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The Alpha Software Forum Participation Guidelines

The Alpha Software Forum is a free forum created for Alpha Software Developer Community to ask for help, exchange ideas, and share solutions. Alpha Software strives to create an environment where all members of the community can feel safe to participate. In order to ensure the Alpha Software Forum is a place where all feel welcome, forum participants are expected to behave as follows:
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If a thread or post is found to contain any of the content outlined above, a moderator may choose to take one of the following actions:
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Alpha Software Corporation may amend the guidelines from time to time and may also vary the procedures it sets out where appropriate in a particular case. Your agreement to comply with the guidelines will be deemed agreement to any changes to it.



Bonus TIPS for Successful Posting

Try a Search First
It is highly recommended that a Search be done on your topic before posting, as many questions have been answered in prior posts. As with any search engine, the shorter the search term, the more "hits" will be returned, but the more specific the search term is, the greater the relevance of those "hits". Searching for "table" might well return every message on the board while "tablesum" would greatly restrict the number of messages returned.

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First, make sure you are posting your question in the correct forum. For example, if you post an issue regarding Desktop applications on the Mobile & Browser Applications board , not only will your question not be seen by the appropriate audience, it may also be removed or relocated.

The more detail you provide about your problem or question, the more likely someone is to understand your request and be able to help. A sample database with a minimum of records (and its support files, zipped together) will make it much easier to diagnose issues with your application. Screen shots of error messages are especially helpful.

When explaining how to reproduce your problem, please be as detailed as possible. Describe every step, click-by-click and keypress-by-keypress. Otherwise when others try to duplicate your problem, they may do something slightly different and end up with different results.

A note about attachments
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Similarly, if you are uploading a zipped archive, you should simply create a .ZIP file and not a self-extracting .EXE as many users will not run your EXE file.
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Paid Support Incident Approach

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    Paid Support Incident Approach

    How has the Paid Support Incident approach worked for you in the past?

    I just read how the product is supported, and - I was a little surprised.
    I expected to see an option where you purchase a support contract and get - a reasonable amount of - support for a period of time. I would *think* that approach would generate *more* revenue for the company than a pay-as-you-go approach.

    How has support worked out for you in the past? Have you needed to go directly to the company often?

    Comparing to previous experiences, with the tool I use today - Iron Speed - if I didn't have their support contract, I *never* would have been able to use the product. Way, way too many gotchyas and low level of docs to be able to navigate the waters on a serious project without support.

    Comments on how it has worked for you in the Alpha world would be appreciated.
    Frank R

    #2
    Re: Paid Support Incident Approach

    Hi Frank,
    Not an expert by any definition, but I feel very confident with Alpha in being able to accomplish anything that is doable in the platform with only the help file AND this messageboard. The messageboard itself is a vast knowledgebase and a living one at that---if a problem needs solving there are those here that are very generous with their time and have a vast knowledge of Alpha. Many here, including myself, use it not only to find out solutions to already solved problems for when working on some development project, but also to figure out existing puzzles for others (which is a fantastic and fast method of learning for me!). I have only heard of a few users who have ever gone the route of paid support and not much was ever said.
    Mike
    __________________________________________
    It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.
    It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
    Henry David Thoreau
    __________________________________________



    Comment


      #3
      Re: Paid Support Incident Approach

      While the manufacturer may provide support, even if its well, the support of this board is fantastic. The product is good. There is however methods of approaches that the forum and its members, can be very effective. That is my "2 nickels" (Inflation).

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Paid Support Incident Approach

        And don't forget, you many of us answering questions here on the message board (as well as others that do not answer questions :( ) provide a consulting service where you can get paid help as well.
        Regards,

        Ira J. Perlow
        Computer Systems Design


        CSDA A5 Products
        New - Free CSDA DiagInfo - v1.39, 30 Apr 2013
        CSDA Barcode Functions

        CSDA Code Utility
        CSDA Screen Capture


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          #5
          Re: Paid Support Incident Approach

          Ira,

          Excellent point! :o I had a few "duh" moments yesterday (few=a GOOD day!) but my not including a mention of that was the worst I see now!!
          Mike
          __________________________________________
          It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.
          It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
          Henry David Thoreau
          __________________________________________



          Comment


            #6
            Re: Paid Support Incident Approach

            I have never felt the need or want to pay for support. This forum has helped me learn alpha 5 and some of the tricks behind it, the users that support this forum do a fantastic job at helping others. Paid support would be a last stitch effort, if it were ever needed.
            https://www.housingeducator.org
            k3srg

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Paid Support Incident Approach

              Hi Steve,

              Originally posted by steve745 View Post
              I have never felt the need or want to pay for support. This forum has helped me learn alpha 5 and some of the tricks behind it, the users that support this forum do a fantastic job at helping others. Paid support would be a last stitch effort, if it were ever needed.
              Many of the "users" that support this forum are consultants, where there jobs depending on work from Alpha Five. But if we go away, you'll find a lot less support of this forum. We do it to help the community, but with that said, we still need to earn a living. Remember, you typically get what you pay for!

              So if one needs quicker, or more extensive help, or beyond the scope of the forum, I'd seriously consider hiring a consultant that fits your needs. Don't know where to find them? Just google them, or look at their signatures in the responses on the message board.

              It also doesn't hurt to buy some of the add-in products that some of us (Cal Locklin, Bill Parker, Steve Wood and myself are at least some of them) make to simplify your development work if it makes sense. This is another way of supporting the some of the people providing the many of the answers here.
              Regards,

              Ira J. Perlow
              Computer Systems Design


              CSDA A5 Products
              New - Free CSDA DiagInfo - v1.39, 30 Apr 2013
              CSDA Barcode Functions

              CSDA Code Utility
              CSDA Screen Capture


              Comment


                #8
                Re: Paid Support Incident Approach

                I agree that your time is your time and it is valueble that is for sure, Alpha is certainly not for the weak. I feel that i needed to put some input since this forum has helped me to push me to want to learn more. I was sold within 30 minutes of using the trial of a5v9. I was able to see the powerful work that has been put into the design and stability of it's workings. When i purchased a5v9 my boss came to me begging me to find some form of database to track our company clients. We were using paper everything in a call center. After another person had tried to design an Access DB and it couldn't hold all of the records we needed Table limits. Our other choice was 5k for an asp .net based frontend and sql backend that was just too much money and too much overkill for what we needed. We spent about 3 hours talking about it and searching the internet for trails of a database design software when i stumbled across alphas website. I read the site WOW this sounds exactly what we were looking for. installed the Full Trial wow the Full experiance NICE. after 30 mins i was on the phone ordering the full version.

                There has been a lot of work put into the Alpha Community and I Thank You and every one who is a part of the community.
                https://www.housingeducator.org
                k3srg

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