I'll start this off - the switch (upgrade) from A4 to A5 is scary, intimidating and not without some effort - that's the down side. The upside is that you will have infinitely more control over how your forms, reports, menus and browses look and work. You will be able to import and export data between A5 and many other Windows based programs - QuickBooks and the MS Office products (Word, Excel, etc) are just some products that 'talk' to Alpha Five.
What do you have to give up in order to make the conversion from A4 to A5? Let's see: you keep the .dbf files (in A4 a database; in A5 a table), EVERYTHING else has to be recreated (menu, field rules, forms, reports, browses, scripts, etc., etc.). I found it a daunting task, but I needed to suck it up and do it. Luckily, I have a laptop connected to my development system so I opened A4 on the laptop and mimicked what I was looking at on the development system. Also, in my copy of A4 (V6) I can shell out to DOS and use A4DOC to print out all the underlying structure (field rules, calculation, etc.) and that was a great help. I can't remember if A4DOC came with A4 or if I had to buy it. Either way, you need it. You also should get the A5 equivalent (A5DOC) - it is a lifesaver.
The Alpha Five messageboard isn't a tool by the strict definition of a 'tool', but you should use it regularly. You will get help with your Alpha problems and the points you get stuck with a degree of helpfullness and friendliness beyond anything you can imagine.
'Nuff said. Make the switch, you will not regret it!
Dave
What do you have to give up in order to make the conversion from A4 to A5? Let's see: you keep the .dbf files (in A4 a database; in A5 a table), EVERYTHING else has to be recreated (menu, field rules, forms, reports, browses, scripts, etc., etc.). I found it a daunting task, but I needed to suck it up and do it. Luckily, I have a laptop connected to my development system so I opened A4 on the laptop and mimicked what I was looking at on the development system. Also, in my copy of A4 (V6) I can shell out to DOS and use A4DOC to print out all the underlying structure (field rules, calculation, etc.) and that was a great help. I can't remember if A4DOC came with A4 or if I had to buy it. Either way, you need it. You also should get the A5 equivalent (A5DOC) - it is a lifesaver.
The Alpha Five messageboard isn't a tool by the strict definition of a 'tool', but you should use it regularly. You will get help with your Alpha problems and the points you get stuck with a degree of helpfullness and friendliness beyond anything you can imagine.
'Nuff said. Make the switch, you will not regret it!
Dave
Comment