Alpha Five User Group

Time - 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
2nd Thursday of the Month

The next Alpha User Group meeting is this Thursday, Dec 9 (2nd Thursday) starting at 6:30 pm at 903 N Bowser, Suite 320, Richardson. Click here for a map. Email me if you have any questions. Pizza will be available at the beginning of the meeting.

In November we discussed the survey of members that was done to make sure we are being as much benefit as possible to everyone. There was a good discussion that resulted in the following list of future meeting topics. I hope this list will spark ideas for additional topics from each of you, and that you will email any suggestions to me so we can expand the list.

Please send in additional suggestions for topics, and if you would be willing to present. Presenting is also a great way to get help from the group on any issues that you may have.

In November we also talked about Alpha Five! We discussed an overview of field rules, and what applies to desktop vs. web.

In December we will begin chipping away at the list above. One topic will be beginning development with xbasic. This will lay the foundation to xbasic so you get started on the right foot. You do not need any current knowledge of xbasic, and we will talk about how to use Action Scripting to help learn full xbasic. GIVEAWAY! There will be a drawing for a copy of Peter Wayne's "Xbasic For Everyone" book at the meeting!

If there is time, we will also discuss best practices for developing desktop apps in a multi-user environment.

As always, bring your own questions so the group can help you with whatever challenges you have at the moment.

Bill Parker.
User Group Leader

Background.

For those of you that are starting to use SQL databases as a backend for Alpha Five, there was a link recently on Alpha's message board to a free Sams e-book "Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days".  You can get it here.

The purpose of the SIG is to provide a peer-peer forum for users to ask questions, and share experiences about using Alpha Five in practical applications. There is always a presentation topic, and a time for questions and answers.

Topics range from introductory to advanced, and cover such things as understanding the user interface, designing forms, reports, and applications, tips and tricks, and efficient design for large and small database environments.

The current month's topic may be posted here, or maybe not, but a notice and timely news will be always (usually) be emailed to our 'interested parties' list before each meeting. Let me know if you are not receiving the SIG's monthly email, and would like to get it.

It is very helpful to hear the perspective of different users, so we are always looking for speakers to talk about an application/technique/product that they use/develop. In fact, one of the best ways to get questions answered is to present your application or problem, and get immediate feedback from others! Let me know if you have an application, single technique, or topic you would like to present.

Recent Articles
Alpha Five: Data-driven app dev done right, ZDNet, June 27, 2008

Bill Parker

Some of the past meetings of the Alpha Five SIG.

April 2008, Alpha Web Development - Setup.  Slides 

July 2007, SSL Security with the WAS.  Slides

July 2006, AlphaSportsWeb.  A5 Trail Guide, Part 1 (1.4 MB)

June 2004, Custom Help Files. video (27MB).

January 2003, Data entry in Alpha Five vs. Alpha Four. video (26MB).

December 2002, OLE Automation with Excel and Alpha Five. video (31MB).

November 2002, Runtime prompting for report filter criteria. video (20MB), the handounts - example 2 (259K), and example 3 (361K).

October 2002, Action Scripting vs. Xbasic. video (32MB), and handout (473K).

May 2002, Summarization functions in the Alpha 5 report writer. video. (16MB)

April 2002, New features in the beta version of Alpha Five v 5. video. (23 MB)