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Documentation or Lack Thereof

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    #16
    Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

    Half the people you tell your troubles to don't care, the other half are glad you got 'em!

    To which half do you belong?
    TYVM :) kenn

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

    Comment


      #17
      Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

      I owe you a dollar.
      First one to quote me on that.
      I do care, but to a point.
      There are maybe 5 contributors on this Forum I trust. You know who they are.
      I have had a lot of friendly support over the years, and suspect that I could call on them, as they could on me.
      My approach is different to a lot, in that I try to offer examples. If I can't, I probably will pass.
      But then again, sometimes I jump in.
      My original by line was "Don't get mad at someone who knows more than you. It's not their fault"
      Perhaps I'll revert. LOL!
      See our Hybrid Option here;
      https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


      Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
      You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

      Comment


        #18
        Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

        No dollar owed. Your quote was glaring at me and I could not resist.

        To keep a customer base, the vendor must do what has to be done to ease the frustrations. The product itself is not enough. I do know this, everyone has a different frustration level and everyone will leave at some point for a better product. And that's how the world turns, Saturday, February 22, 2014.
        TYVM :) kenn

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

        Comment


          #19
          Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

          Hi,

          bannerlist team is watching
          So, is this something like a censorship team that allows and denies what they see fit, whether truthful or not?

          I have noticed in the past where I posted some messages that magically disappeared, and if this type of censorship is going on, then maybe I should look elsewhere as I'm of legal age (60) and do not engage in racism, sexism, vulgarity and other questionable behaviors.

          I sincerely hope that Alpha is not participating in this type of behavior.

          I'm here for only one reason, to find out if I should choose Alpha and their products and support over my current set of solutions, and that's it. I don't have the time for anything else.


          There are maybe 5 contributors on this Forum I trust.
          Why????? Walking with FoxPro over the past 16 years I've never heard of a single statement like that and I could completely trust their pointers and advice.


          hammering Alpha on the Forum rarely works.
          Doesn't Alpha monitor this forum, after-all it is their forum and an excellent place to see whats on their user's minds? For them to ignore this is unthinkable...


          try getting useful documentation with a download of MySQL
          That's why I use MSSQL as they do care, and when you get into the larger databases, none are free. Actually, there are tons of high valued forums dedicated to MSSQL, MySQL, and the other variants.


          Thanks, Stanley

          Comment


            #20
            Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

            bannerlist team is watching
            There are moderators; threads of which I'm aware being removed were going on and on in a negative, non-productive vein and most got the the point of insulting someone. EDIT: Apparently the forum Moderators remove duplicate threads or spam or move threads to a more appropriate forum, etc, but they don't delete posts (posts are deleted sometimes, but not by Moderators).
            There are maybe 5 contributors on this Forum I trust.
            Consider that this was said by someone who didn't trust your authenticity because you didn't respond to a forum post within 4 days. In my experience, there are a lot of developers on this forum going out of their way to offer solutions, most of whom I trust.
            hammering Alpha on the Forum rarely works.
            That's true, as Alpha does unofficially monitor the forum and will answer people's actual questions quickly, but when people go on long tirades about something they don't like about Alpha, no, they don't always respond. But send an email to their CEOs with a legitimate concern and I can guarantee an answer. It might not be one you like, but you'll get one.

            I don't love everything about Alpha Five either, but if people are active on the forum, they haven't followed through with threats to abandon the product because they haven't yet found a product they liked better. There's a lot of great info on this forum--don't get too caught up in the whining.
            Last edited by christappan; 02-25-2014, 01:31 PM. Reason: I assumed something incorrect.

            Comment


              #21
              Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

              Thanks Chris for explaining their process which is acceptable and fair. Really glad to hear that.

              Stanley

              Comment


                #22
                Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

                Doesn't Alpha monitor this forum, after-all it is their forum and an excellent place to see whats on their user's minds? For them to ignore this is unthinkable...
                I can assure you that they do watch this forum more than anyone might think. I do believe they are trying to make more available in the areas discussed. There is a problem that it is hard to go from where they have made videos one way and then having to reverse a new video to offset an old one and a user may get confused.

                As far as coming from VFP, this is going to be a wonderful new experience for you.

