I didn't want to provoke a flame war, but since the article he cited (which I read with interest) mentioned that we'd worked on Smartsuite, make a suggestion that he could use his background to improve Open Office and make it more usable.
Perhaps I'll explain what I have in mind. In Approach, I can, just as in Base, be in Browse mode or Design mode. I can display records in Forms or Worksheets, dealing with them in either mode, in the former I look at records individually, in the latter in bulk. In either view I can add or delete a record, and I can print as required, and I can design any of them to display whatever fields I am interested in. I can also create reports, showing whatever fields I want, from whatever underlying database [in DBase format] I am working with, provided I have first joined them on suitable common fields. I can also search in any Worksheet or Form for all records with particular values of any field of interest. I suppose the Base equivalent of a worksheet is a table? But in Base what is a form, and what exactly is a Query? I assume that a Table is the equivalent of a Worksheet, but in my experiments with Base, the Forms look like Worksheets to me, but also to Reports. What exactly is a query, or is it an elaborate way of doing a search? I need some kind of orienting help, and maybe the website Dan mentioned could be it. The help files need to start back at the beginning and explain things. A further feature of Smartsuite that I found very helpful when I was feeling my way with it was the close integration of Approach with 123, which made setting up Approach databases relative easy. I had come to it like many others with an Amstrad and the LocoFile flat file database that went with LocoScript, the programme that ran on them, and which I continued to use when I first went over to a PC in the early 90s. Best wishes On 30 May 2012 at 12:46, Dan Lewis wrote: Send reply to: [email protected] Date sent: Wed, 30 May 2012 12:46:33 -0400 From: Dan Lewis <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Total User confusion > Alexander Thurgood wrote: > > Le 30/05/12 17:03, Dan Lewis a écrit : > > > > Hi All, > > > > Sorry to butt in, but Approach was way simpler to set up and get > > something functional than anything OOo Base has ever provided. > > > > > > > >> It does take some patience for a while to learn the > >> difference in > >> the terms used. And it pays to be flexible. > > > > Hmm, flexible as in "being able to do the splits, juggle 5 balls > > with one hand, spit fire, and dance the tango on one leg all at the > > same time" ? ;-) > > > > To get the equivalent out of 30 minutes using Approach you would > > have to spend several days and much pulling of hair and gnashing of > > teeth to get the same thing out of Base - the user experience just > > isn't the same - period, and it ain't getting any better : > > > > - dropped support for native mysql connections due to licensing > > issues; > > > > - dropped support for the Oracle Report Builder due to licensing > > issues; > > > > - non functional or incomplete ODBC connection implementations; > > > > - no multi-table querying/update DBF support - complete opposite of > > Approach - in fact DBF support in AOO Base is rudimentary, it was > > actually even better supported under StarOffice 3-5.1 ; > > > > - terrible JDBC query/retrieval performance via the UI or any of the > > wizards, including mailmerge, for anything more than a hundred > > datasets with 15 to 25 fields - even less than a 100 tuples can > > bring the app to its knees ; > > > > - paranoia inspiring instability of the integrated HSQLDB engine, > > resulting in complete loss or corruption of databases after a few > > hours/days of usage ; > > > > Need I go on ? > > > > > > But you can live with all of this if : > > - you know how to manage/secure your precious data outside of AOO ; > > - you know how program AOO to do the things that it just doesn't > > provide via the GUI, or use alternatives ; - you know how to use > > ODT/ODS templates and how to inject your external data sources into > > them, either via the UI, or via separate programming languages or > > document framework manipulation (php, perl, python). > > > > I am perhaps harsh here, but for me, Base is in no way comparable to > > anything like Approach, FMPro, etc. > > > > > > Alex > No, you don't need to go on: your rant is long enough. It > was suppose to be about the differences in vocabulary used > as well as the AOO facilities. We don't even know what the > OP's problem is with these items: nothing specific has been > mentioned yet. > > --Dan > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For > additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > Niall Martin Phone 0131 4678468 Please reply to: niall<at>rndmartin.cix.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
