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Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

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    #1

    Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

    I own a consturction company and would like to design a Form for that the sales staff fills out that would then print out a page as a proposal. Much like you would wright up a proposal by hand. We usually include line drawings of the house very simple and can be done with a simple cad program or even with MS Paint.

    I was wondering if Alpha can be set up to draw a small line diagram of the house (arial view)? If it can is it possiable to create a clip art that could be draged into the drawing too?

    If not is there a program that could be incorporated into Alpha to alow this?

    If both of the above are no goes, is there someone I could hire to make one that would work, or do you have a better idea?

    Thanks Much

    Jared
    Tags: None
    #2
    RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

    The only think I can think of is to make the sketches in MS Paint or any other program that allows you to save it as a 256 color .bmp file (even if it's only black and white) and put it on the form/report using the file name as a 'pointer' to change the bitmap image at the time of viewing(fetching)/printing.

    Do a search on bitmap report or "show bitmap on forms" (include the quotes on the last one) for more details.

    Comment

      #3
      RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

      Jared,

      I have had reasonable success with using OLE to incorporate CAD drawings into an application. I do on occasion get an error which I have not been able to elminate. After the error I have to compact the database before I can continue to populate the OLE field with the CAD drawings. I am not sure where the error originates, it sometimes appears to be generated by the OLE server & other times Alpha5. The OLE function call used to import OLE objects uses very basic instructions for the import ....

      Imports from ole32.dll
      StgIsStorageFile(hint = 0091)
      StgCreateDocfile(hint = 008f)
      StgOpenStorage(hint = 0093)

      hope that this is of some help

      Comment

        #4
        RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

        Jared, Are you putting a bid together? The reason I ask is I've written a full blown construtction job tracking and payment request app very similar to the AIA structure. You can create a bitmap field in right in your table structure and then import the drawing into the bitmap field. Any time that bid has focus the bitmap will display. A5 has a bug in it in that area. If you drag a table field bitmap onto a form and then click in the field the program will crash. To avoid this just cover the bitmap field with a transparent text box and set the properties to 'Always on top'. You can email me if you would like more detailed info.
        Jeff

        Comment

          #5
          RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

          Jeff,

          Your application sounds intriguing. Here's my situation:

          A relative is in healthcare, & has need for an application that would let him store drawings on an anatomical image along with patient notes. For example, patient has a sore shoulder; application would let user draw/label the shoulder that hurts, & draw freestyle lines and/or circles, squares etc to identify/label other parts that are affected.

          If your application can be modified to deal with the use described, I may have a new market for your work. Shoot me a reply here if you're interested.

          Comment

            #6
            RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

            Greg, What you need to do should be easy for you to accomplish. If you create a simple set with two tables, lets call the tables 'patients' and 'patitent_problems'. The 'patients' table the parent and the 'patitent_problems' a one to many link on whatever ID you want to use to identify the patient. Include a bitmap field in the 'patitent_problems' table along with any other data needed. Then you can just find the patient in the parent table and add as many records to the 'patitent_problems' table as you like. Each of them having its own bitmap. If you scanned the chart you want to use you can edit the chart in any grapics program you want, paint, etc. When you edit the chart you can draw on it with the mouse or get a mouse pen. Drag a 'patitent_problems' browse onto the form and then put a blown up field of just the bitmap on it. When you find the patient you want in your parent table, all you have to do is page up and down throught he browse and the bitmaps will display.
            Hope this helps.
            jeff

            Comment

              #7
              RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

              Hi Jeff,

              from your earlier post I'd thought you'd somehow integrated drawing functionality in an Alpha app. Storing bitmaps is easy; the hard part is always making it transparent to the user that they're using a combination of applications.

              Comment

                #8
                RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

                Hi Jeff,

                I didn't intend to sound unappreciative in my first reply - was in a time bind & failed to thank you for your response, which confirmed an approach I'd suggested to a prospect.

                Comment

                  #9
                  RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

                  I wanted to thank you for your ideas. If you have any other suggestions please let me know. I'll try a few of the options you suggested. I have had problems with doing the above in v.4 maybe V.5 is the charm?

                  Thanks again!

                  Jared

                  Comment

                    #10
                    RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

                    My suggestion would be to purchase a low-end/low memory easy to
                    use program that can save the picture to a bitmap file. Most
                    programs can probably do this. And then use Alpha as a kind of
                    library tool. The only problem I see with this is that the
                    burdon on A5V4 is a bit heavy, in my opinion, because of the
                    relatively large size of bitmaps. Keep in mind that you could place
                    a button on a form to start the third party program. Convince
                    your client not to reinvent the wheel. Besides, the graphics
                    program might even be available in shareware or freeware. Finally,
                    note that Version 5 will be able to accept JPG I think and that
                    should really help. I currently use Alpha to store 70 Megs of
                    bitmaps in one file on a network. Lotus Notes couldn't handle the
                    job! Hope this helps.

                    Comment

                      #11
                      RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

                      Thanks Tom,

                      Totally agree re: the bitmap size problem. Integration of a drawing app is also a fiddle; that's why my hopes got so high seeing your initial post. We'll just keep our eyes open....

                      Comment

                        #12
                        RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

                        Tom,

                        Do you know of any Drawing programs that are customizable. Such as ones that you can create your own tools or drag and drop your own pictures in the drawing. Some have furnature or bathroom apliances, wire fram imiages to place on the drawing. Is there a program that you know might do that?

                        Thanks

                        Jared

                        Comment

                          #13
                          RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

                          You might try looking at Microgafx Designer ... this has a tool that allows you to store images you design and use them in brushes etc.

                          John

                          Comment

                            #14
                            RE: Drawing with Alpha (Proposals)

                            Thanks I'll give it a look!

                            Jared

                            Comment

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