                I went from clipper87 in about 1990 to alpha which was dos based at the time with a bit of a curve. When I went to alpha5v1 when it came out, I looked at it about an hour and dropped it for 3 weeks and went back. I then spent another 2-3 hours on it and dropped it for another week. Finally dove in and tackled the beast and found it utterly wonderful. We had issues then with docs and alpha themselves had no idea how far the development community could make it go. Really believe they were astounded at some of the things developers did.

                I personally have watched very few videos or purchased outside materials and do not know how good(or bad) they are.

                Remember too that I do the desktop side with alpha. the xbasic is very good, but sometimes good old common sense will do just fine.
                Dave Mason
                [email protected]
                Skype is dave.mason46

                Comment


                  #23
                  Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

                  Yes I agree the documentation could be better organized, starting from version 10 onwards

                  I am thankful for all the videos and this forum though.

                  Some things in Alpha Anywhere are incredibly easy and intuitive

                  but other things that should be relatively easy have taken me hours to figure out
                  (e.g. closing a UX popup window on Submit)



                  And a classic example of me getting tripped up because the documentation is poorly organised...

                  I missed something totally obvious for several weeks
                  (inserting button in a grid row) because I first watched all the V12 and V11 videos...

                  none of which showed inserting a button in a grid row (something very simple) so I developed a complex workaround before then.

                  It was only when I went back to V10 videos (which are not even searchable in the main video finder.... I only found the V10 videos from a Google Search taking me to some semi-random V10 preview release page!) that I saw a video showing how to actually insert a button in a grid row (facepalm!)

                  (as an aside: the "insert" hyperlink in the IDE needs to be at the top of the page, above the fields, and I reckon that would have helped too...)


                  But as a newcomer to Alpha Anywhere, here is what I have found frustrating with the documentation:


                  The release notes (html page) that comes with Alpha Anywhere links to lots of videos, all V12

                  The video finder page here only goes back to V11
                  http://videos.alphasoftware.com

                  There are no reference to V10 videos in the main initiation pages I read. And I really did need to go back to V10 videos to get a good grounding in the basics.

                  A better roadmap going through all the basic features would have been appreciated.

                  I am finding my way but progress is random, I have learnt advanced things before learning basic things.

                  If I was not already familiar with Javascript, HTML+CSS, database programming, and server side scripting (ASP and PHP) then I would have had a much harder time figuring this out.

                  Having said all that, I really am enjoying myself working in Alpha Anywhere, and expect to for a long time
                  Last edited by mixter; 04-29-2014, 04:57 AM.

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

                    It was only when I went back to V10 videos (which are not even searchable in the main video finder.... I only found the V10 videos from a Google Search taking me to some semi-random V10 preview release page!)
                    Not sure why you say that? The v10 videos are in the Video finder. See attached image...

                    v10 videos.png
                    Peter
                    AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

                    [email protected]
                    https://www.alphabasesolutions.com


                    Comment


                      #25
                      Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

                      Ah good call Peter, I was using this video finder instead
                      http://videos.alphasoftware.com

                      Makes more sense to use the built-in one!

                      Thanks for that.

                      Comment


                        #26
                        Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

                        I knew I was missing something. I long forgot about that one. Yeah, definitely use the built-in one.
                        Peter
                        AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

                        [email protected]
                        https://www.alphabasesolutions.com


                        Comment


                          #27
                          Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

                          Speaking of Documentation and Liberty manuals does any one know where have they gone?

                          Liberty manuals I mean.

                          libman.GIF
                          Why did I ever say yes?

                          Comment


                            #28
                            Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

                            Just checked, they are still there
                            Dave Mason
                            [email protected]
                            Skype is dave.mason46

                            Comment


                              #29
                              Its working now. Small glitches on the interweb.
                              Why did I ever say yes?

                              Comment


                                #30
                                Re: Documentation or Lack Thereof

                                If you click Help > Help Source > Use Local (or something along that lines).
                                Or in V11+ just click Help > Open Documentation

                                I find this to be more useful as conventional programming documentation than the videos / online documentation and it is easier to search too.

                                Hope this helps.
                                Scott Moniz - Computer Programmer/Analyst
                                REA Inc.
                                http://reainc.net
                                (416)-533-3777
                                [email protected]

                                REA INC offers consulting services, programming services, systems design, database design, third party payment gateway integration (CHASE, PAYPAL, AUTHORIZE.NET) and developer support.
                                If you need custom code, or 1-to-1 mentoring in any facet of your database/web application design,
                                contact us to discuss options.

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