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Pulling my hair out

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    #46
    Re: Pulling my hair out

    Tom,

    Maybe if you had read others messages in this thread you will have seen that it is happening to them as well, I do not know if they are contacting anyone in Alpha in particular who may or may not be on holiday but they state the same no response. Which is just ignorance.

    Comment


      #47
      Re: Pulling my hair out

      Originally posted by Lance Gurd View Post
      Just to re-iterate, as I have tried e-mailing Selwyn with this and not getting any response, the latest build 1884-3220 the onchange event does not fire in a tree control on a form. This was broken in the last build as well and is used as a menuing system on our jobs form, which is mostly used for customer queries when they phone. At present I cant switch between customers as their calls come in, which leaves them frustrated while I circumnavigate the bug. Looks like I will have to go back to build 3216 again!!"!
      Lance,
      It seems that you downloaded the patch sometime early this am (your post says 3:16 am) The above post 4:04AM post says you emailed Selwyn and you received no response. Did you really expect a response at 4:00 am??. I understand that you are in the UK, I understand that you are frustrated, but most of us are just getting into work about now in the US (actually I have been here for a couple of hours already).

      I sent in a bug report on Monday and the only response I received was a new patch that fixed the problem that I was having with the browse (as many others were having as well) The browse problem rendered mine and many systems unusable. So I went back to the prior patch and waited patiently for the fix (only took a day from when I reported my problem). If I had to wait a month, so be it, my system was working. I can honestly say that I have yet to be disappointed by Alpha's response to a problem. But then again I am used to working with many software vendors that never respond and DO NOT fix problems on a timely basis.

      Is Alpha perfect? Nope. Are they better than most at responding to problems? IMHO, absolutely. Do they sometimes jump the gun on releasing patches ? Yes and there was also a disclaimer in the release notes stating that the browse was amajor re-write. Should we assume that a patch will fix all problems and be on the lookout for problems if we CHOOSE to apply them? I try not to assume anything. I read the release notes, see what was fixed and if the fixes do not apply to me, I normally don't apply the patch. The new browse re-write is something that Alpha has been working on for sometime, so Yes I did want to give it a whirl. It did not work, they fixed it and from what I have seen so far, it looks much better than the old one. I have been writing software for 25 years. I get requests and bug reports all the time. I have to manage the importance of the requests and the severity of the bugs based on not only how many people are affected but if it is an issue that corrupts data. Alpha is a program that we all use in many different ways and I am sure that each bug/request/problem etc is looked and and someone makes a judgment call as to where it goes on a priority list to be fixed, all while continuing to develop new and competitive software.

      I guess if Alpha was more diligent and released updates on a quarterly basis there would be people bitching about that as well. One thing for sure I have learned from everyone on this board is you can't please everyone all of the time.

      Bill
      Last edited by Bill Griffin; 12-03-2008, 11:04 AM.
      Bill Griffin
      Parkell, Inc

      Comment


        #48
        Re: Pulling my hair out

        Bill, My post states that I HAVE emailed Selwyn, not when I had. It seams he is not getting my emails with samples attached. He did however get the message where I attached a receive and read request as he replied to it overnight here, but I did not get either requested report, which was my way of knowing emails were actually getting through!

        I did a screencast of a problem which happens on all PC's on our network here and my laptop at home, got a request for a sample, sent that heard nothing. Reported bugs in patch 3218 and asked if any news on my sample. Got a message saying it was not received so sent it again and last nights message states he still has not received it!!! I am at a loss as to what to do next!

        Comment


          #49
          Re: Pulling my hair out

          Lance,

          It is strange that he is not receiving your emails. Zip files are rarely rejected, although many other file types are routinely bounced by firewalls/spam filters. If you want to try to email it it to me and I can pass it along, feel free to send it. If you do send it, post here that you did (just in case I do not receive it.

          Bill
          Bill Griffin
          Parkell, Inc

          Comment


            #50
            Re: Pulling my hair out

            Thanks for the offer Bill, I thing I have managed to send it via yousendit.com as suggested by Selwyn. He has also given me a different email address if that fails, your offer will be the next option.

            Selwyn has also confirmed that there is a bug in something else I pointed out, without getting a sample to show it, and said there will be a new build to cure the problem later today.

            Comment


              #51
              Re: Pulling my hair out

              Hope it goes through. I know how frustrating it is to KNOW there is a problem, and not be able to get a resolution to it. Hang in there, I am sure it will get resolved.
              Bill Griffin
              Parkell, Inc

              Comment


                #52
                Re: Pulling my hair out

                Lance

                Selwyn has received your bug report. The problem is that you have sent us "pared" down versions of your app in order to investigate what is going on and what you are doing.

                It turns out that there were related files missing from what you sent, so Selwyn could not get the app to run on his system in order to perform his investigation.

