Alpha Software Mobile Development Tools:   Alpha Anywhere    |   Alpha TransForm subscribe to our YouTube Channel  Follow Us on LinkedIn  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Facebook

Announcement

Collapse

The Alpha Software Forum Participation Guidelines

The Alpha Software Forum is a free forum created for Alpha Software Developer Community to ask for help, exchange ideas, and share solutions. Alpha Software strives to create an environment where all members of the community can feel safe to participate. In order to ensure the Alpha Software Forum is a place where all feel welcome, forum participants are expected to behave as follows:
  • Be professional in your conduct
  • Be kind to others
  • Be constructive when giving feedback
  • Be open to new ideas and suggestions
  • Stay on topic


Be sure all comments and threads you post are respectful. Posts that contain any of the following content will be considered a violation of your agreement as a member of the Alpha Software Forum Community and will be moderated:
  • Spam.
  • Vulgar language.
  • Quotes from private conversations without permission, including pricing and other sales related discussions.
  • Personal attacks, insults, or subtle put-downs.
  • Harassment, bullying, threatening, mocking, shaming, or deriding anyone.
  • Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
  • Sexually explicit or violent material, links, or language.
  • Pirated, hacked, or copyright-infringing material.
  • Encouraging of others to engage in the above behaviors.


If a thread or post is found to contain any of the content outlined above, a moderator may choose to take one of the following actions:
  • Remove the Post or Thread - the content is removed from the forum.
  • Place the User in Moderation - all posts and new threads must be approved by a moderator before they are posted.
  • Temporarily Ban the User - user is banned from forum for a period of time.
  • Permanently Ban the User - user is permanently banned from the forum.


Moderators may also rename posts and threads if they are too generic or do not property reflect the content.

Moderators may move threads if they have been posted in the incorrect forum.

Threads/Posts questioning specific moderator decisions or actions (such as "why was a user banned?") are not allowed and will be removed.

The owners of Alpha Software Corporation (Forum Owner) reserve the right to remove, edit, move, or close any thread for any reason; or ban any forum member without notice, reason, or explanation.

Community members are encouraged to click the "Report Post" icon in the lower left of a given post if they feel the post is in violation of the rules. This will alert the Moderators to take a look.

Alpha Software Corporation may amend the guidelines from time to time and may also vary the procedures it sets out where appropriate in a particular case. Your agreement to comply with the guidelines will be deemed agreement to any changes to it.



Bonus TIPS for Successful Posting

Try a Search First
It is highly recommended that a Search be done on your topic before posting, as many questions have been answered in prior posts. As with any search engine, the shorter the search term, the more "hits" will be returned, but the more specific the search term is, the greater the relevance of those "hits". Searching for "table" might well return every message on the board while "tablesum" would greatly restrict the number of messages returned.

When you do post
First, make sure you are posting your question in the correct forum. For example, if you post an issue regarding Desktop applications on the Mobile & Browser Applications board , not only will your question not be seen by the appropriate audience, it may also be removed or relocated.

The more detail you provide about your problem or question, the more likely someone is to understand your request and be able to help. A sample database with a minimum of records (and its support files, zipped together) will make it much easier to diagnose issues with your application. Screen shots of error messages are especially helpful.

When explaining how to reproduce your problem, please be as detailed as possible. Describe every step, click-by-click and keypress-by-keypress. Otherwise when others try to duplicate your problem, they may do something slightly different and end up with different results.

A note about attachments
You may only attach one file to each message. Attachment file size is limited to 2MB. If you need to include several files, you may do so by zipping them into a single archive.

If you forgot to attach your files to your post, please do NOT create a new thread. Instead, reply to your original message and attach the file there.

When attaching screen shots, it is best to attach an image file (.BMP, .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, etc.) or a zip file of several images, as opposed to a Word document containing the screen shots. Because Word documents are prone to viruses, many message board users will not open your Word file, therefore limiting their ability to help you.

Similarly, if you are uploading a zipped archive, you should simply create a .ZIP file and not a self-extracting .EXE as many users will not run your EXE file.
See more
See less

Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conundrum

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #16
    Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

    Discussions of business philosophy and terminology add to the spice of the forum. We are all more than just guys/gals that build software applications and discuss technical aspect of features and bugs.
    Steve Wood
    See my profile on IADN

    Comment


      #17
      Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

      Originally posted by Steve Wood View Post
      The biggest problem I have (really) is keeping up with all of the new features. I mean I am really behind and it is embarrassing when performing mentoring that I have not touched some of the features that my clients are asking me about.
      If developers like yourself who have been with Alpha many years, who work with it daily, can't keep up with the new features, imagine the rest of us who have been with Alpha barely couple of years, and work with it when time permits. It feels like running after a train traveling at 100m/hr. I barely had the time to learn the basics of V10 and feeling half confident to start building a usable app, that V11 is released. By the time I am ready to build something with V11, V12 will be released. I sometimes wonder how can Alpha make money like that.

