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Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

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    Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

    I have a 5 year old application in 1.02 which uses scripts extensively. When Version 3 came out, I bought the upgrade and had many problems with the scripts not converting (many issues). I gave up and still have Version 3 in the box.

    Version 4.5 promises total compatibility with 2 and 3 and considerable compatibility with Version 1, but indicated some updating would be necessary, and then spoke glowingly of the function in the newer XBASIC.

    My bottom line question is: If Version 3 failed badly to migrate my scripts, should I expect Version 4.5 to overcome those obstacles encountered by Version 3? I really don't want to spend much time these days doing XBASIC toolsmithing, but I would like to use a more current Alpha Five.

    My extensive 1.02 application has really stood the test of time, having migrated from Windows 3.1 to WIN95 and WIN98 with nary a whimper.

    Thank you very much ... all opinions are welcome.

    Sam

    #2
    RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

    >>My bottom line question is: If Version 3 failed badly to migrate my scripts, should I expect Version 4.5 to overcome those obstacles encountered by Version 3?

    Comment


      #3
      RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

      Sam, I've converted a few A5v1 databases and I find three areas to look for in most of my scripts:

      (1) If you have a DB_RESET anywhere in your script, it MUST be changed. Although you could just change it to FILE.OPEN(), I usually end up changing the whole section to v4 format just to have it all correct while I'm at it.
      (2) If you are using any ranges, the RANGE.INDEX_HANDLE must be changed to RANGE.INDEX_POINTER.
      (3) Although it's not absolutely necessary, I like to change all my report calls to the v4 format of REPORT.PREVIEW( "", [filter],[order] ). I just find this much easier and more intuitive than the v1 format. Again, I figure I might as well fix it while I'm there so future changes will be easier. Another advantage of the v4 format is that ranges or queries are no longer needed in the script prior to running the report.

      One warning about printing reports, etc. If you are passing variables to the report, a change will be necessary. I find it best to declare the variables as global in my script and then make sure the same variables in the report are changed to GLOBAL - SESSION won't work.

      I'll admit it's not always easy. I'm doing 3 conversions for a long-time customer right now and charging $2000 for each application. That's a fair amount of time but I'm also doing a full conversion because they expect to be both adding new features and going to v5 this year. When they do, I don't want to run into any issues because of old v1 techniques.

      Comment


        #4
        RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

        Sam,
        FWIW. A5V4.5 is light years ahead of V1. I've only developed a single, simple database in V1, but from that experience; well, I really don't want to do it again. However, if your V1 app is used by you, will never be sold, does exactly what you want and will never be upgraded, and you don't want to mess with it as a hobby I'd stay where you are. On the other hand, if you're like me and think this stuff is fun, why not get V4.5 or wait for V5 and start developing your app in the new platform. There's no time crunch to do it and you might enjoy the challenge.

        Comment


          #5
          RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

          Ray, thanks for the posting. Sorry it took so long to get back to you.

          Naturally I'm disappointed but I really didn't think 4.5 was that magical that it would convert V1 when V3 couldn't.

          You surely got my attention when you said that V1 doesn't run with Windows 2000. Do you really mean that? If so, does it run with Windows ME? This would be very disturbing since I would always have to keep WIN98 around for the life of the application.

          Please explain, Ray.

          Thanks ... Sam

          Comment


            #6
            RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

            Thank you VERY much for those tips, Cal. I'm hoping to avoid the conversion but I may need a mountain to climb and do it anyway.

            Other than what you've told me, is there a conversion cookbook anywhere which you would rate as "thorough"?

            Thanks again ... Sam

            Comment


              #7
              RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

              Basically, Ohlen, I would agree with all the "ifs" you proposed except possibly the one about the application never being upgraded. I would assume that if I needed to upgrade the app and Version 1.02 could handle what I needed, I will still be OK.

              What do you think about the compatibility of A5V1.02 with Windows ME and 2000 and NT. Is is really a "no-go" as was mentioned above? That would be awful.

              ???

              Thanks ... Sam

              Comment


                #8
                RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

                Sam,

                Sorry to take so long. V1 is a 16 bit program. As such it will run under all versions of Win 95 and Win 98 beacuse they can handle both 16 and 32 bit programs. Although I have never tried it, my understanding is that 16 bit programs will not run under any version of Windows NT. If my understanding is correct that Win 2000 is or is based on what is essentially Windows NT 5.0, then I would guess that v1 won't run there either. Not that it is relevant for this issue, but the new Windows XP won't even have DOS built in, though I think there will still be a way of running DOS programs.

                The conversion would be somewhat painful, but again I still recommend it.

                Ray

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

                  My oldest customer has been using A5v1 on an NT network for years with no problems. I believe most of their computers are actually running Win98 - I'll have to see if any of the client machines are NT.

                  "Is there a conversion cookbook anywhere?" Not that I know of.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

                    If it's not too much bother, Cal, it would be nice to know that one of the client machines was running 2000 Professional or ME.

                    Thanks much ... Sam

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

                      Sam,
                      I recently (today) installed a A5v1 application on a computer with Windows ME. There is good news and bad news. First the good news. A5v1 opens and seems to run ok. If I open a single database (table) everything is fine. But, my apps are having all kinds of problems. Primarily, the scripts do not always seem to be able to find and open tables. I have reviewed the paths etc and even hard coded the paths for testing. Still hit or miss. This is on a computer with a Pentium 4 1.4ghz processor.

                      I always knew sooner or later I would have to move these apps to v4 or v4.5. Apps in version 4 seem to be working without a hitch. I will post any more good information if I find a way to make it work.

                      Jerry

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

                        Sam
                        Good news. A few simple changes and now all is well. I moved the files to a directory with a 8 digit name - the old windows short name format. Now everything works and all files are found. Previously, the files were in a subdirectory under "my documents". I don't know why this was a problem, but if a fix works, I am not going to complain.

                        Jerry

                        Comment


                          #13
                          RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

                          Thanks for the posting, Jerry. Sounds like a good topic for the upcoming "Tips" section to me.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

                            Jerry:

                            It's the ~ (tilde) thing. A5V1 can't handle anything with a ~ because, I think, of the way that it is used as a control character in the spawn methods. As a result or in addition to, it can't deal with long file names at all.

                            Finian
                            Finian

                            Comment


                              #15
                              RE: Alpha Five 4.5 to 1.02 XBasic Compatibility

                              Finian,
                              Thanks for the clear explanation. Since I used the path variable a_app_current_path to open (spawn) a new form, it certainly explains the behavior.

                              Jerry

                              Comment

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