wcs) (02/11/91)
Has anyone used Paradox or Clarion? How easy are they to program? My wife is planning to re-do the inventory system for a local mail-order company, and they're trying to evaluate these two products. The system currently has non-technical users, a network of 3-4 PCs with a hand-built screen handler and B-trieve, and a lot of APL code expressing all sorts of random rules about products and manufacturers. A relational system with good programming capabilities seems like a good upgrade path. The Paradox manual has a lot of stuff about how you can do this and that without having to use the programming interface - does that imply that programming it is difficult, or just that queries are easy? Thanks; Bill -- Pray for peace; Bill # Bill Stewart 908-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs AT&T Bell Labs 4M-312 Holmdel NJ # "I can see all Southeast Asia, I can see El Salvador, ..."
cook@jomby.cs.wisc.edu (James Cook) (02/12/91)
In article <1991Feb11.025108.21004@cbnewsh.att.com> wcs@cbnewsh.att.com (Bill Stewart 908-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs) writes: >Has anyone used Paradox or Clarion? How easy are they to program? >My wife is planning to re-do the inventory system for a local >mail-order company, and they're trying to evaluate these two products. > >The system currently has non-technical users, a network of 3-4 PCs >with a hand-built screen handler and B-trieve, and a lot of APL code >expressing all sorts of random rules about products and manufacturers. >A relational system with good programming capabilities seems >like a good upgrade path. > >The Paradox manual has a lot of stuff about how you can do this and that >without having to use the programming interface - does that imply that >programming it is difficult, or just that queries are easy? > > Thanks; Bill >-- > Pray for peace; > Bill ># Bill Stewart 908-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs AT&T Bell Labs 4M-312 Holmdel NJ ># "I can see all Southeast Asia, I can see El Salvador, ..." Since this is described as an inventory system, I would suggest you go with Clarion. With its application generator, an experienced clarion user could get the framework for the inventory application up in a day or two. I would also suggest that you attend your local Clarion User Group Meeting to see clarion in action as well as talk in detail with the users about your proposed project to get a better feel. You can call Clarion and find out where and whom to contact to attend the local clarion user group chapter. One previous knock on clarion was its lack of an ad-hoc query facility. There are two products out which help, one is a SQL interface and another is a program called QFILTER. GO WITH CLARION!!!
byock@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Bill Yock) (02/12/91)
From article <1991Feb11.025108.21004@cbnewsh.att.com>, by wcs@cbnewsh.att.com (Bill Stewart 908-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs): > Has anyone used Paradox or Clarion? How easy are they to program? > My wife is planning to re-do the inventory system for a local > mail-order company, and they're trying to evaluate these two products. > > The system currently has non-technical users, a network of 3-4 PCs > with a hand-built screen handler and B-trieve, and a lot of APL code > expressing all sorts of random rules about products and manufacturers. > A relational system with good programming capabilities seems > like a good upgrade path. > > The Paradox manual has a lot of stuff about how you can do this and that > without having to use the programming interface - does that imply that > programming it is difficult, or just that queries are easy? > The fact that the manuals stress that you can use Paradox interactively for most of your work instead of programmatically does not imply that programming is difficult. It has a very nice programming interface and debugging facilities. You can quickly create your tables, forms, and reports and pull them all together in a menu. There is also a library of procedures called the Data Entry Toolkit to enhance data entry forms. A word of caution, make sure you learn Paradox interactively before you start programming with it. So much of what you do programmatically relies on the underlying ineractive Paradox. For example, the QBE (Query By Example) facility alllows the user to construct queries, without a complex command language like SQL, but also allows you to save the query into a program. Borland offers free tech support for Paradox and their database forum on CompuServe is one of the most active. Stay clear of the Personal Programmer code generator it does not produce multi-user code. -- Bill Yock, Weeg Computing Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 byock@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu
kji@vpnet.chi.il.us (Ken Isacson) (02/12/91)