      Comment


        #18
        Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

        These are great discussions with well presented arguments on both sides.

        Originally posted by Steve Wood View Post
        But the vast majority of the time they don't affect me so I never had a chance to care about it. If I have something useful to report, I turn in a bug report or other communication, or I work on something else. I don't sweat it at all.
        I'm kind of in the same mindset as Steve on this. Perhaps I'd think differently if I were affected by a show stopping bug that killed my application, but that simply hasn't been the case for me personally. I've always found that Alpha is very fast to respond to bug reports when they can confirm the issue reported to them.

        I absolutely love Alpha too but sometimes I struggle to keep up. However, I cannot imagine how difficult it must be developing software for software developers.

        Stephen
        Alpha Anywhere v12.4.6.5.2 Build 8867-5691 IIS v10.0 on Windows Server 2019 Std in Hyper-V

        Comment


          #19
          Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

          Originally posted by Jeff Blackwell View Post
          I have to agree (as a long time developer - short time in Alpha) with Steve's take on this... No pain, no gain.

          So how do we make it less painful?

          For those with low pain/bug tolerance: WAIT and don't install the bleeding edge version. Ruby on Rails does the same thing. If you have to have the latest - use Edge Rails. If not, use the stable version. BUT - you can't have "that latest feature" without the tradeoff....

          Another thing that I've noticed - a lot of the information appears to be "tribal knowledge". The videos help A LOT... and yes documenting the crap out of everything would be a great idea, but it's tough to implement under the time pressure, etc. What about exposing some of the internal Alpha bug tracking info to us developers? I know that I for one, can't possibly keep up with stuff I don't hear about - but if I'm about to update a server I can sure check online for the latest issues list to make sure that I'm not walking into a KNOWN issue. As always, there are necessary trade-offs. If the Alpha gang are kind enough to publish these details - then we, as developers, must agree not to whiz and moan and gripe about what they publish. Effectively - if they give us the inside information - which helps us protect ourselves - then we have to be kind enough not to use that information against them....

          Thoughts?
          Best idea I have seen on this thread... Organized transparent (user accessible) bug tracking with confirmation & status for each update version released. (Kind of like sourceforge etc)....

          Let qualified users report bugs, and as they come in have them confirmed and "moderated" by Alpha.

          With each release, unresolved open bugs would be acknowledged, and new bugs could be added by the developers. (Both the the importance, and validity of the bugs would also be reflected by the number of users reporting the same problem.)

          Sure, you'd need someone @ apha moderating this list (multiple bug reports might be part of the same underlying issues).... BUT : There would no longer be a constant supply of "multiple instances of the same bug reports" showing up in Sewlyn's inbox either! ~ Not a bad trade-off IMHO.....

          Proactive (conscientious) developers would no longer walk into known issues.....
          (which is good for business PR, and good for developer productivity)

          New features AND a lack of communication, and documentation (current updated local help file hint hint) is a recipe for disaster when bugs are introduced into the mix!

          I really like a5. But I've taken the path of staying about 1/2 a version behind. (So I'm not wasting time trying to figure out "what I'm not really doing wrong!")

          Bugs are to be expected. (But they need not be a support nightmare. ~ Neither for developers, nor for Alpha!)

          Much of the frustrations associated with this topic could be avoided. ~ Just sayin'
          Last edited by SNusa; 01-21-2012, 07:36 PM.
          Robert T. ~ "I enjoy manipulating data... just not my data."
          It's all about the "framework." (I suppose an "a5-induced" hard drive crash is now in order?)
          RELOADED: My current posting activity here merely represents a "Momentary Lapse Of Reason."

          Comment


            #20
            Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

            Maybe we should build our own known bugs or issues tracking and status database, or Steve you may be able to offer it through the IADN.
            Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
            Albert Einstein, (attributed)
            US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

            Comment


              #21
              Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

              Pete - IADN has a ready-to-go Wiki built in Dokuwiki. It is largely empty, not sure exactly what to include, and who to allow edit rights. It would be easy to "open it up" for content addition, but that has to be coordinated. I am pretty sure I don't want to track bugs and resolution because it would always be out of sync with Alpha's official statements. E.g,. if Alpha's release notes said "...fixed..." and the IADN Wiki said "...not fixed..." there is going to be a problem, especially if IADN has incorrect or irrelevant information which I am sorry to say would often be the case given our busy lives. I am not going to sponsor any resource that serves to contradict or water down existing resources or anything Alpha S. would strongly disapprove of.

