Per a suggestion from Valerie Simpkins, I decided to start a thread which highlights some of the powerful new features in version 5 that I think will appeal to users converting from Alpha Four. Of course there are so many new features, that Alpha Software wrote an entire book listing those numerous changes. In this thread, we�ll focus upon a few at a time.
Here several new features that you should find very helpful in your business apps.
� Send/ Receive Email via Alpha Five
� Backup all of your important data within A5
� Greatly enhanced Expression Builder that will virtually build expressions and calculated fields for you.
� You can now access all fields in a SET when creating field rules. Of course you could always do that with A4, but this is brand new in the Windows product.
� Smart Fields: You can enhance data entry fields by using Alpha�s built in smart labels as follows:
If it is a date field, instead of manually typing out dates, a calendar will pop up.
If it is a numeric field, a calculator will pop up.
Of course if you buy the Full Edition, you will be treated to a wide array of Action Scripting options, which should remind you of Alpha Four. Once again, this is such a feature rich option, that an entire book was written on the subject. But for starters, let me highlight the following examples.
� You can place buttons on your forms that will enable the user to open forms/browses, close forms/browses, print/preview reports, run very powerful queries/searches, etc. all with simple mouse clicks.
� You can set up variables for a report that the user will enter a print time. For example, you can choose to have a dialog box pop up prompting the user for a Start / End Date for a report.
Do you think doing all of the above is hard? Yes it is if you�re using another database program. However, with Alpha Five, you can do everything listed above [and a lot more] without writing a single line of code. All you have to do is make choices from a list of menu options that walk you through the process step by step.
Please feel free to ask about these features and many other powerful options you can utilize in ver 5. I�m confident many of the courteous Alpha veterans will be more than happy to answer your questions.
Robert T
Here several new features that you should find very helpful in your business apps.
� Send/ Receive Email via Alpha Five
� Backup all of your important data within A5
� Greatly enhanced Expression Builder that will virtually build expressions and calculated fields for you.
� You can now access all fields in a SET when creating field rules. Of course you could always do that with A4, but this is brand new in the Windows product.
� Smart Fields: You can enhance data entry fields by using Alpha�s built in smart labels as follows:
If it is a date field, instead of manually typing out dates, a calendar will pop up.
If it is a numeric field, a calculator will pop up.
Of course if you buy the Full Edition, you will be treated to a wide array of Action Scripting options, which should remind you of Alpha Four. Once again, this is such a feature rich option, that an entire book was written on the subject. But for starters, let me highlight the following examples.
� You can place buttons on your forms that will enable the user to open forms/browses, close forms/browses, print/preview reports, run very powerful queries/searches, etc. all with simple mouse clicks.
� You can set up variables for a report that the user will enter a print time. For example, you can choose to have a dialog box pop up prompting the user for a Start / End Date for a report.
Do you think doing all of the above is hard? Yes it is if you�re using another database program. However, with Alpha Five, you can do everything listed above [and a lot more] without writing a single line of code. All you have to do is make choices from a list of menu options that walk you through the process step by step.
Please feel free to ask about these features and many other powerful options you can utilize in ver 5. I�m confident many of the courteous Alpha veterans will be more than happy to answer your questions.
Robert T
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