Best way to replace HyperCard and FileMaker 5.5?

[mindblaster]

Hello

i have a friend which use hypercard on his mac to keep track of his
clients, and also a college whom use on her office filemaker on a pc

both are unlucky with they're system - the filemaker 5.5 one much more
because its not possible to export it easy to emails or print

not the have both ask me, if i can replace this with a new program


now my question

what is the easiest way for replacing both programmes and is revolution a
good choice, or is there a easier way (the are both not so skilled on
computers)

if revolution is a good choice what do i need when i need for them both
to import the database properly?

should i tell them to buy the mac and pc version, or should i buy both
for them? and what do i need to buy that i can import the old database
for revolution? do i really need to buy the enterprise version? or can
i go with the studio or media edition?


thanks a lot
adrian

[BvG]

I guess you won't get an answer about rev not being the easiest way of doing anything. At least not on the rev boards

should i tell them to buy the mac and pc version, or should i buy both for them?

Well, do they need to develop on both mac and win? Or do they need to use a produced software? In that case the Studio license for one system would be enough.

and what do i need to buy that i can import the old database for revolution?

for Hypercard, Media is enough, but for Filemaker you'll prolly need Studio.

do i really need to buy the enterprise version? or can i go with the studio or media edition

For what you use rev, i guess you won't need enterprise.

[Mark]

Hello Adrian,

If you intend to learn the Transcript language, e.g. because you already know some HyperTalk or because you want to learn a programming language relatively quickly, then Revolution is probably the tool for you. If you are really not into programming, you don't want Revolution and Filemake might even be your preferred database.

You can import HyperCard stacks directly into any Revolution edition. To import Filemaker files, you can export the databses to text files first and import the files them into a Revolution database. For this, Rev Media is sufficient.

Unlike HyperCard, Revolution does not work well with all data kept on cards. So, you will have to completely change your stacks, if they have more then several hundreds of cards.

If you want to use SQL or ODBC to import the Filemaker database into Revolution, you need Rev Studio or Enterprise (in reply to my question, BvG explained that's why he recommends Studio in his previous post).

If your friends/clients are willing to pay an enterprise license for you, I'd go for it, make the databases for them and install a standalone application along with your new stacks on their computers. That would be cheaper than buying a Media license for one and two Studio licenses (Mac and Win) for the other.

Best,

Mark

[jpalme]

If you have existing applications in Hypercard, Revolution is probably the best way to go. If you have existing applications not in Hypercard, one possible alterantive is REALBasic. It is more generalpurpose. But not easy to learn.

[ReindlWolfgang]

Unlike HyperCard, Revolution does not work well with all data kept on cards. So, you will have to completely change your stacks, if they have more then several hundreds of cards.

Hmmm... The HC-project I'm trying to reactivate in rev consists of two interacting stacks, one of them holding of some 2300 cards now.
At my actual state of converting I am able to acess every card using the msgbox (go card [number]) or using the find-comand within the msgbox.

I am not able to use the automatic collecting of information from the DataStack and rearrainging it on NavigationStack

After successfull conversation the DataStack will grow further.
So you think, I'll have to do some larger work to extract my data and put it into some other storage?

Wolfgang

[Mark]

Hi Wolfgang,

With the faster computers of these days, compared to 4 years ago when I wrote that quote, you won't run into problems that quickly. When I imported the bible into a Revolution stack for a test, one verse per card ending up with approximately 35000 cards, Revolution needed 30 minutes to find a word on one of the last cards using a 350Mhz iMac. I used the find command for this, a repeat loop might have been quicker.

Today's computers are much faster and may need only a few seconds, but as your database grows you are bound to run into speed problems eventually. You don't need to have these problems if you set up your database correctly from the very start.

Revolution has custom properties, arrays, SQLite, and drivers for MySQL and ODBC. You can make it yourself as easy or difficult as you like, but there is no reason to create a stack with as many cards as records.

Best,

Mark

[ReindlWolfgang]

Hello Mark,

With the faster computers of these days, compared to 4 years ago when I wrote that quote, you won't run into problems that quickly.

OK, at some 1500 cards HyperCard on my Mac SE (8 MHz, 4 Mb) needed ~30 sec to do a complete search in one specific field throu all cards.
After changing to a Mac-Clone (230 MHz 603e, 94 (or so) Mb) and expanding to some 2000 cards a complete search was only a fingersnip and I didn't notice further acceleration after i got my recent iMac G5 (2,1 GHz, 1 Gb) and 2400 cards.

When I imported the bible into a Revolution stack for a test, one verse per card ending up with approximately 35000 cards, Revolution needed 30 minutes to find a word on one of the last cards using a 350Mhz iMac.

I'll never reach > 10.000 cards. Realistic will be some 5.000 over the next 20 years (about the same rate as until now).

I used the find command for this, a repeat loop might have been quicker.

I did something similar to:

Code: Select all

repeat for number of cards
find XY in field [NameOfFld]
put id of this crd & return after [variable]
go next crd
end repead

I know, the code above is full of mistakes even in HC. Just telling the princip

Today's computers are much faster and may need only a few seconds, but as your database grows you are bound to run into speed problems eventually. You don't need to have these problems if you set up your database correctly from the very start.

I know it is a mistake in the concept, but HyperCard led me to mix content and structure and programming within one file. So the 'very start' had been > 20 Y ago.

Revolution has custom properties, arrays, SQLite, and drivers for MySQL and ODBC.

You could have written Chinese - I would understand the same

You can make it yourself as easy or difficult as you like, but there is no reason to create a stack with as many cards as records.

HyperCard was annouced as "database for the rest of us" (among other uses) - and I started to use it as a database -- and now I'm in the trap. The "find" within HC was quick enough to handle my needs at least on a 603e/230 MHz, so I don't face serious problems in velocity on a G5/2.1 GHz or an C2D/2.2 GHz. At least not if rev's "find" isn't lot slower than HC's was.
And yes, I know it's bad style. Starting from zero I would separate the plain data from anything else.

. Wolfgang