more comfortable with the platform. Please let me know, if it is better to do a call or wait for a tutorial for multi reference collections and displaying data on webflow with Rowy (if you decide to do one).
@Harini I took a bigger deep dive into Rowy and am very excited of all the possibilities. Looks like a great product. Congrats!
@Harini This would be beneficial to my team as well. We are looking to get started and am encountering this same use case. Maybe a short loom video or recording can be created that would help @Grant and I both. I can provide feedback for a more professional video like the ones on your YouTube which are very helpful. My main concern is that I am unfamiliar with the field types and how they relate to the collection reference fields as Grant mentioned. It would be neat to see an example of how to show sub table data from rowy and display it within a Webflow CMS collection item. For example if I have a Webflow CMS collection of Recipes that is synced to Rowy, I might also create a sub table I believe of ingredients that is only in Rowy. And when the user loads the page, it syncs a list of ingredients from rowy and filters it inside the Webflow CMS item Recipe. This is just a simple use case. It would allow me to have unlimited ingredients while gaining the SEO benefits from syncing the Recipe with Webflow but not sync the Ingredients to avoid the CMS limit.
@Harini Sorry but is there an expected release date for the Rowy tutorial? Or should I book a call like you mentioned above to Grant. Just trying to get started with Rowy to achive the functionality I wrote about.
@James I can create a quick loom video today but note this will involve the use of BuildShip for the API part as Rowy does not natively support scalable APIs for use in websites like webflow. Also note this video will be general purpose not very specific for your exact usecase but you can use it as a base to expand upon.
Stay tuned.
@Harini Ok great! But I thought you said above that you could do something similar "with Rowy super easily" from what I read. I am also looking to strictly use Rowy if possible. Can it be done with Rowy and Rowy Trigger instead of Buildship Tables? Also, it would be great if you could run through a quick example of multi refernce fields and refernce fields just like a typical Webflow collection. I am confused on which field type is appropriate for both. Do I use connector, array subtable, subtable, connect table? Do I use the same Firestore Collection or a different one? Essentially it would be great to have a resource similar to you Get Started video with Rowy and Webflow, but this time include another collection to reference like Blog Tags (multi reference) and Author or Category (single reference).
@Harini Forgot to say thank you!
@Harini I agree with @James that a more complex overview of the field types applicable to multi ref and single ref is needed. Even with the Rowy Webflow Template, if I were to add another field type for blog tags or category like James said, I wouldn’t know which type and how exactly it would sync with Webflow CMS like in the template. A further explanation of this would be exactly what I need. For my use case, I have a collection of blog tags. It combines series name, product type, celebrity names etc. These are all tags that have their own CMS template page in Webflow. One of the main issue with the Webflow UI is that my authors can’t further filter or sort tags when selecting them from the CMS collection. Instead they have to scan through all of them together and then pick out specific tags. What I’m hoping to achieve with rowy is that my authors can essentially select from a filtered list of tags. For example a field for product name tags, one for series name tags. Although I could essentially seperate both type of tags into different collections. Its just better my seo structure to group them together but I am just experiencing a slow workflow of having to go through all of them at once. In the future I would like to add Buildship to have Ai automatically select tags for me based on the content of article.
@James have you gotten a loom recording about this yet?
Hey @Grant @James - I was able to make this video first it gives a full overview of how to setup and use an API on top of your data anywhere - be it BuildShip database, Firestore via Rowy, Airtable etc. However note this does need BuildShip as creation of the API if you follow the video is made super easy because of it. https://share.descript.com/view/82CxbsJyXlI
Code snippet: https://github.com/rowyio/buildship/blob/main/webflow/basic-api.js
Webflow template: https://webflow.com/made-in-webflow/website/rowy-cms-template
The video need bit more work and follow up topics, so any feedback welcome
@Harini The video was very informative. I would suggest a future video on more advanced filtering. For example, I would love to create a comment/upvote section similar to the roadmap template. It would be great to see how to filter based on the current collection item along with multi references. For example, show products that have X, Y, Z Tags.
@Harini I am still confused on which field type along with how to sync multi reference and single reference fields from rowy to webflow. That wasnt shown in youtube video. @James and a few people in the comments on the Webflow x Rowy get started video seem to share the same sentiment.
@Harini Great video! I like the suggestions by @Grant and it might be useful to demonstrate how to connect with Rowy (Firebase). I also agree with Grant that multi reference and single reference fields still needs some type of documentation for Rowy. A lot of Webflow users like myself have ZERO experience working with Firebase, so even for simple questions, that may seem easy, its a huge barrier for me to get started with Rowy as I do not know how to build my database in Rowy and then sync relational fields to Webflow. Connector, Array SubTable, Sub-Table, and Connect Table all seem like the same fields. I've read through the docs and I still can't wrap my head around which field type. They all seem similar with slight differentiation, so its hard to know which field would be best for different use cases. It would be beneficial to have examples more examples and Do's and Dont's for each field type. Its less intuitive than one might think. I just want to get started by setting up the my database infrastructure correctly so I can power a content team to correctly manage and eventually build in buildship automations.
@James took the words right out my mouth. We are on the same page.