                He has sent you an email requesting the complete app for us to him to review

                For big apps you can always send it using the www.yousendit.com service

                If it is determined that the problem is as a result of Alpha Five itself, we will work at getting it fixed as soon as possible.

                Thanks
                Richard Rabins
                Co Chairman
                Alpha Software

                Comment


                  #53
                  Re: Pulling my hair out

                  Yes thanks Richard, thought I had pared it down correctly to offer a working version as when I sent it to myself as Selwyn suggested it worked here. But have just sent full app via yousendit.com and hopefully the problem can now be addressed.

                  By means of testing this afternoon I downloaded an older patch at random (1772_3208) and the bug was not evident. Therefore one of the patches between then and now caused the problem. I could spend time downloading each patch from then on and testing, but that is very time consuming.

                  Comment


                    #54
                    Re: Pulling my hair out

                    Thanks Lance!
                    Richard Rabins
                    Co Chairman
                    Alpha Software

                    Comment


                      #55
                      Re: Pulling my hair out

                      New patch, same problems. Rolling back again!!

                      Comment


                        #56
                        Re: Pulling my hair out

                        Lance

                        from a conversation i had with Selwyn late in the day, i think they have tracked down your particular issue

                        please check check directly with him.

                        thanks
                        Richard Rabins
                        Co Chairman
                        Alpha Software

                        Comment


                          #57
                          Re: Pulling my hair out

                          Ok Richard will do

                          Comment


                            #58
                            Re: Pulling my hair out

                            Originally posted by catfish_pete View Post
                            Thanks for the above. I dunno � at this point, it feels as if A5 has taken over my life. Given enough time, I�m sure all these issues are resolvable, but that�s the crunch � I don�t have an infinite amount of time. Given my time/money investment, it should be working for me by now, not vice versa. Filemaker looks as if it�s designed for idiots � but maybe that�s exactly what I need.
                            Pete,

                            Be careful. The grass isn't greener at FileMaker. FileMaker is more limited than A5 and you will run into problems too. I would step back to the version your software ran stable and from there plan your strategy.

                            Originally posted by Peter Greulich
                            P.S. If someone knows of an easier to use database product that is as powerful as Alpha - without the bugs, let us know. I'm sure a lot of people besides me would be interested.
                            That's the problem. There is none....:(
                            Last edited by Marcel Kollenaar; 12-05-2008, 09:30 AM.
                            Marcel

                            I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
                            ---- Confusius ----

                            Comment


                              #59
                              Re: Pulling my hair out

                              I remember when V9 came out Alpha said it would still sell V8
                              what they didn�t tell anybody was that they wouldn�t support it with patches or improvements It makes me feel that 8 was nothing but a Beta to V9 and that V9 was the product they were all looking for when they built V8
                              I agree that the versions should be brought to
                              stability before we are all left high and dry being faced with a new version as the only answer to the problems of the present version. The NEW
                              seems to be the only way Alpha can pay for its investment in the on going
                              software development. It seems we are getting a new beta every year. I know programming is a holistic process and I applaude Alpha for their continuous development of features and Fixes. I remember that I had Approach for 10 years and it had a problem with the memo field being only
                              32K when it should have been 64K It took about 11 years for that one to finally get fixed. So Alpha is running circles around the competition in the sense of responsiveness to problems but they do need to get clean with a really stable product and they should continue to support past versions. I made a significant investment in V8 3 runtime plus and webserver and feel like I have been totaly abandoned. I bought 3 versions of V7 and consequently I have only bought 1 version of V9. I mean how is someone going to feel after plopping down $600 for an unlimited run time in V9 only to findout that V9 will nolonger be patched and the unlimited v10 will cost four times as much or something. I am not going to go for it. My runtime in V9 is qurky it will miss saving a record it may be my fault but the full version is more stable than the runtime too many mistakes. I want Alpha to be better but I want them to support their product even after the new version is out and if Alpha is unstable it won�t ever get the market it deserves.

                              Comment


                                #60
                                Re: Pulling my hair out

                                Hi George,

                                if Alpha is unstable it won�t ever get the market it deserves.
                                That is very true, if it were true. There are many reasons Alpha does not get the market it deserves and they are working on that, as they have been for many years, not because of the stability of the product.

                                Alpha is very stable and very powerful, yes there may be the odd hiccup now and again, but overall that has not stopped the program from being used as a solid development tool.

                                It may seem that by using the current version we are beta testers for the next version but that should not mean we should not move up just because of a small bug. How would medicine have advanced if it were not for the odd bug?

                                Yes we are not testers for the next version but that applies to everything we buy and use, so there is nothing new there. That is how we learn and pass our knowledge onto the next generation.

                                If the latest patch does not work as expected, send a bug report, that is what it is there for.
                                Regards
                                Keith Hubert
                                Alpha Guild Member
                                London.
                                KHDB Management Systems
                                Skype = keith.hubert


                                For your day-to-day Needs, you Need an Alpha Database!

                                Comment

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