OT: Database application

Build a 'form' for them to use.

--Winston

Alpha Five. I've been using it to reproduce and improve a bill of materials/purchasing app I built in a DOS database many years ago. I got more done in the first day with Alpha Five than I did fighting with Access for a week. Until you get into some pretty advanced stuff you don't need to write any code. And even when there isn't a wizard to do the coding you need, you can often find something close enough that you at least have an example to follow.

Don't pay full price, they run specials often for around $100 for the base version.

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:36:44 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Ned Simmons quickly quoth:

I still fire up Alpha4 occasionally. The old apps sure run like screaming banshees on the fast machines of today, don't they?

I'll have to check out A5v8!

-- Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. -- John Quincy Adams

Blech. I tried learning access as a programing language years ago and gave up in disgust. Even after you get your program working then you got to pay for a per seat license for Access. Back in the old days I used Clipper and there wasn't any extra per seat costs since it compiled to an executable.

Wes

Clipper Head since Summer 87 version

foxpro.

There's few things out there as badass as foxpro for making an intant-program that works.

Even with all this internet and web shit, I still can't think of anthing faster and easier than foxpro for simple tasks.

Not to get off Tom's problem but I am looking for a suitable database too. For about 3 years now I've been working on a project where I've been collecting info on solving computer problems.My sources are Kim Kommando, Fred Langa, TSGL, RCM and several computer magazines. I have

875 entry's. I"ve entered my data into a M/S Works database using fields called: problem,-description,-solution 1,-solution 2,-solution 3,-more info. It has proven to be a mistake because I can only search for one or 2 words at a time using clumsy filters. I don't like getting into querys and reports because I don't understand them that well. I would like to type in something like "how to do a repair installation of windows XP" and have it go right to the entry rather than coming up with every mention of XP or repair. I've tried Google desktop and M/S desktop and wasn't happy with the results. I've seen databases that might have done the job but each item would have to be entered separately. I would like to have a program that I can feed my data into in comma delimited or space delimited .doc or .html form and have it searched. Any inexpensive ideas? Engineman

I still fire up an old edition of Revelation whenever I need that kind of power, and man, does it sing with modern PCs! /mark

Filemaker Pro for a built, $$ but not too many, multiuser, web-capable, etc. database which manages to combine easy to use with lots of function, though lots of function is not always easy, depending on your mindset. Cross-platform, 30 day free trial available from the website. You probably don't need any of the extra-added cost versions (advanced, etc) they have made up to complicate the marketing. When things scale enough, a server is a good idea, and that raises the cost quite a bit, but if you are at that scale, it doesn't raise the cost per seat much. For what you are describing, and from what I recall of your operations as described in the past, a single copy, perhaps with local access to other computers via web, would probably do. A nice feature is container fields that can hold practically anything - I use them primarily for pictures of something related to a record.

I do a bunch of stuff (some rather complex) in FM Pro and it works fine. Much larger places use it or much larger numbers of records. I've heard it smeared, but almost always by people with an intere$t in another database (sales-slime), or who have never actually used it.

Much free and $ stuff in SQL, but it has seemed too clunky to convert over to for the stuff I do. Capable, but obtuse, from what I can see.

I wrote my original BoM program in A4, but had to give it up when I started running NT3.5. I don't recall exactly what the problem was, but it was several years before Alpha released a version that played nice with NT/2K/XP. When I decided to resurrect the app, I struggled with the choice between buying the new windows-compatible A4 and rewriting it for A5. There were enough changes I wanted to make that I finally decided a rewrite was the way to go.

There may be some commercial potential for the program. There's only one other comparable product that I'm aware of:

while it's very good functionally, the interface is terrible, IMO.

You know that for that sort of application I'd see what the modern day incarnation of ISYS is. it is a text search engine written by a group of computer wizards out of Frenches Forest In Sydney Australia. you just assemble a directory of scanned, ocr'd files and point it to the directory. it assembles the indexing.

you enter the words you want and it comes back with a listing.

73 hits in that document 21 in this document 4 in this document and so on.

...actually I found it for you. Just google for "ISYS Search" there is a free trial version.

I used it in a previous job for searching council minutes. it works well.it uses a mathematically proven optimum technique. Stealth Pilot

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:56:24 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Ned Simmons quickly quoth:

Yeah, changing to the newest (or just newer) technology is, most often, the only way to go.

G'luck with selling your program. Are you thinking shareware or full commercial development on it? Did Trilogy use something like Delphi to design their program?

-- Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. -- John Quincy Adams

Probably something closer to shareware. I'm thinking a free version with a limited number of records, but enough to do a couple fair-sized commercial projects and enough to make it useful to casual users. A fee to unlock the limit once the program has proven its worth. If I ever get that far, I'll offer up a beta here on RCM.

I'm not sure how Trilogy developed P&V. The tables are Access .mdb files, but I don't think P&V itself is an Access runtime.

Great topic. I was involved in a huge Access '97 development for a mail order company. It was supposed to be a quick "stepping stone" just to get our data out of an antique old DOS app, and organized for something better. Unfortunately, we have built too many radical functions over the years for some very specific needs. Access can be configured to do things you may never have imagined possible, and configured as such to fit exactly the way you want things to happen in the company.

However, we have concluded that we must get out of the Microsoft stranglehold within 3 years. Their constant push to make you spend more money is too hard on small business (or rather, the company would rather give the employees more rather than Mr. Gates)

Access "upgrades" to subsequent versions are NOT easy, and MS's direction with Vista ? Ugh. We want something with html forms so the bulk of the workstations can run ANY Operating system, probably something as simple as Ubuntu. The "backend" or data is easy enough to convert to mySql, but thefront ends and all the calculations done in them are the problem. No one seems to make anything easy to convert Access Front ends (forms) into html, so I think were are in for another expensive lesson as to why you should just stay away from MS.

So, keep that in mind. Find something with an HTML front end and a common database backend right from the begining so you do not have to keep throwing money out the window. What that is, I do not yet know. I will be searching soon.

grummy

snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net wrote in news:269f03f2-e682-4813-9d47-a3ac1f893d91 @o42g2000hsc.googlegroups.com:

Have you looked at Open Office Base? After I read this thread, I started playing around with it, it's pretty decent.

Not to get off Tom's problem but I am looking for a suitable database too. For about 3 years now I've been working on a project where I've been collecting info on solving computer problems.My sources are Kim Kommando, Fred Langa, TSGL, RCM and several computer magazines. I have

875 entry's. I"ve entered my data into a M/S Works database using fields called: problem,-description,-solution 1,-solution 2,-solution 3,-more info. It has proven to be a mistake because I can only search for one or 2 words at a time using clumsy filters. I don't like getting into querys and reports because I don't understand them that well. I would like to type in something like "how to do a repair installation of windows XP" and have it go right to the entry rather than coming up with every mention of XP or repair. I've tried Google desktop and M/S desktop and wasn't happy with the results. I've seen databases that might have done the job but each item would have to be entered separately. I would like to have a program that I can feed my data into in comma delimited or space delimited .doc or .html form and have it searched. Any inexpensive ideas? Engineman

On Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:53:45 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Anthony quickly quoth:

Y'know, I downloaded and have been using OpenOffice for a year now and forgot that it had a DBMS in it. I love the rest of the package so far, and really adore the price and not having to give M$ any more money.

First Look Critique: Damn, it's just like Access. Blech! That's probably why I forgot it was there. Nexxxxxxxxt!

-- Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. -- John Quincy Adams

Tom, have you looked at 'MRP' type software? It tracks inventory, lets you schedule production, and can let you see at a glance if you have everything needed to produce any standard product in your line. For instance, you need to schedule a run of 1000 of a single type brush. It automatically transfers the needed materials to that job number, and updates the available inventory for each component you use to make that brush. You can even schedule machine time as a non billable component. That way you can see how much work is scheduled for each machine, to help you set shipping dates.

Most packages have multiple user levels, so production workers can check on jobs and move orders, but can't request extra materials or change schedules. Higher levels would be stockroom, and production planning. The MRP programs can produce custom reports, in almost any way you can imagine. Best of all, you only need very basic computer skills for the average worker.

There are small, inexpensive MRP packages availible. This has been discussed on news:sci.electronics.design (or

for google group users) recently.

Yep! We recently hired a consultant to create a scheduling system and train the appropriate people. We ended up not using a software solution though we looked at a number of them. Instead, we opted for a big magnetic board and a bunch of spreadsheets. Actually, an elegant solution and it seems to be workable. The software available is expensive and complicated and way over-kill for what we need to do. I'd like to automate some of the spreadsheets and/or have some simple database applications...you know, the kind I used to bang out in dBaseIII, FoxBASE, early FoxPro or some of the other DOS based database managers.