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Calendar Toolbox

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  • gagsoft
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    Hi Michael


    My point exactly. All I am looking for is a simple add-in like the Alpaha5 calendar add-in that will take table data such as job no, resource, start date, end date and make a graphical representations like the thumbnail Mauricio attached in a previous thread for a desktop application. I did have a look at other ActiveX components but the prices are to inhibitive for the scale of the project required and they store their data in proprietary data format files. Also they have added features wich I do not require at this point


    Thanks
    Peter

    Leave a comment:


  • michaelwpayton
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    Originally posted by rmcgaffic View Post

    Why do Alpha developers insist on reinventing the wheel?

    Bob McGaffic
    Pittsburgh
    I don't believe we/they do... as evidenced by my starting this thread and many other posts out here where developers are looking for reusable code, designs, ideas, etc. But... it is nice that with Alpha, when all else fails, we CAN/we have a tool which allows us to reinvent any wheel we may need.

    Leave a comment:


  • rmcgaffic
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    Sorry, forgot the attachment.

    Change from day to workweek to week to month views by changing one property. Change the granularity of the calendar 1 hours, 1/2 hour, 1/6 hour, 10 minutes.

    Wouldn't you like to be able to add Outlook style functionality to your application? Imagine with one property changing the appearance from Office 2000 to Office 2003, to Office 2007! Alpha Five does not permit drag and drop but with MS Access, this calendar control allows you to shift around appointments by dragging them.

    Why do Alpha developers insist on reinventing the wheel? I want to do as little heavy lifting as possible.

    Bob McGaffic
    Pittsburgh
    Last edited by rmcgaffic; 01-19-2009, 10:44 PM.

    Leave a comment:


  • rmcgaffic
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    Here's a sample of the codejock xtremecalendar pro control.

    I challenge thread readers to download the Xtreme Calendar ProCalendar control from codejock.com and look at the demo application built with Microsoft Access. Look how simple and straightforward it is. Note how professional it looks and what astounding opportunities to manage the control properties. Then ask yourself the question: why can't I do something like this with Alpha Five.

    What's missing in Alpha land is either of the following:
    1. A proven external ActiveX control with easy to use/follow documentation
    2. A third party addon. Developing calendar/scheduling controls with FileMaker Pro is very easy, not because of File maker per se, but because of seedcode.com which offers a lowcost, fully open calendar/gantt control.

    All you should be responsible for as a developer is to provide a file of events which is then loaded into the calendar control or scheduling control. Your job as the Alpha developer should be to create that file, not the intracies (spelling?) of the calendar.

    You are absolutely correct. You can not develop a useful CRM application without good calendar functionality. Which is why I have yet to see one commercial grade CRM application built with Alpha Five.

    Bob McGaffic
    Pittsburgh

    Leave a comment:


  • trackmanpete
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    It must be possible, as Access has stretch calendars (addon) and so does a Mac database product. It certainly would be a nice addition as the Alpha addon Calendar is extremely limited

    Leave a comment:


  • JPFromtally
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    I love Alpha 5, I really do... but the most disappointing things to me are Alpha's lack of a good calendar feature for the desktop and grouping in the browse.

    These two features are essential for developers and corporate dba's in my opinion. I have developed a CRM app which looks great in Alpha... until you get to the calendar option.

    The Calendar toolbox just falls short... no customization (you can't even change the font) and no week view.

    Leave a comment:


  • rmcgaffic
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    Michael,

    Please keep us posted if you go the external ActiveX control route.

    For calendars you may wish to consider codejock.com and for gantt charts/scheduling for multiple people, etc. you may wish to consider
    dbi-tech.com.

    These controls far exceed in capabilities and appearance what I have seen developed with Alpha Five either by users or Alpha Software itself, which strike me as strikingly "home-made."

    What I am sadly learning is that it's no trip in the park to get ActiveX controls (which work perfectly with Microsoft Access) to work with Alpha Five.

    One of the distinquishing capabilities of Alpha, compared to FileMaker Pro, is its ActiveX control compatibility. The jury is still out on whether Alpha has overstated its capabilities with ActiveX controls.

    Unfortunately, Alpha's supercontrols are not particularly well documented and when you hear the term Calendar control you may assume that you have a true calendar control; you do not. Alpha's supercontrol Calendar is really only a datepicker/time control, abeit an attractively designed one.

    Bob McGaffic
    Pittsburgh

    Leave a comment:


  • michaelwpayton
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    Thanks Peter/Keith.

    We have a browser based version of what we need under control... but, for a number of reasons, not any of which have anything to do with technology, we now need to have similar functionality via a desktop UI.

    Looks like, as we suspected, we will be "rolling our own" or, perhaps, we may spend a little time attempting to integrate one of the many "scheduling controls" that are out there, targeted at the Visual Basic community. However, at a glance, it seems that some out here have had some level of frustration attempting to take advantage of those types of "controls."

    We'll let you know what we come up with.

    Leave a comment:


  • Keith Hubert
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    Hi Mike,

    Maybe this is somthing that you are looking for?

    Have a look at this demo.

    Leave a comment:


  • Peter.Greulich
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    The two views that Keith has posted, shows you the calendar addin. You can change the fields and colors and filters, but not much else. You can load the form of your choice from a displayed calendar record, as well. Your PDF shows a VERY sophisticated calendar. The addin doesn't do that; just what Keith shows.

    Leave a comment:


  • michaelwpayton
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    Thanks Keith... that's helpful.

    Attached is something similar to what we need to produce via a desktop component, rather than a browser. Our question is... do you/does anyone believe the "calendar toolbox" will be helpful, or should we develop the component from "scratch?"

    Leave a comment:


  • Keith Hubert
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    Hi Mike,

    Is this what you wanted to see?

    Leave a comment:


  • michaelwpayton
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    Thanks Peter.

    Leave a comment:


  • Peter.Greulich
    replied
    Re: Calendar Toolbox

    I'm sitting at the airport waiting for my perpetually delayed US Useless Airways flight, so I don't have the calendar addin on this laptop. But the addin has two basic views: monthly calendar (w. or w/o weekends) and daily view. In the daily view you can add several columns to the right side. So you could have a time column (assuming that it is a field) and location/rooms column(s). The calendar is somewhat limited but can be used for your purpose - it sounds like. If I ever get out of this !@#$%&^*! airport, I will post a couple of screenshots tomorrow.

    Leave a comment:


  • michaelwpayton
    started a topic Calendar Toolbox

    Calendar Toolbox

    We are getting ready to create a number of desktop views to "calendar" oriented data in our app. Before we "reinvent the wheel," I've been trying to find out more about the calendar toolbox listed on Alpha's site. I found links out here, some of which include links to help and pdf files, but all seem to have problems... or at least I have problems getting them to open.

    It would be great if we could find something to help out with the cosmetic aspects of displaying our data in various "calendar" formats. For example, we need one "daily view" of our data where "locations/rooms" will be listed down the right (i.e. each location/room is a row) with one column out to the left for each 15 minute time period between 6AM and midnight.

    Does anyone have any screen shots, docs, whatever re the calendar toolbox?

    Thanks
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