In article <1991Feb11.163707.10213@spool.cs.wisc.edu> cook@jomby.cs.wisc.edu (James Cook) writes: >In article <1991Feb11.025108.21004@cbnewsh.att.com> wcs@cbnewsh.att.com (Bill Stewart 908-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs) writes: >>Has anyone used Paradox or Clarion? How easy are they to program? >>My wife is planning to re-do the inventory system for a local >>mail-order company, and they're trying to evaluate these two products. >> >>The system currently has non-technical users, a network of 3-4 PCs >>with a hand-built screen handler and B-trieve, and a lot of APL code >>expressing all sorts of random rules about products and manufacturers. >>A relational system with good programming capabilities seems >>like a good upgrade path. >> >>The Paradox manual has a lot of stuff about how you can do this and that >>without having to use the programming interface - does that imply that >>programming it is difficult, or just that queries are easy? >> >> Thanks; Bill >>-- >> Pray for peace; >> Bill >># Bill Stewart 908-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs AT&T Bell Labs 4M-312 Holmdel NJ >># "I can see all Southeast Asia, I can see El Salvador, ..." > >Since this is described as an inventory system, I would suggest you go with >Clarion. With its application generator, an experienced clarion user could >get the framework for the inventory application up in a day or two. I would >also suggest that you attend your local Clarion User Group Meeting to see >clarion in action as well as talk in detail with the users about your proposed >project to get a better feel. You can call Clarion and find out where and whom >to contact to attend the local clarion user group chapter. One previous >knock on clarion was its lack of an ad-hoc query facility. There are two >products out which help, one is a SQL interface and another is a program >called QFILTER. > >GO WITH CLARION!!! GO WITH PARADOX, for all the above reasons as well, but PARADOX has an excellent query facility! -- __________________________________________________________ Ken Isacson Sysop - Board Of Trade BBS GT 016/001 kji@vpnet.chi.il.us (815) 753 - 0042 ----------------------------------------------------------
broy@vaxa.weeg.uiowa.edu (Barbara Roy) (02/12/91)
In article <3329@polari.UUCP>, random@polari.UUCP (tamara thomas) writes... >My personal experience with Paradox has been sufficient to encourage you to >use any other database. Our company has a multiuser database. We regularly have to reconstruct the main tables after the program scrambles the data. It will >scramble data even when one person is updating and one person is querying. Our >tests indicate that it is not network dependant (we use both Novell and LANMAN, >both have the mix-up data problem with the database). Paradox may be adequate >for many applications, but if you want to have the ability to have two people >in the database at once, choose a different product. > >Tamara Thomajjs You neglect to state which version of Paradox you are maligning. We use versions 3.0 and 3.5 in a Novell environment with NO data scrambling problems. Paradox handles table and record level locking automatically, making it easy to develop multi-user applications. We have MANY multi-user applications running without problems. What did Borland say about your problem - I assume you contacted technical support about it? My main complaint about Paradox is that it's a disk hog. It creates lots of temporary tables. Also the position of the column in the table is important in many Paradox operations, making it necessary to sort tables to temporary tables to view them in the desired order. Paradox does come with a robust programming language that is powerful enough for the most complex application. Add-on third party packages give you additional capabilities, such as text fields, enhanced script editing, and more flexible forms design. Interactive Paradox is VERY user-friendly. Data-entry forms, reports, and queries can be designed interactively and then incorporated into your PAL code to create a complete menu-driven application. As a long-time dBase programmer, it has taken me a while to adjust from the command-line approach to the Paradox interface, but I guess I'm now a convert! Barbara Roy, Weeg Computing Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. 52242 Phone: 319-335-5506 Internet: broy@vaxa.weeg.uiowa.edu Bitnet: broyva@uiamvs Disclaimer: My opinions are solely my own and may change daily.
kji@vpnet.chi.il.us (Ken Isacson) (02/13/91)
In article <3329@polari.UUCP> random@polari.UUCP (tamara thomas) writes: >My personal experience with Paradox has been sufficient to encourage you to >use any other database. Our company has a multiuser database. We regularly have to reconstruct the main tables after the program scrambles the data. It will >scramble data even when one person is updating and one person is querying. Our >tests indicate that it is not network dependant (we use both Novell and LANMAN, >both have the mix-up data problem with the database). Paradox may be adequate >for many applications, but if you want to have the ability to have two people >in the database at once, choose a different product. > >Tamara Thomajjs What version of Paradox were you using? -- __________________________________________________________ Ken Isacson Sysop - Board Of Trade BBS GT 016/001 kji@vpnet.chi.il.us (815) 753 - 0042 ----------------------------------------------------------