              You are welcome to start a discussion about it, but that discussion should probably take place at this location: http://forum.alphadevnet.com/index.php?topic=375.0 (forum is open to everyone)
              Steve Wood
              See my profile on IADN

              Comment


                #22
                Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

                Thanks Steve - i'll take a look - it will need a database to manage it, I start thinking about it.
                Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
                Albert Einstein, (attributed)
                US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

                Comment


                  #23
                  Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

                  can you Imagine Boeing accepting this update model on their flight software?
                  I heard that they had considered MS Windows but were put off when the little Paper clip kept popping up. I see you are try to take off, can I help?
                  Regards
                  Keith Hubert
                  Alpha Guild Member
                  London.
                  KHDB Management Systems
                  Skype = keith.hubert


                  For your day-to-day Needs, you Need an Alpha Database!

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

                    Oh that sounds fantastic a new professional system with components such as incident management, problem management, change management, version management not forget the CMDB!. Plus methods as BiSL, Tmap etc and Prince II project management.
                    Sounds sarcastic, yes because I do not believe in such a solution. impractical, bureaucratic, cumbersome and ultimately who decides whether or not a specific bug or desire and then the key question priority. Some topics in the support forum sounds like a great lament of children not get their way for half biscuit after school. I like that many issues in the forum rich in content and benefit to others it is the forum to know and remember this makes it one of the richest developer forums around. If you do not pay attention it is lost.
                    There are plenty of alternatives to think of a 4 x times years of R & D sessions via GoToMeeting or something. It sounds like Alpha will not respond or participate in improving communication which I do not believe as I know Richard and Selwyn as many others. But who has now asked for and what is the answer.
                    So a dialogue to R & D how do we deal with various issues I believe that R & D will respond positive.
                    This looks like one of the solutions to take part in the debate. my response is personal and does not refer to persons or concerns.

                    Eric
                    Last edited by bea2701; 01-22-2012, 07:20 AM.

                    Comment


                      #25
                      Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

                      Used the new build 10 hours today - no issue's not one, seems very solid so that's good.
                      Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
                      Albert Einstein, (attributed)
                      US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

                      Comment


                        #26
                        Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

                        I used the new build all day yesterday also. No Issues either.
                        Carol King
                        Developer of Custom Homebuilders' Solutions (CHS)
                        http://www.CHSBuilderSoftware.com

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

                          I just read through this thread and was taken back a little on some of the comments.

                          It is up to Developers/Project Managers to make sure they have the proper development life cycle in place regardless of what Alpha does. I have had 4 environments in place for 15 years and it works very well regardless of the development tools being used.

                          1. Development
                          2. Test
                          3. QA
                          4. Production

                          We all should be thankful on how quickly Alpha response to some of our issues and is constantly adding new features. I have been dealing with Oracle Corporation for 20 years and getting anything fixed is a horrible process and getting them to add new features into their toolset....forget about it.

                          Comment


                            #28
                            Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

                            njguy speaks the truth about Oracle... Sounds like he and I have been to the same school there! That said, improving the communication by exposing the bug tracking that I'm sure is already in place inside Alpha walls would be a welcome help. It IS on our shoulders as developers. And Alpha does a GREAT job of "riding the tiger". What the exposure of the bug list would provide is better ability to help us get there. One other thought. If Alpha was concerned about exposing the bugs to potential new customers - it could be limited to existing customers without harming anything....

                            Comment


                              #29
                              Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

                              Originally posted by njguy View Post
                              I just read through this thread and was taken back a little on some of the comments.

                              It is up to Developers/Project Managers to make sure they have the proper development life cycle in place regardless of what Alpha does. I have had 4 environments in place for 15 years and it works very well regardless of the development tools being used.

                              1. Development
                              2. Test
                              3. QA
                              4. Production

                              We all should be thankful on how quickly Alpha response to some of our issues and is constantly adding new features. I have been dealing with Oracle Corporation for 20 years and getting anything fixed is a horrible process and getting them to add new features into their toolset....forget about it.
                              Exactly what I mean use the DTQP in your own projects.
                              Your correct on all for but the idea of creating this for a bulletin board to my idea is complete overdone, it will never work.

                              Comment


                                #30
                                Re: Candidate next update is now available VS Alpha Five Version 11 Updates = conund

                                I agree, Eric. When I was evaluating Alpha, and noticed their almost immediate response time, FROM their developers, I found myself thinking that I couldn't imagine that Microsoft would even begin to be able to provide that type of response if I opted to use .NET instead of Alpha.
                                Carol King
                                Developer of Custom Homebuilders' Solutions (CHS)
                                http://www.CHSBuilderSoftware.com

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X