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Help for newbie

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    #1

    Help for newbie

    Hello,

    First off, I am definately a newbie to Alpha. I'm trying to build a database for our resort to track cabin reservations. I have built tables for the cabin owners and for reservations. I have a table/set with cabin owner as parent and reservations as child (as I was instructed to do by Jerry on this board). I have built forms for both cabin owners and reservations. What I need for this to do is as follows: When the date fields (arrival date and departure date) on the reservation form are filled in I need for the application to look at the cabin owner database to see all of the cabin numbers in the CABIN NUMBER field (only the cabin numbers that have a YES in the RENTAL POOL field), then look at the reservation database to see which (if any) of these cabin numbers are already rented during the arrival date and departure date and display a list of some sort (cascading?) in the CABIN NUMBER field on the reservation form of the cabins that are available that the reservations clerk can choose from.

    I have looked at the AlphaSports for hours on end and read the help files but for some reason have not been able to grasp what I need to do. Yes I'm admitting I'm a whimp when it comes to this programming and I hate having to ask for help as I usually have been able to figure things out for myself in the past but I'm now at my wits end...

    If someone would be gracious enough to help out and give me fairly explicit instructions on how to accomplish my task I would be forever in their debt!!

    Thanks...........
    Mike
    Tags: None
    #2
    RE: Help for newbie

    A small comment. Before you go too far, replace the space characters in your field names with underscores "_".

    Comment

      #3
      RE: Help for newbie

      Thank you for your input. I appreciate it. In the database itself there is an underscore in the field names. I just didn't put them in the text describing my problem.

      Comment

        #4
        RE: Help for newbie

        On another note, I see that you are an employee of Alpha or at least according to your email address and not that I think you are by any means required to do so but I was curious as to why your only comment was about the underscore and not any type of instruction on how to do what I need to do. I've seen many requests on these boards of people wanting to know how to do something with answers galore and please don't take this as an attack of some sort as I am grateful for any help.... just frustrated at the moment as time is of the essence.

        Thank you again for your input!

        Comment

          #5
          RE: Help for newbie

          Mike

          What you are requesting is relatively complex. Since you are starting out, you may want to tackle a more simple problem first.

          An alternative is to look through the list of consultants and find some help there.

          You may also want to look at the books that are available at the Alpha store - Alpha Press to help you get started.

          Paste this in your browser to get to it.

          (removed broken link)
          Last edited by Lenny Forziati; 06-02-2023, 03:21 PM. Reason: removed broken link
          Al Buchholz
          Bookwood Systems, LTD
          Weekly QReportBuilder Webinars Thursday 1 pm CST

          Occam's Razor - KISS
          Normalize till it hurts - De-normalize till it works.
          Advice offered and questions asked in the spirit of learning how to fish is better than someone giving you a fish.
          When we triage a problem it is much easier to read sample systems than to read a mind.
          "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
          Albert Einstein

          http://www.iadn.com/images/media/iadn_member.png

          Comment

            #6
            RE: Help for newbie

            Thank you very much for your input. I will check that out.

            Comment

              #7
              RE: Help for newbie

              Thanks again Al for your suggestions and I just ordered two of the books. I'm still open for suggestions or instructions from anyone who would be willing to help as I'm sure with the vast knowledge out there, someone can instruct me as to what to do.

              Thanks again!

              Mike

              Comment

                #8
                RE: Help for newbie

                You can probably do this yourself. If you haven't done so already, download the User's Guide from the Alpha Software website.

                You will probably want to know about field rules, how to define look ups, and how to write a filter expression. You may also want to know how to define and use variables and how to create simple scripts with Action Scripting.

                This is not insurmountable, but it will take some study and some trial and error.

                Best regards,
                Jeff Pearson

                Comment

                  #9
                  RE: Help for newbie

                  Jeff,

                  Thanks for your input. I've already downloaded the guide and I've also ordered 2 of the books Alpha has. Just waiting for them to arrive.

                  Thanks again!

                  Mike

                  Comment

                    #10
                    RE: Help for newbie

                    Hello Mike,

                    As Al said, this is not necessarily simple, but it should not be a show stopper :-). There are several ways to do this, but I would suggest you try the following:

                    I�ll call the starting date of the new reservation, NewStartDate.
                    I�ll call the ending date of the new reservation, NewEndDate.

                    I�ll call the currently reserved starting date: CurrentReservationStartDate.
                    And the currently reserved ending date: CurrentResEndDate.

                    Basically you need a query off a set. I am assuming that you have a table with cabin info, that contains a field declaring whether the cabin can be rented, I�ll call it CanRent, a locical field. You probably also have a table for the existing reservations of these cabins. You will need to query on both of these tables, as you need to know if a given cabin can be rented, and if so, is it available on the dates desired.

                    To do this, I would create a one-to-one set with the Reservation table as the parent, and the Cabin table as the one-to-one child. Now you need a query that in pseudo code would look like:

                    Is Cabin.CanRent = true

                    And

                    (.not.
                    (Is NewStartDate "=CurrentReservationStartDate .and. is NewStartDate "= CurrentReservationEndDate))

                    and

                    (.not.
                    (is NewEndDate "=CurrentReservationStartDate .and. is NewEndDate "=CurrentReservationEndDate))

                    Hope this helps.
                    Good luck,
                    Jim

                    Comment

                      #11
                      RE: Help for newbie

                      Jim,

                      Thank you also for your input. This is actually the first response that I have had with a possible viable solution to my project and I greatly appreciate it.

                      You assume correct that I have a table built with the cabin info which is called Cabin Owners and there is a field in this table labeled Rental Pool which is a yes or no field. One thing I did not do is configure this field to a logical field. I think now it is a character field. I also have a table for the reservations called Cabin Reservations. In the reservation table the date fields are labeled Arrival Date and Departure Date.
                      I have a set but I have the Cabin Owner as the parent and the reservations as the child so I need to reverse this.
                      Where you have lost me is in creating fields you call the currently reserved starting date and the currently reserved ending date as to how that figures into the equation as fields. As stated earlier I only have two date fields and they again are Arrival Date and Departure Date and in your suggestion you appear to have 4 date fields.

                      If you can elaborate somewhat on that I'd appreciate it!
                      One other thing.... I also have the forms created for both the Cabin Owners and the Cabin Reservations. Do I need to configure the field rules in the set containing the two tables or in the tables themselves? A lot of questions I know but I appreciate your help !!

                      Thanks again,
                      Mike

                      Comment

                        #12
                        RE: Help for newbie

                        Hello Mike,

                        ""As stated earlier I only have two date fields and they again are Arrival Date and Departure Date and in your suggestion you appear to have 4 date fields. ""

                        The 'other two' are the dates for the new prospective renter. They may be (or may not be) in the same fields in the rental table, but you will have to compare them against the existing dates. Also look at the the Between() function. It may simplify the expression for you.

                        ""Do I need to configure the field rules in the set containing the two tables or in the tables themselves?""

                        In Alpha Five, field rules are always at the table level. In Alpha Four you could have seperate field rules at the table and set level, but not in Alpha Five.

                        Good luck,
                        Jim

                        Comment

                          #13
                          RE: Help for newbie

                          Thanks Jim......I'll work with this and see what I can come up with. I really appreciate your help!

                          Thanks again.
                          Mike

                          Comment

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