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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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  • 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:
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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:
  • 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.
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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.

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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.
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A4 vs. A5

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    A4 vs. A5

    I've been away for a while. I need to catch up on the latest. I've been a very devoted A4 fan since around 1993. To me A4 is the greatest. I see they've even upgraded it to run on XP. I must not be alone. I've got a new opportunity right now and I'll be starting from square one. Which way should I go, A5 or A4. I've seen all the hype for A5 and I'll bet it's a great product but I've used both A4 and A5 and I still prefer A4. When you are programming it's so much faster not having to use a mouse. For data entry also for that matter. The hot keys that you use to navigate are great. No alt-? keys. Anyway, I try to stay open minded. Is the latest A5 worth making the change? Are there any diehard A4 fans out the that are with me on A4?

    Thanks

    #2
    RE: A4 vs. A5

    Dan:

    I'm an old [67] 'A4 Die Hard' fan with about the same or more experience than you. Functions, expressions, and *.dbf files in A5 are quite similar to those in A4 - but - I'm afraid that it all breaks away at that point.

    While active in writing and selling applications in A4 I tried over and over, to get the A5 experience; would hit a pot-hole and give it all up. I bought every version of A5 from its very beginning and tried each 'improved' version. Honestly Dan, until I found the message board, I was destined to fail again. With the unselfish, infinitly patient help of all the guys, I've finally made sense out of A5. Now when I go back to A4 I frequently think.... Gee if this was A5 I could do this, and this, and this, more often than not.

    Conclusion - Go for A5 and LEARN it with the help of the board guys. As long as its your first time in A5 - Get version 5 it is A W E S O M E !

    Ken

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      #3
      RE: A4 vs. A5

      Dan,

      If you just want to solve simple database problems that are within the power of A4, then you will discover that A5 adds complexity but doesn't help you much. A4 does a lot of basic stuff well.

      Alpha Five is essential as soon as you want stronger report or screen graphics, recent OS compatability, powerful programming, or a generally broader capability in your database. Anyone who wants their corporate graphic and nice fonts on their monthly bills will want Alpha Five.

      The latest version of Alpha Five has been reformulated to tell you a lot more about what is happening, so ease of use has been expanded. If you will discipline yourself to learn to do things in just one way, the learning task is easier. I selected use of the A5 menus for first learning to get around in A5. Programming is fussier because the code is much more mature than A4 was so you have to set up more details for control of objects, events, and varables. On the other hand, there are no limits to what you can tell A5 to do in a program.

      Hope this helps!

      Dave

      Comment


        #4
        RE: A4 vs. A5

        I, like Ken Herrold, recommend Alpha Five Version Five. There are things about A4 that I REALLY-REALLY like better than A5V5, but not many. And, there are many things that I can do with A5V5 that can't be done with A4.

        Go with A5V5. It's much better. Will take longer to learn than A4, but in the end you'll be much more capable using A5 than A4.

        Mike
        Thank you,
        Mike Konoff

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