A4V2 conversion to A5V5 made EASY - Now this is an oxymoron if ever there was one.
Those of you that are avid readers of this message board will see my tons of posts in an attempt to convert a client from Alpha Four V2 (DOS) to Alpha Five V5 (WINDOWS).
There needs were simple.
1) They did not want to lose any of their existing data.
2) They wanted the screens to appear exactly as they do in their current application.
3) They did NOT want to have to use a mouse, so the entire application needs to be able to work via keyboard only.
4) They only need two data entry forms, one to enter new customers and a second to enter new invoices.
5) They only need three reports: customer invoices, customer statements, and accounts receivable aging.
This is probably one of the most basic and simple applications to create using Alpha Five ... and it is something that I would have not been able to accomplish without the assistance of this community and the help docs. At least not in the time allotted for the project.
I basically started with two tables, no forms and no reports. I currently have 8 tables, 8 forms, 3 reports, 13 update operations, and 2 functions. I am not finished yet but I am sure these numbers will not change too much. So much for simple LOL.
As a result, I have learned (still more to learn as I have not yet completed the conversion) how to do many things with Alpha Five. My thought process was to create a web site that explains all that I learned, the different ways to accomplish some tasks, and the choices I made to resolve them and why.
Since this project will take a considerable amount of time, I am not sure I will do it if I am the only one to benefit from having it.
A sampling of what I would include (but not limited to) would be as follows:
1) Exact steps that I took to convert the data, ie copying the client files, creating new tables, transferring their data to the new tables, etc
2) Creating the forms, reports, update operations, functions, etc to meet their specific needs
3) The 'how to' instructions on accomplishing the tasks that I learned:
working with functions
auto incrementing - field rules vs xbasic
key stroke trapping
and many many more
Here is the question I am posing to all of you here. Would you consider this something helpful to others in the Alpha Community? If so, then I will be more than happy to create this tutorial.
Those of you that are avid readers of this message board will see my tons of posts in an attempt to convert a client from Alpha Four V2 (DOS) to Alpha Five V5 (WINDOWS).
There needs were simple.
1) They did not want to lose any of their existing data.
2) They wanted the screens to appear exactly as they do in their current application.
3) They did NOT want to have to use a mouse, so the entire application needs to be able to work via keyboard only.
4) They only need two data entry forms, one to enter new customers and a second to enter new invoices.
5) They only need three reports: customer invoices, customer statements, and accounts receivable aging.
This is probably one of the most basic and simple applications to create using Alpha Five ... and it is something that I would have not been able to accomplish without the assistance of this community and the help docs. At least not in the time allotted for the project.
I basically started with two tables, no forms and no reports. I currently have 8 tables, 8 forms, 3 reports, 13 update operations, and 2 functions. I am not finished yet but I am sure these numbers will not change too much. So much for simple LOL.
As a result, I have learned (still more to learn as I have not yet completed the conversion) how to do many things with Alpha Five. My thought process was to create a web site that explains all that I learned, the different ways to accomplish some tasks, and the choices I made to resolve them and why.
Since this project will take a considerable amount of time, I am not sure I will do it if I am the only one to benefit from having it.
A sampling of what I would include (but not limited to) would be as follows:
1) Exact steps that I took to convert the data, ie copying the client files, creating new tables, transferring their data to the new tables, etc
2) Creating the forms, reports, update operations, functions, etc to meet their specific needs
3) The 'how to' instructions on accomplishing the tasks that I learned:
working with functions
auto incrementing - field rules vs xbasic
key stroke trapping
and many many more
Here is the question I am posing to all of you here. Would you consider this something helpful to others in the Alpha Community? If so, then I will be more than happy to create this tutorial.
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