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Fundamental question on Alpha Web/Browser funtionality

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    Fundamental question on Alpha Web/Browser funtionality

    I have been using Alpha desktop products since 1995 and have found them to be exemplary. I currently use Alpha v10.5 Windows desktop. I'm also a web developer and I use Dreamweaver CS4 and have a fairly high level of competency with CSS and modern webpage development.

    I have a new webpage client who has less than 25 product items that I would like to display on his website; not for e-commerce, but only for product display. Ideally I would like to build a product group page that points to the specific products. Instead of having 25 unique pages, I'd much prefer having a product page template that is fed by a database. A programmer friend of mine suggested that I use MySQL and .php through my web hosting company and I could do that. However, what I'd really prefer is to use Alpha v10.5 or 11 for the Web, build the simple database and then use whatever scripting tool is required to associate the contents of the table with my products template.

    It might turn out that I have to upload the Alpha table to MySQL and that might scuttle the whole concept because the simplest path here might be to have MySQL on my desktop and go from there.

    Would anyone have any thoughts on my dilemma? I would greatly appreciate your comments.

    Tom

    #2
    Re: Fundamental question on Alpha Web/Browser funtionality

    I can't figure out what you are asking?
    Steve Wood
    See my profile on IADN

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Fundamental question on Alpha Web/Browser funtionality

      Steve,

      Sorry for the lack of clear writing.

      I'm trying to figure out if there is a way within Alpha to create a table that will interact with HTML. I'd like to create a very simple table that can be maintained at the desktop, previewed at the desktop and then exported to my hosting agent. I realize that I could download a copy of MySQL and achieve these results, but since I'm already licensed with Alpha and familiar with the product I was hoping that I could stay within Alpha.

      I guess what I don't understand is how Alpha for Web/Browser could help someone who only needs a single table (and not an entire "system") to interact with a webpage.

      Does that make it clearer?

      Tom

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Fundamental question on Alpha Web/Browser funtionality

        I think it's a little bit of overhead for mysql and A5V11 to create 1 table with 25 products + the cost. In CCS4 you can easy attach a msaccess DB or dbf and create the grid for the product table and then implement that it in your website. see CCS4 manual for further instructions. Hope this helps. Eric

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Fundamental question on Alpha Web/Browser funtionality

          Yes Tom, you can do that.

          All an HTML page is a string of characters, and you can construct what you need with Xbasic to create a page -- call it Products.htm for instance.

          I think you have a good command of Xbasic, so once you "get it" the work should be relatively easy.

          Search this board, and check the documentation for a5_mergeDataIntoTemplate(). You can use that construct your string, the any one of several methods to write your string to the file.

          For bonus points, check out the FTP functionality you have to upload the page to the site.
          -Steve
          sigpic

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Fundamental question on Alpha Web/Browser funtionality

            Even if you use xBasic to generate 25 static html (plus possibly other navigation/group pages) pages, it would a good idea to use PHP to include headers, footers, menu blocks, product insert pages, etc.
            And hosting php is so nice and cheap! You could use a single template page for products, and there would be no need to have a hosted database. Very doable.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Fundamental question on Alpha Web/Browser funtionality

              To all,

              I think where I'm confused is at a really fundamental level. I know that in A5 Desktop, I can create a database, then tables, then forms, reports, scripts, etc. This 'application' runs on a local server or desktop and that's that.

              With Alpha 5 Web/Browser, I understand that I would create an application in many similar ways to desktop and I would have the advantage of running it in browser mode, i.e. OS independent. However, in this case I'm not trying to construct an application in A5 Web, I'm merely trying to create a table that can be easily uploaded to a hosting agent's server and that .php can easily read and parse.

              I fully understand that 25 products is not enough to worry with and I could create 25 web pages. Still, I would assume that the logic for 25 items will be valid for 500 items and I would like to better understand A5 in order to see if it could fill a missing link for me.

              I appreciate everyone's comments. Thank you.

              Tom

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Fundamental question on Alpha Web/Browser funtionality

                By "create a table that can be easily uploaded" do you mean a database table as in MySQL, DBF or similar. Or do you mean a text file composed of the HTML required to display your products, in tables? If you are not going to use Alpha web server, then you would need to start on your web server side, figure out what your PHP code needs in order to display your products. Then use Alpha Desktop to create that file/table (depending on your answer to question above.)

                The answser to either question would be Yes, but you need to know what to generate and upload.
                Steve Wood
                See my profile on IADN

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Fundamental question on Alpha Web/Browser funtionality

                  Create the dbf in A5 then ftp [export] that to your webserver PHP attach the dbf by con:: more info http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/For...4-dd6acba50ee1

                  Create a PHP grid by CS4 upload to the server
                  Start the browser url to the webserver done simple as that.

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