| Barry shows how he organized his hard disk to keep track of his Alpha applications. |
Have you ever asked yourself that kind of question? Well, I remember the day I received Alpha Five for Windows, if I remember correctly, it was version 2. I upgraded to Windows 95 and installed Alpha Five on the same day. I won't relate how long it took me to figure out how to move the tool bar on a form – we'd both be embarrassed. Anyway, once I received Alpha Five Version 3, I eventually did get going. My enthusiasm shot up to 110% though, after attending a New York Alpha User Group Meeting and Dr. Peter Wayne's very fine discussion and "how to" session on Alpha Five and XBasic.
I was really ready to go, starting to write Xbasic scripts (would you believe some very small ones). Well, what no one ever mentioned is "where do I save my Databases?" My first couple ended up in the "C:\Program Files\Alpha Five v 3.0" folder. It wasn't until later, when I wanted to backup up a Database that I sadly discovered the number one truism, "Never save a Database in the Main Alpha Five folder". It is very difficult later, to separate your Database files from the Alpha files.
Now I was smarter, I made folders for all my Databases in the Main Alpha Five folder. This did work out very well. Each Database had its own folder, I could back them up, copy them etc. Everything was working out well. Until I got my Alpha Five Version 4 CD, installed it and ran some existing Applications. Here came the "File Guy", handing me the file cabinet, asking "Where's your Database?" Well, for one Client, my Database is in "C:\program files\Alpha Five v 3.0\Management Programs\Program_set". That worked, but I didn't like it very much. I liked it even less the first time I copied a form and was asked, what Table/Set should the copy be attached to? The path is so long that it is difficult to see the Table names in the list that popped up. (They had set up their own folder and I try to keep the names the same on my PC.)
Fig 1 - Alpha asking which Table to attach the Form to
I made up a new Folder under "C:\". I named it "Alpha_Data" and it will hold all of my Databases. Windows Explorer displays how "C:\Alpha_data" looks after I created additional folders, one for each Database:
Fig 2 – Windows Explorer display of "C:\Alpha_data\"
Now, when Alpha releases a new Version, my Databases will still be in the same place. When I ZIP a Database to transmit to a Client, it's all in one Folder. A new Database is always saved in it's own new folder under "C:\Alpha_data\".
Am I telling every new Alpha User to do what I did? Certainly not, but if they can at least get some ideas and can profit from my experiences, then this Article has accomplished its purpose. There may be better methods of segregating your Databases, but this works well for me. Whatever works for you, is the best method to use.
| Dr. Wayne's note: You may be tempted to break a large application among different folders. Don't! If you keep all the tables and sets in your database in the same folder, then Alpha Five will not store path information in the set linkages and lookup definitions, and your application files can easily be moved to another computer or another folder. If you make the mistake of storing files from the same application in different folders, then Alpha Five stores the full path information in lookup and set definitions, and your application is no longer portable. |
Barry is an Alpha Developer located in Newtown, PA. Newtown is in historic lower Bucks County, where Washington crossed the Delaware. You can reach Barry at brochford@enter.net
last revised 4/3/99 - pkw
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