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Please Don't Laugh

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    Please Don't Laugh

    You will probably think this is very strange, but I am still using ALPHA4 V2 and would like to upgrade. Our tech people have been trying to convert me to FileMaker Pro and Access, but I still like Alpha 4 for it ease and maybe I feel like I can't teach an old dog (me) new tricks.

    Would you suggest I go straight to the newest version? Any other helpful suggestions? Thanks!

    #2
    RE: Please Don't Laugh


    FileMaker is fairly easy to learn and use. It lacks many of the capabilities that field rules provide for Alpha Four.

    Access is more capable than FileMaker, but also harder to learn and use. You end up needing to program to do some of the things you can do in Alpha or FileMaker without programming.

    Alpha Five is very nice, but a very different program than Alpha Four. There is a learning curve. It offers enhanced capabilities compared to Alpha Four (especially A4v2), but they are implemented in ways different from Alpha Four so it takes time to learn them. If it is inevitable that you are going to switch to new software, you would do well to acquire a copy and spend some time learning how it works while you continue to maintain your data with Alpha 4. After you start feeling comfortable with the new software, then start doing serious work with it.

    You could take your DATA files from Alpha 4 and use them with any of these other programs. You would have to rebuild forms and reports and anything else that isn't stored in the .dbf files. If moving to FileMaker, you may also have problems moving memo fields if you use them.

    Comment


      #3
      RE: Please Don't Laugh

      I've used versions 1 to 6 and am very happy with V6. But the handwriting is on the wall and I'm in the process of converting a A4V6 application to A5V4. It takes me at least ten times longer to do some things in A5 than in A4. I'm learning a lot.

      I looked at Access one day, a long time ago, and it seems like you would have to write a lot of code too do great thing in Access. When there was the old Prodigy BB I looked at the Access section and was seeing questions the would be a snap in A4. Many of these things would also be easy in A5.

      I keep plugging away at A5 and things are sinking in to this 72 yr old brain. A5 is very powerful and you haven't used scripts that came in V3 of A4. In A5 the scripting is very very extensive.

      If you have A4V2 applications they should be relatively easy to migrate right to A5. A5 gives you the font size control that is available in Windows applications.

      Comment


        #4
        RE: Please Don't Laugh

        Don't let anybody kid you --- you are in for a very steep learning code and a lot of headaches if you migrate to a Windows-based database manager.

        There's nothing wrong with upgrading to version 6 of Alpha Four as long as your company is not on, or contemplating going to, Windows 2000 or ME. Not only is there nothing wrong, buy your work (and headaches) will be minimized.

        Howard R. Elkes

        Comment


          #5
          RE: Please Don't Laugh

          Howard - thanks to everyone for the info. We are using Windows 98 now. What are the issues if we move to Windows 2000? Would I not be able to use Alpha4v6?

          Comment


            #6
            RE: Please Don't Laugh

            Anne,

            A gentleman by the name of Gary Hill found that by using Alpha-4 with windows 2000 that somehow caused serious problems to the program or datafiles. Try a search on these boards for "Gary Hill Windows 2000", and do some reading. However, there was a post a couple of days ago whereby somebody said they ran A4 under win2K with no problem.

            I'd for one won't try A4 under win2k without have strong confirmation that it will work with no problems.

            Mike
            Thank you,
            Mike Konoff

            Comment


              #7
              RE: Please Don't Laugh

              Anne,

              I don't agree with Howards response. I have a client running an A4V6 app on a Win 2000 network and it work fine. No problems that could be attributed to anything other than operator error. I've only run into a few 'problems' relating to Alpha setting a 'hardcoded' path to files in the Alpha desktop file (.dtn)- like 'C:Alpha4V6whatever' while, on the network, it is set to 'S:Alpha4V6whatever'. Also, if you have an app running on a network, you have to be aware of file and record locking issues that you do not have to contend with on a standalone development system.

              The short version is that, in my experience, going from Win 98 to Win 2000 ids not a problem.

