Simpol 4e Desktop

I was going to list some things that cause crashes, but there is a 
fairly high level of frustration.

So I think maybe it would be better to request a step by step tutorial
of how to use the thing to create and modify user-created forms, 
datasources and tables via this GUI interface.  May this is already 
somewhere but I don't know where to look.

The number of crashes that I get is so large that I am pretty sure I 
just don't understand how to use the doggone thing.

I am trying to this Desktop as I would the Form Designer.  I use the 
form designer to create forms for use as a form, to look at the code for 
tweaking pro grammatically in the IDE.

Maybe also I'd use this Desktop for some quick looks and data, just to 
make sure everything is OK.

The fact that it (the Desktop) is not integrated with the IDE to me is a 
design flaw. I know that there is a feeling that has been suggested that 
the Desktop is a program which has some kind of added value in and of 
itself.  I don't buy it. A Database/RAD tool which doesn't have a GUI 
way to look at data, create and modify datasources/tables and which 
doesn't have a stable working form and menu designers, just isn't prime 
time.  Maybe I have been spoiled by Superbase (V2).

So maybe a simple step by step walk through would lower my frustration 
level.  I can't be the only one.

Kromkowski wrote:
> I was going to list some things that cause crashes, but there is a
> fairly high level of frustration.

Sorry about that, but if you can list things that crash, they can be fixed.

> So I think maybe it would be better to request a step by step tutorial
> of how to use the thing to create and modify user-created forms,
> datasources and tables via this GUI interface.  May this is already
> somewhere but I don't know where to look.

No, there is no step-by-step tutorial yet, since the product is not
fully complete. It would be a case of always playing catch up. It
shouldn't be that different to what you are used to with Superbase.

> The number of crashes that I get is so large that I am pretty sure I
> just don't understand how to use the doggone thing.

Just describe them for us. That will help us also understand how you are
using the product. Everybody tends to use it differently.

> I am trying to this Desktop as I would the Form Designer.  I use the
> form designer to create forms for use as a form, to look at the code for
> tweaking pro grammatically in the IDE.

OK.

> Maybe also I'd use this Desktop for some quick looks and data, just to
> make sure everything is OK.

Sure, I use it for that regularly.

> The fact that it (the Desktop) is not integrated with the IDE to me is a
> design flaw. I know that there is a feeling that has been suggested that
> the Desktop is a program which has some kind of added value in and of
> itself.  I don't buy it.

I appreciate that, but it won't be integerated with the IDE until
version 2. At that point we will have rewritten the IDE in SIMPOL
itself, so integrating it will be easy.

As for it having value in and of itself, it does. We have huge numbers
of customers out there who never use the programming language at all, so
for them, the SIMPOL Desktop product is all they may ever need.

> A Database/RAD tool which doesn't have a GUI
> way to look at data, create and modify datasources/tables and which
> doesn't have a stable working form and menu designers, just isn't prime
> time.  Maybe I have been spoiled by Superbase (V2).

You never used the older versions I would guess. It was only as of v2
that there were menu, icon bar, and dialog editors. It was also as of v2
that the detail blocks were as fully featured as they became. Consider
also that v2 was actually v5 (there were three full versions on the
Amiga before v3 was ever ported to the Atari ST and to GEM on the PC,
and then v4 was the first version for Windows).

> So maybe a simple step by step walk through would lower my frustration
> level.  I can't be the only one.

I tend to just build database tables interactively now with the table
designer. I build forms in the form designer, and always save them off
as Form, not just as wxForm Program or dataform1 Program. That way I can
always go back to them if I wish to revise them later.

Tell me what is going wrong. I am currently making some minor changes so
I may rush out a fix version within the next 2 weeks, maybe sooner.

1.  I open a table which has no data in it.  "Add" is not selectable 
option under "Data".

2. I type in data in first field.  I tab to get to next field.  Shut down.

3. I type in data in first field.  I mouse click to next filed.  Shut down.

1.  New > Table

2. I get to the grid.  I click "ADD" field, so that I can get a
cursor.
I add a field.  I click save.  Shut down.

I think I've tracked this down to adding an INDEX.  Because I don't get 
a shut down if I don't add an indexed field.  And since I usually always 

I don't understand how the date formatting works within Desktop.

Quite frankly, the whole notion that dates don't have a display format 
is confusing to me.  I understand why the data would be storage as a 
number, but nobody thinks about dates in terms of Julian numbers (except 
when subtracting and adding)

It appears that in "desktop" the default display is

"d/MMM/YYYY"

which is a pretty odd combination.  If you want to be European, I don't 
care, but why slashes

"d MMM YYYY"  seems more logical if you have to pigeon-hole us.

And, I go to MODIFY TABLE.  There is a column that says display format. 
  But obviously, it doesn't do anything, does it. It doesn't correspond to
"d/MMM/YYYY" and changing it doesn't actually change the display.