Jim Hewson
jm.hwsn at gmail.com
Tue May 6 08:45:20 CDT 2014
I thought I would tell you about my experience with Alpha v11 (A11). Alpha Anywhere (AA) is v12. First, some background. I'm an independent contractor for the federal government, specifically for the Army Research Laboratory. My work began with them six years ago - I've been working on the same project the entire time using Access exclusively. The project I'm working on is complex... 72 tables, 555 queries, 169 forms, 156 reports and about 50 UDFs. I convinced the director of the unit to purchase A11 so we could migrate the tool I created from Access in the hope we could use the web capability. A few months after it was purchased, Alpha Anywhere came out. With time constraints, deadlines, etc. I didn't get to start using A11 for a few months. After AA was released, I thought I could purchase a copy for home and ... it should be backward compatible. Not so. When I called the company to see if I could develop at work and develop at home with A11 and AA. I was told they were not compatible and an upgrade for work was needed... an additional several hundred dollars. I decided not to purchase a copy for home use. The other issue was that the Army IT folks told us Alpha anything was not authorized on any network. So... we thought I could put it on what they call a stand-alone laptop (not to be connected to the network) and do the development there. But anything that was developed, would need a "Certificate of Networthiness" (CoN) from the Army to put it on the network ... typically a one year process which takes about one year. I started going through the tutorials, pretty cool. Works as designed. I started to migrate the tool that I created. Not so cool. It converted tables, some queries and then not much else. This meant that I had to create the forms and reports from scratch. Mmmm... that's a lot of work. Two other things that need to be pointed out. One, AA creates a separate file for every table, query, form, report or anything else in a specific folder on the hard drive. Unlike Access everything is in one container - one file. Two, to migrate AA to another computer - one has to package it up and then install it, unlike Access you just need to copy a file. In the grand scheme of things, we opted not to go with A11 or AA. It seemed to be a lot of work for little benefit for our purposes. The project I'm working on morphed into something entirely different that it's original concept. Originally, we wanted to use the tool on the network at one of the training facilities. The CoN expired before it was fully implemented. Now the tool is being used in several research studies on stand-alone laptops. Jim On Tue, May 6, 2014 at 1:17 AM, Jim Lawrence <accessd at shaw.ca> wrote: > The only weakness to Access is that it can not just port to the > web...outside of that every feature is covered. But with the way the New > Microsoft has been advancing as of late it might now be a possibility. > > I heard that at the large Linux fest, in Bellingham, Washington, on the > last weekend, Microsoft showed up in force...and that has never happened > before anywhere. > > Jim > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Michael Mattys" <michael at mattysconsulting.com> > To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" < > accessd at databaseadvisors.com> > Sent: Monday, May 5, 2014 7:40:54 PM > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Should Business use Access? > > I'm in my forties, still like classic Coke and Access. > We do work Access/SQL work in various departments for the some of the > largest retailers doing business in the US. > C#, WPF, and Dynamics CRM, too, but it sure isn't dead and I've certainly > enjoyed customizing Access with the Win32 API. > Your statement reminded me of Karl Peterson (vb.mvps.org). > > Note: IIRC, Arthur would prefer not to be called 'Art', though he may have > relaxed that constraint somewhat so as not to belabor the issue. > > Michael R Mattys > Mattys Consulting, LLC > www.mattysconsulting.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Tony Septav > Sent: Monday, May 5, 2014 7:19 PM > To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Should Business use Access? > > Hey All > What a bunch of old farts (like a boardroom). I guess you all still like > the > classic Coke. > > Tony Septav > Nanaimo,BC > Canada > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Bill Benson > Sent: May-05-14 3:06 PM > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Should Business use Access? > > Well to be fair, Arthur has told us in the past what he sees in the > product, > and why he likes it, even describing some its uses and ease of use. He was > probably trying not to be overly redundant. > > As for making the developer's life easier I doubt Arthur's life has gotten > any easier. And I bet he has lost a LOT if power and flexibility versus > building ACCDB front ends. > > I really didn't see my post - which was relaying one blogger's viewpoint > that the first step in avoiding a "sadBA" existence was forsaking MS Access > - to which he got negative comments in a 20+ to 1 ratio - as begging to > have AA plugged again. > > Art rest assured, when we want to know more about AA (on an Access > community > forum like this one? Don't hold your breath) we know you are our man. > > On May 5, 2014 3:45 PM, "Francisco Tapia" <fhtapia at gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Arthur, > > Finally read up a little on this product. if I were still an Access > > Developer why would I want to use this software? it seems to have > > nothing to do with Access. Their case study on converting an Access > > app > > > > http://alphasoftware.net/convert-an-access-application-into-a-web-applicatio > n-alpha-anywhere/to > > an alpha software application has as much relevance as me trying to > > convince users on the forum to use Titanium to create cross-mobile > > apps from their existing Access apps. > > > > I didn't find any compelling information on their site or in this case > > study. I would have just done the sql upsizing on my own as I have > > always done, and built the FrontEnd to be web/ios/android as the case > warranted. > > > > Sorry old friend, but I must confess that I don't see what the point > > is to advertise a product without any details on how a developer's > > life would be better by migrating to the new platform. > > > > > > -Francisco <http://twitter.com/seecoolguy> > > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2014.0.4570 / Virus Database: 3931/7440 - Release Date: 05/04/14 > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >