Getting Started with Alpha Anywhere Tutorials

Description

Experience how simple it is to go from Install to Deploy with Alpha Anywhere. These tutorials are geared towards new users.

Important Notice for All Alpha Anywhere Users

Tutorials in this section are currently in review and will be removed or moved to the Alpha Software Learning Center in the beginning of 2022. All tutorials in this section were built using the full version of the Alpha Anywhere Development Environment. Community Edition users may encounter screen shots that don't match their environment due to differences between the two development environments.

We strongly recommend starting with the tutorials in the Alpha Software Learning Center to start learning Alpha Anywhere.

Installing and Registering Alpha Anywhere

Installing Alpha Anywhere

Don't have Alpha Anywhere installed? No problem. The Installation Guide describes how to install Alpha Anywhere.

Registering Alpha Anywhere

Once you have Alpha Anywhere installed, the next step is to register the product and learn about the IDE. Alpha Anywhere Developer Environment: First Launch describes what to expect when you first launch Alpha Anywhere as well as walks you through registering the product and creating an Alpha Anywhere workspace.

Building Your First Application

After you have installed and registered Alpha Anywhere, you are ready to begin building your first application. Choose one of the tutorials below to start building your first Web or Mobile Application.

Our Getting Started Tutorials are broken into two tracks: Mobile and Web. If you need to build applications that will be used in the field and need to work with or without an internet connection, start with our Build Your First Mobile App tutorial. If your users will always have a network connection and typically work on a laptop or desktop computer, start with our Build Your First Web App tutorial.

Build Your First Mobile Application

In Build Your First Mobile App, you will create a mobile app that interacts with the Northwind database, an Access database that ships with Alpha Anywhere. You will learn how to build connection strings to interact with SQL databases and the basic building blocks of mobile applications in Alpha Anywhere. When you complete this tutorial, you will have a mobile application that is ready to deploy.

images/mobileFinal1.png

Build Your First Web Application

In Build Your First Web App, you will build your first web application using Alpha Anywhere's Flying Start Genie. In this tutorial, you'll build a web application with a Tabbed UI interface that can be used to manage data in the Northwind database, an Access database that ships with Alpha Anywhere. You will learn how the Flying Start Genie can be used to quickly get started building web applications.

images/webAppFinal2.png

Testing & Publishing Applications

Testing Applications

  • Working and Live Preview - Components can be tested and viewed using the Working Preview and Live Preview. Learn the difference between these two tools and how they can help you design and build Alpha Anywhere applications.

  • Remote Testing - Remote Test allows you to run your application on another device, such as a smartphone or tablet, that is connected to the same network as your computer. This step-by-step guide walks you through creating a Remote Test.

  • Publishing to the Local Webroot - A publishing profile defines where your web application is published. This guide teaches you how to create a publishing profile to publish your project to the local webroot. When you complete this tutorial, you will know how to publish and test your web projects on your development machine.

Deployment

Web applications and support files for mobile applications are deployed in Alpha Anywhere using a process called "Publishing". When an application is "published", all of the files required to run and view the application online are compiled and uploaded to the Alpha Anywhere Application Server.

There are multiple deployment options available for publishing a web application. The publishing method you should use depends on which Alpha Anywhere Application Server you are running (IIS or Classic.)

  • Publishing to the Application Server for IIS

    Publishing to a Remote Server running the Alpha Anywhere Application Server for IIS - The Alpha Anywhere Application Server for IIS offers many benefits over the Classic Application Server. If you are using the Application Server for IIS, you must use an IIS Publish profile to deploy your application, which utilizes the Web Deploy service in IIS to publish your application. The IIS Getting Started Guide walks you through setting up and configuring IIS for deploying applications.

  • Publishing to the Classic Application Server

    Publishing to a Remote Server over HTTP/HTTPS - HTTP Publishing utilizes the Alpha Anywhere Application Server to upload the files for your application. Since publishing is done over the HTTP (or HTTPS) protocol, no additional ports or third-part applications are required. Simply configure your Alpha Anywhere Application Server to allow HTTP publish and upload you application. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to configure and publish an application to the Application Server using HTTP Publish.

  • Publishing to a Remote Server over FTP/SFTP - Applications running on the Alpha Anywhere Application Server can also be published using FTP. Use the built-in Alpha Anywhere FTP client or your own external client to publish your application to the remote server. Learn how create and use an FTP Publish profile for deploying an application.

  • Publishing to a Remote Server over the Local Area Network - If the server can be accessed through Windows File Sharing, a LAN Publish profile can be used to copy the files over the Local Area Network. This option is useful for web applications deployed to internal networks. Discover how easy it is to publish an application over the Local Area Network (LAN).

More Tutorials

Building Master-Detail Applications

Alpha Anywhere's built-in data integration makes creating Master Detail applications built on relational data very easy. Depending on the type of application you plan to build - mobile or web - several approaches are available to you for creating a Master Detail application. Master Detail applications can be built using Grid Components, UX Components, or a combination of both.

Check out our tutorials for Building Master Detail Applications with Alpha Anywhere to learn more.

Additional Tutorials

Some of these tutorials require you to have some initial experience with Alpha Anywhere. They explain how to perform more complex tasks using Alpha Anywhere.

  • Photo App Tutorial - In this 90 minute video, Dan Bricklin walks you through the process of building a web and mobile application that can capture and store images in a SQL database. You will need to Create a New Workspace before you begin this tutorial.

  • Sample and Tutorial Workspaces - A number of sample and tutorial workspaces ship with Alpha Anywhere. This guide describes how to install these workspaces.

    Sample and Tutorial Workspaces may not be as up-to-date as other tutorials available in our Getting Started Tutorials.

Additional Resources

Creating a Workspace

Every Alpha Anywhere application begins with a new workspace. Learn how to create a new workspace for creating a web or mobile application in the tutorial Creating a New Workspace.

Building Named AlphaDAO Connection Strings

Nearly every business application needs to interact with a database. Alpha Anywhere applications can communicate with a variety of databases using AlphaDAO connection strings. AlphaDAO stands for "Alpha Anywhere Data Access Object". Using AlphaDAO connection strings, you can perform Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) on SQL databases. The Creating an AlphaADO Connection String tutorial teaches you how to create an Access, MySQL, or SQL Server connection string.

The Development Server

The Development Server is required to view an application published to the local webroot. It is also required if you wish to perform a Live Preview or Remote Test. The Development Server guide walks you through setting up the Alpha Anywhere Development Server to run in your development environment.