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About Alpha Five

Alpha Five is a unique software development platform. It is designed to be 'easy to use' for the non-programmer. But it is also extremely powerful in the hands of a professional.

Alpha Five is designed to empower non-programmers to build practical database applications and solutions themselves. Its ease of use is derived through genies (wizards) that walk users through each step they are performing along with visual builders such as Action Scripting, Web Components and the Security Framework – none of which require any programming or coding skills.

Alpha Five is a "complete development environment" – It builds Windows desktop applications, Web/Browser applications as well as "Hybrid" applications (Windows desktop-Web/Browser combination) with full security and reporting. Alpha Five was designed for companies of all sizes as well programmers and non programmers.

Non-professional developers can create simple to complex software applications whereas it is unlikely they could achieve similar results with other programming languages such as PHP, ASP and .Net.

Professional developers can build applications faster than with existing technologies (.NET, ASP, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Perl, etc.), and with fewer resources required. This time savings provides a major competitive edge to VARs and ISVs, who can be more competitive when bidding, and can be more profitable with projects. For corporate developers, it means developers can produce more in less time, for less cost. Additionally, the benefits associated with building applications apply to maintaining and enhancing applications once built.

Where IADN comes in - Career "Alpha Five" developers can provide added value. Those who have dedicated their professional career to Alpha Five development know the product inside out and can draw on their vast library of previous work. IADN professional members have an added advantage in that IADN works as a support group to their member-developers, further enhancing their proficiency.

Everything a developer needs to build database-driven applications is included in the tool set:

  • Visual RAD IDE
  • XBASIC language including XDialog for building Dialogs
  • Rich Form and Browse tools
  • Powerful options for Querying data
  • Action Script for scripting
  • CSS editor
  • Dialog builder
  • Database field rules for data entry speed and precision
  • Database interfaces (including portable SQL, a major innovation)
  • SQL "genie" to automatically build queries
  • Reusable components
  • E-mail support (inbound and outbound)
  • Extensive Data Manipulation tools
  • Security framework
  • Enterprise report builder
  • Debugging and testing tools
  • Built in Application server for testing web apps before deploying

Alpha Five compared to other technologies:

  • For non-programmers, FileMaker Pro, Microsoft Access, Excel (these tools either have no or very limited capabilities to build web or hybrid applications)
  • For programmers, ISVs, VARs, and corporate developers, anyone using a professional programming language to build desktop or web applications, including Visual Studio 2005, Java, PHP, Perl, Ruby, JavaScript, C++, etc.
  • Alpha Five supports a built in database engine or any SQL backend. Includes direct drivers for MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL and DB2
  • Note that, thanks to Alpha Five's portable SQL, any web application written in Alpha Five against one specific SQL backend can easily be “transported” to another SQL backend.
  • Most important, there is NO database development product on the market today that can be used by non-programmer and professional coder alike, and create apps for all of the industry's major categories: desktop, client/server, hybrid, Web, Web 2.0, SaaS, etc.

Here are a few examples of what you can do with Alpha Five:

  • automatically process incoming emails to enter data or reply to emails
  • automatically generate data files and FTP to a remote site or send as an email attachment
  • use Activex to create complex MS Word merge documents and MS Excel spreadsheets
  • create MS Outlook Contacts and Calendar events
  • send emails with reports attached
  • monitor folders and automatically process files
  • open a browser in Google Maps showing an address from the database
  • create and execute VB scripts