Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

[jjfcpa]

I'm coming from Visual Foxpro and when you do an SQL against your tables you can dump your results into a browse screen, report, or a cursor; which is a virtual table. Any changes made to the cursor are NOT reflected in the actual table, so they are really just used to do "what if" or combine data from multiple tables for reporting purposes. Nevertheless, they are very handy and because it's an SQL, they are very fast to create.

[Keith Hubert]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

Hi John,

Have you seen Ad_hoc Browse?

Right mouse click on a table in the CP. 3rd item down on Menu.

[jjfcpa]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

Hi John,

Have you seen Ad_hoc Browse?

Right mouse click on a table in the CP. 3rd item down on Menu.

Is this something you can do "in code" as opposed to "in the control panel"?

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

adhocview() Seems to be built in to later versions, not an addon.

[jjfcpa]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

adhocview() Seems to be built in to later versions, not an addon.

Thanks Stan, I'll check it out.

[jkletrovets]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

John,

I too came from Foxpro and was very used to running a quick SQL statement and pumping the results to a cursor. You can't do that in Alpha (Unless I have completely missed something). You have to just run a query on the actual table and the resultant records you look at are in essence a "filtered" subset of your total records. But, you are not taken out to a "cursor" - you are looking at the actual table records.

A little more info in this thread

Regards,

Jeff

[jjfcpa]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

John,

I too came from Foxpro and was very used to running a quick SQL statement and pumping the results to a cursor. You can't do that in Alpha (Unless I have completely missed something). You have to just run a query on the actual table and the resultant records you look at are in essence a "filtered" subset of your total records. But, you are not taken out to a "cursor" - you are looking at the actual table records.

A little more info in this thread

Regards,

Jeff

After reading that thread, I'm left with even more questions, but the most important thing that came to mind was a VFP/Foxpro conversion thread. Everyone that comes from VFP/FP is going to have the same basic questions... I'm guessing.

And I'd love to see a command/function comparison chart. You know, here is the VFP command and the comparable A5 command.

I would think Alpha might want to pay someone to do this with the number of VFP developers who are considering alternatives... myself included.

This whole update thing kind of bothers me. We post updates to our website for our users to download as often as they like. In addition, we have conversions built into the program that will update data files for structural changes. The programming side of it is pretty easy because the data is independent of the interface/reports/forms, etc. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this to see if this is the right tool for us.

The problem is, I can't really find anything else that looks that much better.

Did you look at Filemaker Pro? Just curious...

[Peter.Greulich]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

No offense, but by that logic, Alpha should provide a comparison chart of functions against Access, FM and all the others. Don't know if Alpha is the "right tool" for you, but I bet if you do "wrap your head" around it, you will find that it is very powerful and flexible.

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

was very used to running a quick SQL statement and pumping the results to a cursor. You can't do that in Alpha (Unless I have completely missed something).

Have you explored the copy records operation/xbasic? You can create a throwaway table reasonably quickly. The resulting table is then independent of the original. The resulting table can have the same calculated fields as the original.

[jkletrovets]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

Have you explored the copy records operation/xbasic? You can create a throwaway table reasonably quickly. The resulting table is then independent of the original. The resulting table can have the same calculated fields as the original.

Hi Stan,

Thanks...yep, I have. I am now used to the "Alpha Way" and I absolutely love Alpha as my development tool. But I still miss the ease of creating cursors in Foxpro for quickly looking at data. That being said, the query genie is super slick and powerful.....just a different way of thinking than Foxpro. Sure doesn't mean it is better or worse. One benefit with cursors is that there is nothing to delete afterwards and it can be created in one line in the command window.

No biggie to me now that I am used to Alpha.

***********************
John....

I have to agree with Peter in that it would be a monumental task to make that comparison chart. I think if you just get under the hood some you will come to REALLY like if not love Alpha. There is true genius in it. Tons of power if you need it and it makes most of the mundane stuff simple so you can really focus on the programming at hand.

