I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

[jaryder]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Bill,

You should have received a book labeled "Getting Started with Alpha Five" when you bought Alpha Five. Open up Alpha Sports and then go to Page 109 of the book and follow the Steps under the heading "Creating a New Report" It explains how to put fields onto a blank report including adding calculated fields to the report.

Jeff

[Doug Page]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Bill,

Pictures and all...

http://support.alphasoftware.com/alp...th_Reports.htm

After you read this and "see" how to drag and drop the fields, I think you should get very familiar with the following web page and see all the info available to you.

http://support.alphasoftware.com/alphafivehelp/

[Tim Kiebert]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Those links are for v7 help it seems. Here are the v8 links.
http://support.alphasoftware.com/alp...th_Reports.htm

http://support.alphasoftware.com/alp...lpv8/index.htm

Bill,

Pictures and all...

http://support.alphasoftware.com/alp...th_Reports.htm

After you read this and "see" how to drag and drop the fields, I think you should get very familiar with the following web page and see all the info available to you.

http://support.alphasoftware.com/alphafivehelp/

[Doug Page]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Thanks Tim. I have links created to open the help and never changed it.

[billperrotta]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Thanks Tim. I have links created to open the help and never changed it.

I never received any booklet about getting started with alpha 5. Is there an online link to it/

[jaryder]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Look at Tim's post above. He provided online links to the help for reports.

Jeff

[billperrotta]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Look at Tim's post above. He provided online links to the help for reports.

Jeff

I want to pull my hair out.
If I could've got all the tables to import and just work I would've.
Now it looks like I have to abandon my work and work through examples just to figure out calculated fields.
I don't understand why I can't just put in one field minus another and get a result. the drag and drop toolbar sees one calculated field I created but I still have no idea why I can't drag it to my report.

[Tbaker]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Bill

If you want to place the length of stay on your report - you open your report in design mode - then select the drag and drop icon from the upper toolbar - just cursor over all the tools at the top and the flyover will tell you which one is drag and drop. Click on drag and drop which will open the available fields list in the right side of your screen. You will see all the fields available to you to "drag and drop" onto your report.

At present you will have to shorten some of your fields in your report to accomodate the "length of stay" field.

Your calculated field seems to be working fine.

I have reattached your zip file. Look at the report - I placed the length of stay field on the report and printed it - I manually calculated the length of stay from the info in your table and it seems to be correct.

Don't pull all of your hair out - what the guys are saying is that you have to help yourself some in reviewing what there is available. The best way to learn is by doing.

Anyway, here is the zip file. Hope it is what you were trying to do. I read the posts and at times it has been a bit confusing - issues changing from one post to another.

Tom

[MikeC]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Bill,

I never received Getting Started "Book" either but found it with a bit of digging (actually was in Alpha'a Documentation site right where it belongs! :) ).

http://support.alphasoftware.com/alp...rted_Title.htm

[billperrotta]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

I am now putting in

in calculated fields

AGE = prescreen>D_of_birth-Date
in the same report.
It won't save

I am trying to use the D_OF_Birth from the presceen form and subtract the current date to calculate age.

Not sure how the last person got the lenghth of stay to stay there and appear in drag n drop toolbar, but I am having no luck getting an age value there. to do the same.
Hope nobody is mad at me for asking for help.

Bill

[Tbaker]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Bill

Glad to hear from you.

Question? Is the zip file that you had in an earlier post still good - as far as the fields in question is this post?

I will give it a go, from what I already have - let you know.

You can use the built in age function

Curr_Age=age(prescreen->d_of_Birth,date())

This will give you the current age as of the current date

If that is what you want - you open your report in design mode and click on report - calculated fields. That will open the report calc fields genie

Then enter the code above.

I have reattached your zip file update with this code.

Take a look.

Tom Baker







Tom Baker

[CALocklin]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

I am trying to use the D_OF_Birth from the presceen form and subtract the current date to calculate age.

Pardon me for coming in late on this and maybe missing something that has already been stated.

Two things worry me about the above statement....

1. trying to use ... from the presceen form I may be nit picking details here but details are important when dealing with databases and especially when trying to help with problems. Basically, you can't use anything from any form unless you are in that form. You can use data from tables and you can use values stored in variables. And, the value stored in the variable might have come from a form while the form was open.

In the case of printing a report, the report doesn't really see forms - even the one you are in when you click a button to start the report. OK...you could force it to read something from a form but that form would HAVE to be open and on the correct record when the report runs. Personally, I would never do this because there is far to much chance that the form won't be open or, worse yet, will be open but won't be on the correct record in which case the report would still run but it would show the wrong data and someone reading the report might not (probably wouldn't) be aware of the problem. A much better way is to make sure that the fields needed for the report are part of the set the report is based on.

AGE = prescreen>D_of_birth-Date If "prescreen" is a form, I don't believe this will work in your report. However, if "prescreen" is a table that is included as part of the report, then it should work. Also, what is "Date"? If that is a field in the parent table of your report set, then it should work. (But I would never name a field "Date" because there are too many other places to use that word and there is a function called "Date()".) However, it sounds like you just want TODAY's date. That would be date() which is a function that returns today's date.

If I wanted to store a value from a form into a variable using xbasic, it would be something like this:
MyVar = Pricing_setup:shipto_locations_brws:ship_numbf.text
where "Pricing_setup" is the name of the form, "shipto_locations_brws" is the name of the browse (typical default names are Browse1, Browse2, etc. but I like to use useful names), "ship_numbf" is the object name given to the column in the browse (in this case, the name of the field), and "text" tells it to store the text found in that row and column (record and field) of the browse into the variable. If there was no browse but just a field on the form, it would look like this:
MyVar = Pricing_setup:ship_numbf.text

2. If someone was born on 3/19/1988 and today is 3/19/2008, and you ran the calculation you suggested, that person would be -20 years old. On the other hand, if you were to take today's date and subtract the date of birth, they would then be +20 years old.

[Tbaker]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Cal

Just to clear up some of the confusion

prescreen is a table in his set. In that table he has a field "d_of_Birth".

You are right and I'm glad you jumped in - I gave him part of a solution but did not explain (the way you did) that his original code would have created a negative.

FWIW, Bill did create a zip file and set it up in earlier post on this thread. I still had the zip file so I just used what I had.

You did a great job in explaining how to get an age.

Tom Baker

edit:
Bill - the reason the code you show in your post Age=Prescreen>d_of_birth-date did not save is that it should have read Age=Prescreen->d_of_birth-date. But again as Cal has already explained that would not work to give you an age it would just give you a negative number. Also, as Cal pointed out while you can use names like "Age" and "Date", it gets to be a little confusing. You could always use curr_age or Date Entered - something like that. Cal is the expert on naming conventions.

[jaryder]

Re: I want to create a Simple Database on A Fileserver

Bill,

Suggestion. The next time you have a question please start a new thread. More people will look at it and possibly provide answers to your question if they are not having to read 87 replies to know what is going on.

Jeff