Alpha Software Mobile Development Tools:   Alpha Anywhere    |   Alpha TransForm subscribe to our YouTube Channel  Follow Us on LinkedIn  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Facebook
Devcon 2020 Goes Virtual! LEARN MORE >

Announcement

Collapse

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:
  • Be professional in your conduct
  • Be kind to others
  • Be constructive when giving feedback
  • Be open to new ideas and suggestions
  • Stay on topic


Be sure all comments and threads you post are respectful. Posts that contain any of the following content will be considered a violation of your agreement as a member of the Alpha Software Forum Community and will be moderated:
  • Spam.
  • Vulgar language.
  • Quotes from private conversations without permission, including pricing and other sales related discussions.
  • Personal attacks, insults, or subtle put-downs.
  • Harassment, bullying, threatening, mocking, shaming, or deriding anyone.
  • Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
  • Sexually explicit or violent material, links, or language.
  • Pirated, hacked, or copyright-infringing material.
  • Encouraging of others to engage in the above behaviors.


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:
  • Remove the Post or Thread - the content is removed from the forum.
  • Place the User in Moderation - all posts and new threads must be approved by a moderator before they are posted.
  • Temporarily Ban the User - user is banned from forum for a period of time.
  • Permanently Ban the User - user is permanently banned from the forum.


Moderators may also rename posts and threads if they are too generic or do not property reflect the content.

Moderators may move threads if they have been posted in the incorrect forum.

Threads/Posts questioning specific moderator decisions or actions (such as "why was a user banned?") are not allowed and will be removed.

The owners of Alpha Software Corporation (Forum Owner) reserve the right to remove, edit, move, or close any thread for any reason; or ban any forum member without notice, reason, or explanation.

Community members are encouraged to click the "Report Post" icon in the lower left of a given post if they feel the post is in violation of the rules. This will alert the Moderators to take a look.

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.

When you do post
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
You may only attach one file to each message. Attachment file size is limited to 2MB. If you need to include several files, you may do so by zipping them into a single archive.

If you forgot to attach your files to your post, please do NOT create a new thread. Instead, reply to your original message and attach the file there.

When attaching screen shots, it is best to attach an image file (.BMP, .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, etc.) or a zip file of several images, as opposed to a Word document containing the screen shots. Because Word documents are prone to viruses, many message board users will not open your Word file, therefore limiting their ability to help you.

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.
See more
See less

Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
    #1

    Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

    In answer to a quetion concerning manuals for A5 V5, Selwyn
    sent the following.
    =======================================================================
    Msg ID: 19462
    Subject: RE: Selwyn - suggestions on V5 manuals
    Author: Selwyn Rabins
    Date: 04-18-2000 20:40
    File:

    thanks

    we will probably end up with seperate books for

    user guide
    functions
    xbasic
    getting started
    and learning xbasic.
    ======================================================

    There is a recognition that the present Xbasic manual needs an overhaul.
    Three of the manuals (Xbasic, Learning Xbasic, and Functions) will
    replace the present Xbasic manual. Hopefully, these wil help those who
    are reluctant to use Xbasic might be encouraged to do so. They will profit
    from that. This great board will help newbies get over the humps.

    1. The Xbasic commands have an inherent structure (I hope). It would help
    to know the naming cpnventions - ie the use of periods and _'s. This
    might help avoid using them incorrectly.

    2. There should be 4 or 5 detailed, well documented Xbasic programs
    that illustrate the use of the most commonly used commands as well
    as the use of :, @, and other "odd" symbols. Of course, the
    judgment of what is common is subjective, but whatever is
    selected it would be better than searching snippets of code as
    given in the present manual. These programs should be geared to
    specific databases that can be downloaded from your web site.

    3. It is probably difficult for an expert in Alpha to write manuals
    that are user friendly. What he/she may think is obvious may not
    be so, especially for new users. It is a real challange. Perhaps
    Alpha can post preliminary copies on the web site for review. Of
    course, details on new features would have to be suppressed to foil
    competitors. There many divergent views but hopefully there would be
    a consensus on some.