I wouldn't worry about the update thing too much. There are many solutions to this. Cal Locklin (one of the Alpha gurus on here) just creates a new install with his installation program (Astrum) that comprises the update. In reality, I think he provides all of the program files (no data files though)even if he only updated one form. This way, he can save his update profile in Astrum and it takes no time to create an update and send it out.

I did look at Filemaker and it just does not seem to have the power that Alpha has once you want to do something more complex. Plus, Alpha makes it super easy to publish part of your data to the web. Commonly termed a hybrid app around here since part of the app is desktop and part can be web.

The biggest selling point of Alpha is this board. It is very active and people are most helpful. This board would tip the scale for me to choose Alpha if I was in a decision making mode. Sure, there are differences between Alpha and Foxpro but as Peter said - if you can get your head around the Alpha way you won't look back!

Regards,

Jeff

[jjfcpa]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

No offense, but by that logic, Alpha should provide a comparison chart of functions against Access, FM and all the others. Don't know if Alpha is the "right tool" for you, but I bet if you do "wrap your head" around it, you will find that it is very powerful and flexible.

Peter, no offense taken, but if I wanted to capture a new segment of the market, I'd certainly try to make it as easy as possible for prospects to compare what they are used to with what my software can do. Might be a great opportunity for them to show off features that aren't in Visual Foxpro.

I look at this as an extension to what they already have on their site - I'm not sure if you've seen the comparisons to Access and Filemake Pro.

http://alphafivedatabase.com/filemak...-platinum2.asp

http://www.alphafivedatabase.com/access/

[jjfcpa]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

Hi Stan,

Thanks...yep, I have. I am now used to the "Alpha Way" and I absolutely love Alpha as my development tool. But I still miss the ease of creating cursors in Foxpro for quickly looking at data. That being said, the query genie is super slick and powerful.....just a different way of thinking than Foxpro. Sure doesn't mean it is better or worse. One benefit with cursors is that there is nothing to delete afterwards and it can be created in one line in the command window.

No biggie to me now that I am used to Alpha.

***********************
John....

I have to agree with Peter in that it would be a monumental task to make that comparison chart. I think if you just get under the hood some you will come to REALLY like if not love Alpha. There is true genius in it. Tons of power if you need it and it makes most of the mundane stuff simple so you can really focus on the programming at hand.

I wouldn't worry about the update thing too much. There are many solutions to this. Cal Locklin (one of the Alpha gurus on here) just creates a new install with his installation program (Astrum) that comprises the update. In reality, I think he provides all of the program files (no data files though)even if he only updated one form. This way, he can save his update profile in Astrum and it takes no time to create an update and send it out.

I did look at Filemaker and it just does not seem to have the power that Alpha has once you want to do something more complex. Plus, Alpha makes it super easy to publish part of your data to the web. Commonly termed a hybrid app around here since part of the app is desktop and part can be web.

The biggest selling point of Alpha is this board. It is very active and people are most helpful. This board would tip the scale for me to choose Alpha if I was in a decision making mode. Sure, there are differences between Alpha and Foxpro but as Peter said - if you can get your head around the Alpha way you won't look back!

Regards,

Jeff

Jeff

Is there a way to create a form or operation that is independent of a table. Here's the problem with the update as I see it. I'm speaking strictly form the standpoint of an accounting application where the enduser is maintaining multiple data files for multiple clients.

The only way I can currently see this working in Alpha is to use a separate folder for each client. This allows you to copy all the files needed to support their data to that one folder. This means that when you issue an update, if the file structures, forms, layouts, sets, reports, etc. change, you've got to somehow make this change to their data BEFORE they can access it with the NEW forms, layouts, sets, reports, etc.

What I currently do is when they select a file that they want to use, I check the file structure to make sure it is compatible with the version of the app that they are currently running. If it is, I select the file and away they go. If it isn't, then I convert it and make any necessary changes to the data before letting them proceed. If they don't convert, they can't select that file.

