Feature | Alpha Five® Version 8 | Microsoft Access 2003 |
Intranet web publishing | Yes - Web Component Builder lets anyone build web database applications without having to program. Application Server provides access to any number of databases any number of users. | Very limited in MS Access - Microsoft recommends using SQL Server and ASP programming. |
Extranet web database publishing | Yes - Web Components may be embedded in custom designed and professional looking web pages | Very limited in MS Access - Microsoft recommends using SQL Server and ASP programming. |
Genies or wizards designed to provide for ease of use | Yes. Alpha Five has over 200 genies supporting virtually every aspect of application development, allowing you to build robust custom applications without having to write code. | Very Limited. The equivalent Macros in Access are much more limited and require additional Visual Basic code for most custom projects. In addition you cannot edit macros after you have built them in Access - you have to start again. |
Editable genies or wizards | Yes. Alpha Five provides the ability to go back and edit choices in a Genie or Wizard without having to start over. Simple genies in Alpha Five let you add hundreds of complex functions and events that all have to be hand coded in Access. | No |
Point and click field rules to ensure that data can be entered quickly and accurately | Yes. No programming required. | No. Extensive Programming Required. |
Usable by non-programmers | Yes. Alpha Five provides the tools that let non-programmers create complete, custom applications. | No |
Data validation without programming | Yes. Alpha Five provides extensive data validation without programming. For example, you can require that credit card numbers be entered twice for accuracy, but only for amounts above a preset amount, or validate that a credit card is not on a list of known fraudulent cards. | No |
Posting data without programming | Yes. Alpha Five has built-in posting tools that do not require programming. For example, you could deplete inventory when orders are placed. | No. Extensive Programming Required. |
Transform data without programming | Yes. Alpha Five has many built-in data transformation tools. For example it can automatically capitalize the first letter of a first and last name even though data is all entered in lower case for speed. It can even handle exceptions, such as names like O'Brien. | No |
Lookups without programming | Yes. Alpha Five provides a rich array of lookups without programming, including cascading lookups and conditional lookups. For example you can automatically charge different prices to Corporate, Government and Educational customers by looking up different pricing tables. | No |
Build dialogs with multiple integrated controls with programming | Yes. Action Scripting Genies will take you step-by-step through the process of creating dialog boxes with all types of controls without programming. | No |
Data storage model | Data, Indexes, and Layout definitions are stored in separate files. The result is less file bloat, faster performance, and less chance of corruption. | Data, Indexes, Layout definitions stored in one File. Files can 'balloon' in size resulting in slow operation of the database and greater chance of data corruption. |
Easier to build network applications | Network Optimization happens automatically. | Programmer needs to manually build networking into the application. |
Portfolio of built in operations for appending, subtracting, deleting, summarizing, cross tabbing, deleting duplicate records etc. | Very extensive and comprehensive. | Less Extensive. |
Built in Email | Yes. For example, immediately upon entering an invoice or membership registration in a database, a background process can send out a confirmation in HTML format or as an attached .PDF file. | No. Integration with an e-mail program requires extensive programming. |
Mail Merge with Microsoft® Office Word using OLE automation | Yes | Yes |
One click export to Microsoft® Office Excel | Yes | No |
Email merge | Yes. Alpha Five can send out bulk email to people in your database, with each email containing data from each unique record, and where the text can vary based on fields in each record. | No |
Time taken to build typical applications | Up to 5 times Less than MS Access. | Takes significantly more time to build applications than with Alpha Five. |
Microsoft Access is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
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