New Alpha Five e-book helps developers move Microsoft Access applications online

Last week, Richard told you about Alpha's new downloadable 40-page e-book, which simplifies the usually difficult and tedious process of moving your Microsoft Access desktop applications to the Web.

The press release officially announcing the availability of the guide went out today, and I figured it would be a perfect time to remind you to check it out today!

New Alpha Five E-Book Helps Developers Move Microsoft Access Applications Online

Penned by a top technical writer, free guide shows users how to transform their desktop Access databases into full-blown, AJAX-powered Web apps with Alpha Five Version 9

BURLINGTON, Mass. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Alpha Software has released a new, 40-page downloadable e-book, dubbed, “Moving an MS Access Database Application to the Web with Alpha Five Version 9.” The free title provides step-by-step instructions that will help any developer who wants to move Microsoft Access desktop database and applications to the Web. The e-book, which simplifies what’s usually a tedious process, is written by Martin Heller, an experienced Web and desktop application developer and database designer, and the author of thousands of technical articles and several programming books.

“Alpha Software asked me to provide an instructional, easy-to-follow guide that would help users transfer their Microsoft Access applications to the Web, using Alpha Five,” Heller says. “I’m not endorsing Alpha Software or Microsoft here. But I am giving developers an easy way to add power and usability to their applications, without having to devote weeks of their time. No one can deny the importance of the Web, especially when you’re trying to reach a large audience of users. It’s important that developers be able to accomplish that with speed and scalability, and with this guide, I’m showing them how.”

The e-book shows users how to migrate existing Access schema and data, and then connect them to Web forms built with Alpha Five. The process uses seven high-level Alpha Web components, AJAX widgets, and HTML, based on existing Access forms. Readers will learn to use Alpha Five’s HTML Designer to rapidly add saved components to a Web page. They’ll use Alpha’s Builders to configure page components, recreating forms in Alpha in less time than it took to create desktop Access forms. They see how they can interweave HTML and Xbasic code on the server to process queries and forms on Web pages, operate on a database, and display formatted data. And they’ll learn how to tap Alpha Five’s built-in SQL capabilities to improve database scalability.

“Martin has given us an outstanding addition to our customer education library,” says Richard Rabins, Co-Chairman of Alpha Software. “We take pride in delivering intuitive tools to build great-looking and well-performing applications. And that means we need to provide developers with a steady diet of training materials, so they can take full advantage of the power a rich Web database application like Alpha Five provides. The need to move legacy MS Access apps to the Web is increasingly important for companies looking to increase their competitiveness with modern, cost-effective Web and intranet systems. With this new e-book, we’re making the move from Access on the desktop to Alpha on the Web fast, easy, and best of all, free.”

For more information on Alpha’s new technical guide, as well as information on instructional videos, white papers, and educational books, visit www.AlphaSoftware.com, the company blog at http://blog.alphasoftware.com/, or contact Marketing@AlphaSoftware.com.

ABOUT ALPHA SOFTWARE

Since 1982, Alpha Software has been providing developers with award-winning tools that make it easy to rapidly build robust database and business applications. Today over 1 million developers rely on Alpha Software’s flagship platform, Alpha Five, to build desktop, client-server, distributed, Web 2.0, and AJAX applications for organizations of any size—from SOHO to the Fortune 100. Every day, tens of millions of people and businesses rely on applications built in Alpha Five. With the introduction of Alpha Five Version 9 Platinum Edition in 2008, Alpha Software set new standards for speed of development, portability, reporting, and security for database applications of all stripes. The company is privately held, and based in Burlington, Mass. Alpha Software can be found on the Web at http://www.alphasoftware.com.

Review copies available for press and bloggers.

PRESS RESOURCES

Alpha Five Platinum microsite

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Alpha Software home page

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