So somehow I need to get the updated program installed on their computer, and then make sure that the data, layout, forms, etc. are all up-to-date before they can process their data.

This is not rocket science for accounting/tax software developers... it's quite the norm. And it is absolutely imperative that this process be possible in Alpha before committing to it.

Some might question why it has to be done this way, but in these kinds of apps, we're providing a file management system as well as a data management system. It seems like Alpha has done a great job of the data management, but not paid attention to the file management. I don't mean this as a criticism for the vast majority of applications that only need data management, but most of our apps require the file management side of things to be handled as well.

Yes, I want to find away to use Alpha Five to do our file management because I can already see some great potential, but like I said, we've got to find a way to let our users manage their files or we're going to be looking for workarounds to what our apps do naturally.

Any help you, or anyone else can provide, would certainly be appreciated.

[jkletrovets]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

John,

Are these applications networked? Have you looked at the whole Shadow Table methodolgy that Alpha offers? It will handle the updates automatically, if you just change the revision number on the "Master" set of files. When the user logs in, all the updating is handled automatically (except if you make structural table changes).

Also, you might check out the watch folder (FILE.WATCH_CREATE()) functionality in Alpha.

I think Cal's option that I mentioned earlier could work as well. For instance, if the exe was in a particular folder that had your updates, in your autoexec code inside of Alpha you could check the folder to see if it was empty - if not apply the update - if it is empty then there is no update so just proceed as normal.

I think there are several ways to get where you want to go. I don't think you with where you want to go using Alpha. I might not be the one who can fully get help you get there since I have not done what you are looking to do - but I am sure there are some folks here who can.

Can you explain what you really mean by "File Management"? Keeping track of pdf's, photos, etc.? Or are you just talking about the data files for each client?

Regards,

Jeff

[jkletrovets]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

Jeff
Is there a way to create a form or operation that is independent of a table. H

Oops forgot to answer this. Empirically no. But, a common practice is to just use a dummy table with no records for this sort of thing.

Alternatively, you can indeed create an xdialog form that is not attached to a table.


Jeff

[jjfcpa]

Re: Newbee... Does A5V9 have cursors (virtual tables)?

John,

Are these applications networked? Have you looked at the whole Shadow Table methodolgy that Alpha offers? It will handle the updates automatically, if you just change the revision number on the "Master" set of files. When the user logs in, all the updating is handled automatically (except if you make structural table changes).

Also, you might check out the watch folder (FILE.WATCH_CREATE()) functionality in Alpha.

I think Cal's option that I mentioned earlier could work as well. For instance, if the exe was in a particular folder that had your updates, in your autoexec code inside of Alpha you could check the folder to see if it was empty - if not apply the update - if it is empty then there is no update so just proceed as normal.

I think there are several ways to get where you want to go. I don't think you with where you want to go using Alpha. I might not be the one who can fully get help you get there since I have not done what you are looking to do - but I am sure there are some folks here who can.

Can you explain what you really mean by "File Management"? Keeping track of pdf's, photos, etc.? Or are you just talking about the data files for each client?

Regards,

Jeff

Jeff, thanks again for the quick reply. By "file management" I mean managing their data files, from creating new files, renaming their files, deleting their files, copying files, backing up their files. A good example is Quickbooks. You can create data files for as many clients as you want, you can rename them, you can delete them, and of course, you can back them up. We provide this same functionality in our software.

In a program such as a Personnel Staffing program, you would have just one set of data files with all the personnel that you want to staff included in it. There would be no procedures to rename, copy, or delete your data files because the program would not be able to function without your data files because that facility is not built into it.

Sounds like I may not be asking for more than Alpha might be able to provide. Whew! I certainly hope it can because I'm not finding a lot out there that can work with dbf's and allows you to build apps as nicely as Alpha does.