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Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

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    #16
    Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

    Yep need to be careful with languages as you know they call a pullover (in the USA) we call a jumper - If said I sitting here with a nice jumper on - Wendy would see me wearing a dress.. - not:-(
    Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
    Albert Einstein, (attributed)
    US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

    Comment


      #17
      Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

      Oh now I might pay money to see that! Come on Pete - throw us a picture?
      Wendy Welton
      Architect
      past & future Alphaholic - deliberately falling off the wagon!

      http://www.artformhomeplans.com/

      Comment


        #18
        Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

        @peteconway - along this line, here is one from a 'mate' from Sydney, via FMForums:

        "Like the joke about the difference between a buffalo and a bison... you wash your hands in a bison. LOL "

        Thanks for all the replies! I am not ignoring the thread; just got back in and will try to address the points made this coming week :-)
        Cheers!
        Lyle Chamney
        http://www.2ninerniner2.com/
        Websites rebuilt with WordPress
        http://goodcheapfastwebsites.com/
        Complete, ready to install WordPress websites
        http://snifflevalve.com
        WordPress training and tutorials

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          #19
          Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

          The last five answers are why Alpha is better than FM. It is way more fun to develop in than anything I have used before and the people on the forum prove that time and time again
          -----------------------------------------------
          Regards
          Mark Pearson
          [email protected]
          Youtube channel
          Website

          Comment


            #20
            Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

            Wendy, where did you get this piece of information?

            " For instance, they've said they plan to discontinue the WAS during or after V12, that they're working on an IIS based replacement instead."

            Wonder how that will affect the knowledge base!
            See our Hybrid Option here;
            https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


            Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
            You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

            Comment


              #21
              Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

              I don't remember where, but it was publicly announced somewhere.

              About the knowledge base - well we'll all have to just insist that the new stuff be well documented when it gets here!
              Wendy Welton
              Architect
              past & future Alphaholic - deliberately falling off the wagon!

              http://www.artformhomeplans.com/

              Comment


                #22
                Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

                Originally posted by WendyWelton View Post
                I don't remember where, but it was publicly announced somewhere.

                About the knowledge base - well we'll all have to just insist that the new stuff be well documented when it gets here!
                Linky Linky

                These items are speculations and indications of effort, and not promises of future product delivery.

                We expect to stop selling the Xbasic Application Server in the V12 time frame, once the IIS-based Web Server has been fully tested in production.
                We expect an Xbasic compiler to become available in the V12 time frame. Preliminary experiments with this are very promising in terms of run-time performance, but there are many obstacles to incorporating this into a production system.


                -Steve
                sigpic

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                  #23
                  Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

                  Thanks for the link Steve.

                  To anyone tapping into this thread.
                  So, now I have IIS Express and Visual Studio - all free from Uncle Bill Gates, with MySQL free from Oracle, where should I be investing my learning time?

                  Here's my problem. I'm embarking on a learning curve with WAS, and the link suggests that there will be documantation to assist me so that when (if) IIS is the server, I won't have to rewrite. What?
                  I'm a lifer as far as Alpha is concerned, but this sounds like a bad marketing plan. I was always told - "never tell a potential customer 'Thanks for the order for the XYZ - just you wait and see wht the new 123 can do!'" Sale lost. Confused am I.

                  BTW
                  I seem to remember using a compiled version of Basic around the mid 70's on a Digico M16E - the days when an Index was a SlotString function.
                  See our Hybrid Option here;
                  https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


                  Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
                  You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

                    I have been a filemaker user/developer for 12 years. Our company needs web database capabilities and Filemaker is weak in that area. So 2 years ago I started investigating alternatives.
                    Alpha5 seemed to have impressive capabilities, and so I bought in about six months ago.
                    For the last 4 months I have been learning Alpha5 and converting our company db systems from Filemaker to Alpha5. My observations are:
                    1. Prepare for a steep learning curve. Both companies use very different terminology to describe the same thing. And there is no good Alpha5 help or glossary. Videos are nice, but you cannot look up or index the information in them.
                    2. Filemaker is vastly easier in record navigation, selection, and finding (query) data.
                    3. Alpha5 has programming flexibility and power that Filemaker could only dream of.
                    4. Filemaker has stable printing functions. Alpha5 has very quirky report output.
                    5. Alpha5 has more easier to use relational tables.
                    6. Filemaker does not work well on the web. Alpha5 does. Easy setup as well.
                    7. Filemaker lets you hack up just about anything quickly. Alpha5 makes you consider, and perhaps do it right.
                    8. My "Help! newbie" needs have been met well. Both by this message board and Alpha support staff. Filemaker did not care when I needed help.

                    Summary: Both database apps do some things really well. But they are very much different. Filemaker is more user-friendly. Alpha5 has a way bigger bag of tricks.

                    Comment


                      #25
                      Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

                      Ted,

                      I have absolutely no reason to think I'm right, but somehow I think the WAS vs the IIS Thingy won't be so much of a learning curve. I'm guessing it will affect our grids and other development tools very little. I know I don't spend a whole heck of a lot of time on the WAS itself.

                      Anybody with a clue have any thoughts? I misplaced by box of clues about a month ago.... Oh wait, I never had one. ;-)
                      Wendy Welton
                      Architect
                      past & future Alphaholic - deliberately falling off the wagon!

                      http://www.artformhomeplans.com/

                      Comment


                        #26
                        Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

                        Lyle,

                        I played with FM up to v9 if I remember well.