              Dave Jampole
              Dave Jampole
              www.customalpha.com

              Women and cats will do whatever they want. The sooner men and dogs realize that, the happier they will be.

              Comment


                #8
                RE: Please Don't Laugh

                Dave,

                I've been running A4V6 under windows NT on a small network for several months now with no problems at all. However, I recently upgraded one of my machines to Windows 2000 and have encountered two problems.

                I am not able to load A4 from the installation disks. I reach the point where the normal instruction would say: "Insert Disk 1 in drive a:" or something similar, but that message never appears. I finally got around this problem by downloading, across the network, an installed version from another computer. This seems to work however, I now have the problem with my screen only 1/3 full of the Alpha display. Apparently, there are cures for this which I have not yet tried.

                I'm a little worried about running A4 from this copied version rather than a fresh install, any suggestions on how to overcome the install problem.

                Appreciate any advice you might be able to pass on.

                Tom Sosnowski

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: Please Don't Laugh

                  I know I am a little late at responding to this, but if you already haven't done so. Why not order the books for A5V4 and Xbasic $59 + Shipping $8.00. and look them over then if you like what you see then order the Upgrade. That is what I did. I looked over the tutorial to get familiar with it, and I just orderd the A5V4 CD and am waiting to get it to try it out before changing everything over from my A4V6.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: Please Don't Laugh

                    Allen,

                    Thanks for the advice. I've actually tried A5 several years ago, probably when it first came out. Unfortunately, the learning curve was so steep that I decided against the transition. Fortunately, I've been able to continue operation of A4 into Win NT and WIN2000 but, as you know, each transition becomes more difficult. I'll probably wait until I'm finally forced to make the change.

                    Meanwhile, do you have any advice on my original problem?

                    Tom Sosnowski

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: Please Don't Laugh

                      Tom,

                      Sorry to have taken so long to get back to the Alpha BBS. I've had more on my plate than I can say Grace over the past month or so.

                      Not having any real idea as to what you problem is, I might venture a guess and say that POSSIBLY you have a bad diskette. Have you considered buying a new copy of A4V6? I think the cost is somewhere around $100, give or take. That might be a quicker solution than trying all kinds of different ideas.

                      Good Luck

                      Dave Jampole
                      Dave Jampole
                      www.customalpha.com

                      Women and cats will do whatever they want. The sooner men and dogs realize that, the happier they will be.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RE: Please Don't Laugh

                        Dave,

                        Thanks for taking the time to respond to my query. The disks are not the problem. I've made several backup copies early on and have the identical problem with each. Further, the disks work flawlessly when Installing A4V6 in a WinNT environment.

                        When installing under Win2000, I reach the point where A4V6 install tries to determine where the program will be loaded from. The screen never presents an option and the install can not continue. I've also copied the contents of the 3 A4V6 disks to a CD ROM. Again, this works well under Win NT but I have the identical problem described above when I attempt to install under Win2000.

                        Again, thanks for your time.

                        Tom Sosnowski

                        Comment


                          #13
                          RE: Please Don't Laugh

                          Howard, I agree with you completely. But, why is Windows 2000 such a problem with Alpha4v6?

                          Sam Tartamella
                          [email protected]

                          Comment


                            #14
                            RE: Please Don't Laugh

                            Tom,

                            Can you refer me to the "cures" for the 1/3rd screen problem mentioned in your post? I am having the same problem. Many thanks.

                            Sam Tartamella
                            [email protected]

                            Comment


                              #15
                              RE: Please Don't Laugh

                              Sam,

                              Right click the Icon corresponding to the Alpha program and select properties. Click the layout tab on the resulting screen. Set both the "Screen Buffer Size" and "Window Size" to W80 and H25. Further, set font tab to Lucida Console.

                              I've simply followed these directions and have not experimented with them to determine what is necessary and what is not.

                              Good luck with the fix.

                              Tom Sosnowski

                              Comment

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