A relational database is a program that manages information in several tables linked by common information. This avoids saving the same information in many records. For example if you want to keep records about families you know and details about each member of each family it would not be good to keep the family address in each person’s record. If the family moved, many records would have to be changed. There would be a possibility that one of the records would not be found and corrected. In a relational database you would use one table for family addresses and another table for personal information linked to the family record. If the family moves there is only one place that the information needs to be corrected.
Alpha Five version 4 is the latest Windows version of a relational database program written by the Alpha Software company. They also have a DOS version of the program.
They state that over a million copies of these programs have been sold.
Installation from the CD was straightforward. The default options were sensible.
Very little printed documentation is included with the product. Instead, several document files are included on the CD. The files are included in two forms, .pdf and .doc. These include a user’s manual (250 pages) and an XBasic code manual (480 page). The manuals provide very clear explanations including many window images. There is a ‘Getting Started’ tutorial available which is very helpful. Readers for both document forms are included on the CD.
Designing and implementing a database application is not a one weekend project with any database support program. However most database products include a number of sample applications that can be used as is or modified. Most also include wizards and templates to assist in creating an application.
I am experienced in the use of Microsoft Access and in order to evaluate this product, I defined a new database to support an application that I had partly done in Access. My Access experience was a handicap in some ways because Alpha Five uses a very different style of development interface. I did find a way to implement all of the things I needed to do in Alpha Five.
Alpha Software has emphasized hiding the details from the programmer as much as possible. Most parameters are chosen from drop-down lists or chosen from a pop-up window. You very seldom need to know the syntax of some command string.
A script recorder is provided that allows you to execute and record a sequence of operations so they can be executed again whenever the same function in needed. For complex operations, code can be written in Xbasic. This is a version of Basic language tailored to the database environment.
The help system that may be installed on your system is somewhat incomplete. Some command or parameter names used in the product could not be found.
There is a forum on the Internet which can be searched for keywords related to a problem. The location is: http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/alphaphorum/ I found very useful questions and answers in the forum. You must register to use the forum, but there is no charge.
In the case of multiple users of shared data, Alpha Software states that both table level and record level locking are provided. This was not covered in the documentation or on the forum. I learned this from a technical support person. I did not create a complicated enough test to evaluate the locking functions.
Alpha Five uses .dbf type files that have fixed length fields. Each table of information consists of several files of different types ( .dbf, .ddd, .ddm, .cdx, .ddx ). A database project is stored in a folder and contains many files. When copying or moving an application it is necessary to be sure that all the necessary files are kept together.
In summary, the user interface is easy to use. It uses Windows navigation techniques including right-click to access command choices. The introductory tutorial is good. As with any database product, it takes some time to get familiar with all the necessary functions.