[AccessD] Access Database on Web

I got invited to get a copy of Alpha 5 V11 from one of the principals at the
company, which I've downloaded but haven't done the tutorials yet. On the
schedule for the first of the year.

Rocky


-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2012 5:58 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Access Database on Web

In recent months I have become a strong advocate of Alpha Five v11. And
especially for this sort of project. Assuming an app of a dozen to twenty
tables, you can knock out a prototype web app in  4-8 hours, and the really
cool part about it is that it will adapt itself to desktop, tablet or
smart-phone, with no additional coding on your part.
Part of the reason why I dived deep into JavaScript is that A5v11 totally
supports it (among other languages). A recent example is an Access app I did
a while back for a riding stable, consisting of about 20 tables (horses,
riders, customers (the reason for said distinction being that some wealthy
parents have two or more kids enrolled, so hence one customer), instructors,
lessons, lessonTypes, and of course the tack shop, plus a few others.
I did the prototype in a day. (On my nickel, the client didn't ask for a web
solution.) I chose this app to re-do because it was small and
straightforward.
Then came the good part. A5 has a collection of FeaturePacks available for
extra cost; one of them is a calendar presentation that looks a lot like
Outlook, with day, week and month views etc. Back when I wrote the original
Access version for desktops, I watched the principal user switch back and
forth from Access to Outlook, and thought how cool it would be to have that
calendar-UI built into my app. But I had no clue how to do it. I used the
A5 calendar FeaturePack to do it, and presto! Not only was it built into my
app, but it was a web app (again, meaning for desktop, tablet or smart
phone)
I should add that before tackling the A5 version of the original, I migrated
the data to SQL Server and connected the project to that database.
It also connects to Access and any other database that can speak ODBC.
Since I work a lot in MySQL as well, I was pleased to find it easy to
connect to.
While refining the web version, I ran the Access original in another window,
primarily so that I could look at its forms and duplicate them as closely as
possible. That idea soon lost its credence, because A5 has way superior form
options (for example, grids whose rows are automatically every other row, no
code required).
There's always a down-side, and this is it: to run an A5 web app requires
the purchase of the A5 server, which runs on the web server. If you plan to
do dozens of such projects, there's a price point that gives you the right
to install an unlimited number of A5 servers. There's one more down-side,
and that is that A5 runs only on Windows, and no Linux version is planned.
But just about every host (in Toronto at least) offers you the choice, so
that's really not an issue.
You can download a trial version of the A5v11 software and check out my
claims for yourself. There's a sample web app that shows you a couple of
dozen variants on what you can build, with no additional code If I sound
like an evangelist, well, I guess I am -- but I am unpaid by Alpha Software,
so maybe "enthusiast" would be a more accurate description.
If you don't believe me, or even better, if you do, then download the trial
from AlphaSoftware.com and take it for a spin.

Arthur
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