Alpha Anywhere for Windows

User Reviews

• Rapid app building tool

  The_MageAugust 6, 2016

  Pros

  Once you learn the system, you can build components and apps in amazingly short periods of time. It connects to most of the popular databases, and they keep adding more. You can even use Excel, and QuickBooks if you want, and they have begun adding in support for NoSQL. It can even access multiple databases, and it doesn't have to be the same type of database. It has genies that write code for you, speeding up development. Many people who do not code still use the genie to build up code for them. It's a fairly open system, so if Alpha doesn't have the capability to do something, you can write it yourself, or even copy code freely available, and use it in your app.

  Cons

  Most people get into Alpha Anywhere, under the impression they can avoid learning all the complex code involved, and while possible, if you really want to build something decent, you still need to have a basic understanding of html, JavaScript, and SQL. Learning the system is a task in and of itself. You can learn the basics fairly quickly, but once you start trying to build something, you quickly learn how complex it really is. Sometimes you end up spending more time looking up how to do something than actually doing it. Then they have their own proprietary Xbasic language. (And not the old XBasic language.) Another language to learn, although they are converting this to Node.js. The price has increased faster than inflation, and they now run on a subscription. Although if the subscription runs out, you just lose the ability to update.

  Summary

  This is amazingly powerful app building software, but don't mistake it for something simple. I made that mistake when I first started working with Alpha. And the more you understand JavaScrip, jQuery, SQL, JSON, and CSS, the more powerful it becomes. If you download the program, I recommend upgrading to the most recent version. (or just download from their site for the most recent version, and avoid having to immediately update.) Then go to alphasoftware.com, select resources, and video library. There you will see 5 videos selected on the right. (Training Courses.) Watch all of them, and follow along with the last one. (Should take a couple hours.) Then scroll down, expand the "Building the Sample Mobile App" section, and follow along with the 16 lessons, broken up into 66 short (less than 5 minutes) videos. This can easily be done in a day or two, and give you a good running start, and still have almost a month to keep trying out the program. If you have any plans of purchasing it, make sure you are getting their email. They are constantly running promotions and discounts.

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• Overpriced for what you get.

  tiberius62April 8, 2015

  Pros

  Decent enough for very simple databases.

  Cons

  Not easy to create more complex or involved databases. Far too expensive as compared to many other database software. Software support can disappear whenever Alpha decides not to provide support, this results in no access to your created databases, experienced this first-hand with older versions.

  Summary

  Not worth the price.

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• Great tool for migrating desktop apps to the web

  imjokenOctober 11, 2014

  Pros

  Powerful tool that incorporates database management with web design tools. Our app is heavy on reporting and it was very easy to duplicate our desktop reports into our web app. Making modifications and adding new app features is extremely easy and usually just requires tweaking AA's built in functions. If you are familiar with VBA then you'll pick up AA's Xbasic fairly quickly.

  Cons

  Learning curve can be a little steep to those with little web experience. However, there are a lot of training videos and a very good developer community (message board). The speed with which we can now make updates/enhancements more than makes up for this.

  Summary

  We did a lot of research before choosing a software package to convert our desktop app to a web based app and don't believe we could have accomplished it in the time frame we did with any other software. Alpha is constantly enhancing their software with new features and functionality and we couldn't imagine using anything else.

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• Best tool I've found for data centric applications

  OftenHappyUserOctober 2, 2014

  Pros

  I can use MS SQL server as the back end and develop applications that work on desktops or any mobile device that has a browser. Write it once, deploy it everywhere without custom code because it's all HTML5! I can't code HTML worth a s*** but guess what, with this I don't have to, it has built in tools to let me focus on my goals. Imagine, writing a web page that, when displayed on a cell phone, senses you've turn the screen to landscape and allows you to automatically pick a different layout showing a different set of fields to serve a purpose better suited to landscape entry e.g. wide rows of data. If all that wasn't enough, this version has offline mode. That means after you sync your data, ( you do have internet somewhere, right?) , the webpages you write work without ANY connectivity at all. When you get some 3G/Wifi finally, hit sync and shove that tasty data back to the server.

  Cons

  If you try to do something complicated like create a dropdown that show data from more than one table or is based on a calculation e.g.dynamically show a pull down with only that last 3 hours of the day., you'll need to do some programming. But they have lots of videos to give you hints and you can always get some help from the forum or possibly hire someone to move you along through the learning curve. There will be a learning curve if you've never used their program.

  Summary

  I believe you can try this for free and decide for yourself and in the end you are your best judge of the value of a program. I'm lucky I found this program and hope you have similar success.

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• Build Amazing Products Incredibly Fast

  ssmoore1October 2, 2014

  Pros

  Having worked with many different software programs and languages, it is staggering how quickly Alpha Anywhere allows you to build a product or develop an internal tool. We have used Alpha Anywhere to build two Software as a Service (SaaS) websites, and with relatively little code we have been able to build an interactive web experience that delights our customers. For example, we just added a new feature that plots various points on a map dynamically using data in our SQL database in a matter of hours. Try doing that with Java or Ruby. While quick development is important for us, what I really like is that when necessary Alpha lets you get under the hood and write your own customized code when needed. So it doesn't just limit you to drag and drop. Finally, the ability to build seamless HTML 5 mobile web apps is also very appealing feature, and the new offline abilities are something we will be exploring soon. Overall a great product and worth a look.