                        Web connectivity up to that version was actually zero unless you used some kind of php web publishing addon, I bet you've already seen & experienced the web power of Alpha. I've been looking at many products & even bought into some like Servoy but in the end Alpha stands out without any doubt. If you're looking to develop apps for the web: Alpha is your choice. I personally never even looked at the desktop side of the product as I have no interest in desktop anymore.

                        FM brings versions to market & maybe 2 maintenance releases or so, Alpha is continuously being worked on & you can tap releases about every month (every day prerelease versions if you like)

                        FM has had a history of file corruption, they do solve it in their maintenance releases but up until those appear you're on your own. Alpha solves problems overnight, plenty of testimonial here on the board.

                        FM is expensive, Alpha's subscription model is very affordable and the best value I think. This whole industry evolves to subscriptions: you loose money if you just buy licenses.
                        Subscriptions give this industry a more stable & more predictable income flow so that they can survive, invent & take the lead. And I want to work with a winning company.

                        FM is corporate subsidiary of Apple, a company driven by the stock exchange in the first place (allthough the Apple hype the past couple of years might suggest otherwise), Alpha is privately owned and is product driven.

                        I have not seen a lot of visionary technology implementations at FM (are they still struggling to separate code & data ?), Alpha is on the right track.

                        Corporates can decide overnight to cut a product (with MS being the absolute champion), you will not see that from Alpha.

                        FM uses a proprietary fileformat which can be fun for some quick&dirty small side project, Alpha uses industry standards & let's you choose.

                        Sure it's not all that rosy but I haven't found any other product that does what Alpha does and I have no need or intention to look any further either.

                        Get on board, invest time in the learning curve & amaze yourself & others!

                        Cheers
                        Last edited by Clipper87; 04-05-2012, 01:51 AM.
                        Frank

                        Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

                          Web connectivity up to that version was actually zero unless you used some kind of php web publishing addon, I bet you've already seen & experienced the web power of Alpha. I've been looking at many products & even bought into some like Servoy but in the end Alpha stands out without any doubt. If you're looking to develop apps for the web: Alpha is your choice. I personally never even looked at the desktop side of the product as I have no interest in desktop anymore.
                          Question: How effective (and at what level of proficiency) can one actually expect to attain without a thorough understanding of the desktop side, which (presumably) includes the ability of writing native X-basic code? (If the level is presumed high, does one resolve to using wizards extensively?)

                          I ask this question, as I decided to "really learn" X-basic and the desktop side first, thinking it is/was a pre-requisite to the web side...... (I further justified my choice/decision knowing that the web side is migrating to IIS.)

                          My thoughts are, users need to develop competency in the following order for a solid foundation with a5:

                          • PLENTY OF TIME (& WILL) TO COMMIT TO LEARNING
                          • Database Design Fundamentals
                          • A5 GUI
                          • Desktop a5
                          • X-basic
                          • SQL (limited familiarity)
                          • Web a5 (basic html ~familiarity~ being a prerequisite)
                          • Smartphone a5 (for all practical purposes, still forthcoming from Alpha).....
                          • IIS admin (a forthcoming pre-requisite, due to a5's migration to IIS)


                          One things for sure: There are many pieces to this "puzzle!"
                          Last edited by SNusa; 04-10-2012, 12:22 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


                            #28
                            Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

                            Not sure what you mean. If your question is how easy is it in A5 to develop webapps ? Well I have not ever looked at the desktop side of it, I immediately jumped in on developing webapps. Start off with Martin Heller's 2 books.
                            Frank

                            Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand

                            Comment


                              #29
                              Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

                              Originally posted by Clipper87 View Post
                              Not sure what you mean. If your question is how easy is it in A5 to develop webapps ? Well I have not ever looked at the desktop side of it, I immediately jumped in on developing webapps. Start off with Martin Heller's 2 books.
                              From my perspective, (having a fair amount of experience with the desktop and [finally] being able to code native X-basic reasonably well)..... The web side of a5 seems rather simple, and largely a "lesson in semantics" with the exception of not being overly seasoned with writing/tweaking javascript, and having very little experience with using/coding/implementing AJAX.

                              ~I had just presumed the journey would be much more difficult to become a "master of a5" without knowing the desktop & X-basic first. And without (my self imposed) prerequisite of knowing X-basic & the a5 desktop development environment: I (personally) wouldn't have the confidence & would probably feel constrained in my abilities to effectively use the web side.....

                              Thanks for the tip on the Heller books. I will take a look at them.
                              Last edited by SNusa; 04-10-2012, 05:50 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


                                #30
                                Re: Sell this FileMaker developer on A5 :)

                                I am developing a company wide db with both internal (desktop) and external (web) aspects. I struggled quite a bit with the desktop side. Partly because of the alpha5 learning curve and partly because I was trying to create a strong foundation from scratch. Once that foundation was built, and the desktop side worked (mostly), the web side was pretty easy. Most of the tricky stuff is being done on the desktop though. Action scripting performs most of the tricks. And as I've gotten more comfortable, I have been converting the action scripts to xbasic and changing as needed.
                                Experience with visual basic has been helpful here. The web stuff was built with Alpha5 wizards and standard grids. They work well with minor tweaks.

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