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Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

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    Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

    I have been designing my forms and other things against the native .dbf files. My original intent was to offer 2 versions my app, one with the native .dbf backend and the other with SQL Server Express as the database. I have replicated the the native .dbf files in SQL Server. All that is left is for me to make copy of the current database and change the data connection in the copy to SQL side. What I have not found is the way to do that.

    Can someone point me to the path?
    Regards,

    John W.
    www.CustomReportWriters.net

    #2
    Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

    All that is left is for me to make copy of the current database and change the data connection in the copy to SQL side.
    Not quite. You need to establish passive or active link tables to the sql tables to support your layouts. Not all controls will perform as expected with these link tables.
    There can be only one.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

      Thanks for the response, so let me start by saying ------- Uh - Oh!

      It looks like I have done some poor choices at the start. As they used to say, 'if it was easy anyone can do it'. It appears I may be a victim of my own bad planning and doesn't sound like the backend conversion is as easy as I had hoped. There is more work to do. Still I guess now was the time for me to find it out so I can set about the fixes.

      Thanks for the heads up on the control issues, I will be on the look out for them in my testing.
      Regards,

      John W.
      www.CustomReportWriters.net

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

        Might I suggest that you experiment with the Access mdb files in the C:\Program Files\a5V11\MDBFiles directory? Use the AlphaSports mdb and add some or all of the tables to the desktop Alphasports sample database. Then Copy To... the link tables from the native tables and examine the results.

        Ceartainly not an expert in this area but have done some poking around.
        There can be only one.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

          Stan - Thanks for the responses. Here the progress I have made which I am sure is old ground to you.

          I copied the database to the my new folder for the SQL version. I followed the guidelines in the help file for doing this. I imported (added) my SQL Express 2012 database as active link tables. I should note that when I first opened database copy it was still wired to the native the dbf files in the original database. I then dropped the native .dbf tables from the control panel and was left with my active link tables showing. I then repaired each of the sets to use the those tables.

          I opened my first form and everything at first glance seem to be working.

          What I cannot figure out yet is how to generally rename the database. I am a bit nervous to simply change the name in Windows Explorer for fear of breaking something. There is nothing in the help file about changing names.

          I wish there was an easier way to do this, there are a number of steps to the way I went about it. But it appears to give me what I wanted - a Native .dbf and a SQL Server Express version of the application.
          Regards,

          John W.
          www.CustomReportWriters.net

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

            Rename database.
            There can be only one.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

              I have renamed the database, It worked. I also found some instructions on doing this on the Wiki. It appears a couple of my forms have glitches. They show in the Control Panel but all the design such as controls etc are missing. Never easy I guess....
              Regards,

              John W.
              www.CustomReportWriters.net

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

                Beware I'm Still a newbie in alpha five,just my own opinion and little experience, Although alpha five offers many great features, there are certain areas wherein you have to deal with speed in your application, have tried what you are trying to achieve, passive or active link tables are not quite fast enough in some areas, especially when dealing with lookup with lots of records.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

                  Jetli

                  I am not sure about a performance hit using active link tables in a desktop application. I hope it will not be huge since I would like have the two variations of the app. Anyway thanks for the reminder.
                  Regards,

                  John W.
                  www.CustomReportWriters.net

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

                    John, I could be wrong, please let me know if you are getting a good result in active and passive link tables.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

                      From what other developers have told me, using "linked" tables in Alpha in a desktop app perform very poorly. They say you have to use xdialog to create the forms, and even then be quite experienced in doing so. I've heard you are better off starting from scratch and writing a web app if you want to use SQL. You can still run it on a LAN. Go to the web forum and ask around over there.
                      Cole Custom Programming - Terrell, Texas
                      972 524 8714
                      [email protected]

                      ____________________
                      "A young man who is not liberal has no heart, but an old man who is not conservative has no mind." GB Shaw

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

                        Martin - Thanks for the information between you and JetLi I am reallly discouraged. I do have the app in the native .dbf version but was really hoping to be able to connect to SQL Server. You would think with SQL Server, and ODBC and OLEDB connections to it, being around for so long A5 would be able to connect using those methods and maintain good performance. Increasingly I find myself looking back at Visual Studio and thinking maybe its a better tool for what I want to create. I can develop using the new LocalDb version of SQL Server and hold pretty reasonable performance. I can also migrate to other versions of SQL Server without hassle.

                        I cannot tell you how much this bums me out...
                        Regards,

                        John W.
                        www.CustomReportWriters.net

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

                          John, it may be a reason for being frustrated and disappointed, but not a good reason for abandoning Alpha.
                          Its just that you will need to go to school on using Alpha and SQL - i.e., the web version and/or the client server, which are pretty much the same as far as I know. Or becomming an xdialog jock. From what I've read, you can develop a web interface much quicker with Alpha than the other platforms you mentioned.
                          Cole Custom Programming - Terrell, Texas
                          972 524 8714
                          [email protected]

                          ____________________
                          "A young man who is not liberal has no heart, but an old man who is not conservative has no mind." GB Shaw

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

                            Martin - thanks for a bit of perspective. I will give XDialog more of a look. This could be my frustration creeping in again , but it does seem if I need to hand code and create my forms through XDialog, which I take is done primarily through code, then A5 has ceased being a RAD product. My target customers are desktop based and not so inclined to incur the added expense of the Web App Server. I also really have little interest in taking on the support of a number of app servers spread across the US.
                            Regards,

                            John W.
                            www.CustomReportWriters.net

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Move from native .dbf to SQL Server Express

                              John, when i decided to looak at alpha five as my database development tool, the one that encouraged me was its RAD, we can develop a simple fucntional database application even if we are still new to alpha compared to visual studio. Alpha is very good in its native database which is .dbf. The one that makes me hesitant is that its desktop side is in my own opinion displaying some unpredicatable behaviors more so that Im still new to it, lately, i am discovering errors which i don't know if it is my own error or some hidden bugs, I almost gave up using Alpha five because of this,many many many years alpha five existed but even the desktop part is not yet perfected, SOME users complain of SOME unpredicatable behaviors especially on the suppose to be very coll browse control but......, believe me, I almost gave up! The only thing that kept me using it is, the HELP that I am getting on this forum, If not for Stan Mathews and Tom Cone Jr. to name a few, I would have abandoned Alpha Five in a corner somewhere for dust to cover it, I have never found a support like this on the Internet,that you can have an answer the next 24 hours, I was thinking before to leave alpha five and continue visual studio 2010, sure we can download lots and lots of examples for C#, but sometimes your specific questions cannot be easily found. Visual Studio is very good indeed if you have lots of time learning it, Alpha five is okey if you don't have enough, Xdialog as they say is better in handling data entries BUT alpha is suppose to be a RAD tool, I hope xdialog will be easier to create, In my opinion, I would rather learn visual studio (C#) rather than learning Xdialog.

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