  Cons

  There are not really a lot of negatives I can think of.

  Summary

  As someone who has worked with Alpha Anywhere for a number of years, I can say they are are constantly investing in their technology. They are always delivering new exciting features and I look forward to seeing what they can come up with in the future.

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• It is spectacular. No faster way to build AJAX DB Apps

  guru_IT88April 11, 2010

  Pros

  The productivity that Alpha Five v10 delivers compared to PHP, Perl, Ruby and Dot Net is staggering. I was skeptical at first but the grids, reports, Web Services, security & JavaScript support make for a mega fast way to build web 2.0 database apps.

  Cons

  The documentation is very complete but I wish that there was full printed reference guide vs it being online. On the other hand - the video tutorials are excellent.

  Summary

  As a developer and an IT manager, I am very excited about this tool because of its ease of use, power and flexibility in terms of letting me and my team RAPIDLY build competitive modern database solutions on the web that perform with the speed and richness that users expect.

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• Great promises that fall short

  imissfunemploymentMarch 31, 2010

  Pros

  Could be an amazing product if bugs continue to be fixed, option menus are better organized and reference materials are further developed.

  Cons

  *Unorganized and excessively nested option menus. *Many bugs -- often hard to determine if an issue is caused by a programmer or Alpha bug. *Gives the developer very little control over changes at the code level.

  Summary

  As an experienced web developer "encouraged" by my employer to learn and embrace Alpha Five as our primary web development environment, I can say with certainty that it is by far the biggest headache I have ever encountered in my career. At first, I was very excited. Alpha's promise of "rapid development" is built on some strong premises, but the reality falls far short of the vision. Alpha Five's abundant bugs necessitate a lot of "work-arounds" and the application's total lack of any kind of cohesive, centralized and conveniently searchable reference material(s) makes it a quagmire for the experienced developer who knows what s/he needs to do but needs a context for doing so. The developer further becomes inhibited and tied down by endless mazes of checkbox and pull-down menu settings, which can and often do turn normally routine tasks into potentially hours-long hunts for needles in haystacks. While there are forums available and fellow Alpha developers are eager to help, a developer does not always have the luxury of waiting hours or days for an answer. Lastly, for someone trying to decipher an existing application built by someone else, there are often numerous possibilities for where a certain feature could have been accomplished, further adding to the frustration. I admire what Alpha is trying to do for web development, but unfortunately, it fails to deliver on its promise, making my job that much more difficult and frustrating.

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• Never thought I can do all this

  mmaisterrenaFebruary 19, 2010

  Pros

  This application is great for non-programmers and for professional programmers too (you can expand the your applications by adding your own code if needed)

  Cons

  The documentation needs some work

  Summary

  I Never thought I had the skill to build a full Web-application and now I have done it thanks to Alpha Five and im not talking about a normal website in which you just have some images and stuff im talking about applications where users can submit data, search a database, generate reports an do a bunch of nit things

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• The Revolution is here.

  peteconwayDecember 21, 2009

  Pros

  Awesome power, ease of use and brilliant Genie?s to build apps.

  Cons

  The chance that not enough people will believe how good it is, and won?t bother to try it.

  Summary

  If this product announcement was being made by Microsoft the whole world would be clambering over each other to get started building Web-apps. The is no product by any other organization that can deliver what V10 does from Alpha Software.

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• Access Developers - Salvation has arrived

  martmacDecember 21, 2009

  Pros

  If you need a killer rapid database development tool to get your data to the web, the search is over. Whether you are starting from scratch or have an existing back end data file, you are in business in hours.

  Cons

  I've tried hard to find some, but alas I am struggling!

  Summary

  Having developed MS Access solutions for longer than I care to remember, I had a "road to Damascus" moment when I downloaded Alpha 5 V10. For so long I had been looking for a route from Access to the Web and Microsoft had failed to deliver other than via SharePoint, which up to the latest 2010 MS Access release was a mere afterthought. With Alpha 5 V10, it was just one of those times when you try something and everything changes. Within a couple of hours I had hooked up an Access back-end data file and was manipulating data like never before and what was even more astounding was the fact I was doing it in a browser! I jest not when I say this is a real game changer that should have Microsoft hanging their heads in shame. It reminds me very much of the music underground scene. You know when you have come across a band that are brilliant, but are as yet undiscovered? I know Alpha 5 has been around for many years, but this is a crossover chart album moment. There must be thousands of MS Access Developers out there who need to look at this product. Access 2010 is forcing their development community to buy into SharePoint if they want to move applications to the Web. It's a high cost route designed to further the Microsoft bottom line. If you buy into Alpha 5 you can keep control of the cost of ownership and remove the need to employ a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

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