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A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

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    A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

    I have had A5 4.5 for two weeks and it is the best program I have ever used. I can't believe it's not on every shelf of every software store in the world!

    My only wish so far is about the letter & report editors. They do not match the power of the rest of the program, which would explain why so many A5 gurus do various xbasic acrobatics to use MS Word when it is so much easier to use the built in editors. There has been mention of a problem with handling large print jobs. But my own wishlist would be to have the letter & report editors include the "table" functions in MS Word (it's NOT a database table!), because every single person I know makes extensive use of this function when creating output to be viewed by their customers & prospective customers; and how good the printed output is can make the difference between getting a sale and losing it! It need not have all the same functions, such as formulas, but just as a presentation tool in which to place text & fields, with all of it's presentation abilities.

    I can tell you now that I would happily pay more for the program if the editors included this function (so listen up you potential "plug-in" xbasic gurus!).

    Oh well, that was just my wish for the day, so back to figuring out how to use Word instead of the built in editors (OUCH!).

    #2
    RE: A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

    Thanks.

    I think that this is a great idea. Unfortunately not for V5.0

    But certainly for the version thereafter.

    I agree that having the concept of a "grid" on a form or report into which you can place objects would be really nice.

    thanks.

    Comment


      #3
      RE: A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

      I made the same observation and request some time ago.

      While I'm wishing, it would be nice if there could be full text justification in the rich text fields (not just center, left, and right).

      Comment


        #4
        RE: A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

        Shaun,

        In the report editor, there is a way to do something similiar to what you desire (get the MS Word table look for your report).

        Try this:

        1. Select the Report Tab
        2. right click and select: "new"
        3. select: "Start from blank report"
        Note: At this blank report screen, it would be a good time to set your report page settings, (ex. paper size, orientation)
        4. From Report Menu select: Import, then browse
        5. Select a saved browse layout or select the default browse layout

        Alpha Five will import the browse layout into the report editor.
        From that point, you can then add a report header, footer, etc.

        I use this all the time to get the "MS Word Table" look you described. It works very well.

        Comment


          #5
          RE: A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

          Thanks for the tip Vince,

          Unfortunately I still can't solve my problem. In my Word "tables" I have, say, questions in the left cell, and corresponding answers in the "table" cell to the right. If the answer is long it simply wraps down to the next line (the answers must not be truncated). When the wrap occurs, the cell to the left also wraps down. This means that all the remaining cells below stay in the correct order, the questions always staying opposite the corresponding questions.

          Comment


            #6
            RE: A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

            Shaun,

            I see what you saying.

            However, you can create a custom browse, which will allow you to turn word-wrap on in the column properties. This will keep the text from being truncated when you import the browse into the report and also keep your question and answer rows even.

            The problem is, when designing the browse, you have to adjust the row height to be able to see all the data from the longest question and the longest answer. The rows are the same height no matter how much data is in any given row. Alpha Five has no "Can Shrink" or "Can Grow" properties for rows. So when you import the browse into the report, the grid rows are the same height. This may not be the look you want.

            Comment


              #7
              RE: A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

              Vince,

              Cool, absolutely cool!!

              I'm working on a project where this works great.

              Thanks, for the tip. Be sure to submit this to Alpha's Tips-n-Tricks when it's up and running.

              kenn
              TYVM :) kenn

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

              Comment


                #8
                RE: A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

                v5 will support full justification for rich text fields. (i.e. flush left and flush right)

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

                  It's late and I'm tired so I didn't read much of the above in my right mind. But this may help. When I want a report row to expand, I make a label with the one field I need and copy the label to the report. Then I have rows that expand. Hope this helps.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

                    Shaun,

                    Here's another way that many people use to show data in a report, using the table format. That's by using borders. The attached zip file shows an example.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: A5 v5 wishlist - Selwyn

                      Thanks Vince & others for your help.

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