    4. The notion of a separate manual on functions is great. The present
    treatment in the Xbasic manual is weak. We need more diverse
    examples on how to construct UDF's. This should encourage more
    users to use this powerful tool.

    With regard to the sample databases that are shipped with Alpha,
    it would be nice to have a description of what each is attempting
    to illustrate. Perhaps these descriptions might be on your web site
    rather than in a manual. BTW will they be changed in any to reflect
    some of the new features?

    Any thoughts, Selwyn and users, on these matters?
    Tags: None
    #2
    RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

    In any case, I do not mind paying for printed copies. The spiral binding is OK but, I do suggest that the front & back covers be on a heavy weight card stock to help prevent tearing and wear from heavy use.

    -Barry

    Comment

      #3
      RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

      How about a list of reserved words, and predefined constants and variables?

      Comment

        #4
        RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

        FWIW from an amatuer:

        I would like to be able to choose whether to buy the manuals or not. For some, the online manuals might be sufficient; for others, the full printed versions would be necessary.

        Comment

          #5
          RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

          Having the option to purchase printed manuals sounds like a great idea. Personally, I do not mind paying for them as I find them much more readable than on line help.

          Comment

            #6
            RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

            How about the manuals online on the web, fully indexed and searchable and with peer supplied annotations?

            For example, I'm looking for help with "reporting functions". I find relevant info, but also included are "user contributed annotations" which might discuss caveats, bugs, workarounds, suggestions for other uses, that other users have discovered and learned.


            Many of the developer sites include online searchable manuals and a few are starting to incorporate the idea of allow users to add their own insights on what works and what doesn't work. This could be considered "Open Documentation"

            Jose

            Comment

              #7
              RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

              Jose,

              Now that's an idea if I ever heard of one!! I would use that alot but I would like manuals as well as I let my wife drive while I read. Can't see wasting a good opportunity.

              kenn
              TYVM :) kenn

              Knowing what you can achieve will not become reality until you imagine and explore.

              Comment

                #8
                RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

                My intent in my original post was to get reactions
                about how manuals should be organized and improved upon.
                The issue of printed and online manuals was pretty well settled.
                I assumed that both would be available.

                The concern of users should be in CONTENT, ORGANIZATION anD
                PRESENTATION. That is, what would you like to see that would
                make the manuals more useful. Some have complained about the
                present manuals.

                Speak now, before the new manuals are set in concrete, or forever
                hold your peace.

                Comment

                  #9
                  RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

                  Spiral bound manuals?

                  Be still, my heart.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

                    Amen from the Peanut Gallery.

                    Tom

                    Comment

                      #11
                      RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

                      OK Selig, Here's mine:

                      I would like to see charts which show the different uses of a browse, queries, posts, etc. Since there are several ways to do these, when is it best to use an embedded browse or create a query from the operations tab vs the query by table? There are various ways that a query is shown once it's saved. In other words, it depends on which form was showing at the time the query was created. It would certainly be a quick reference 'cheat sheet' that would help users an lot of T & E not to mention frustration.

                      kenn
                      TYVM :) kenn

                      Knowing what you can achieve will not become reality until you imagine and explore.

                      Comment

                        #12
                        RE: Selwyn and users re A5V5 manuals

                        For my 2 cents, As an Alpha 4 user who may finally go over to A5V5 with new release.
                        How about information on how to make the program run optimally on a network. I know in A4 it have taken a few years and a lot of trial and error (I'm kind of slow) to really know when to do what in A4 to make it run optimally on a network. This is even more important in A5 as it appears to me to be slower than A4 with all the graphical stuff.

                        Regarding the manuals, I don't mind paying for them but don't care for spiral bound. How about binding like the old (well worn) A4 manuals. This seems to hpld up the best in the long run.

                        Comment

                        Previous template Next
                        Working...
                        X