Is Paradox Anything Like Rest of WordPerfect Office Apps?

[mckmarg]

I've been using the WordPerfect Office apps for years, except for Paradox. I've just ordered the Paradox 8 to see if it works more to my liking. I hate Access, Act or Organizer, which I've used. They are all just too cludgy for my liking. They don't work like I think and I just get frustrated with their lack of quality function, flexibility, etc. I hate most of Microsoft's software for that very reason. I love working with WordPerfect and Quattro Pro! Is Paradox anything like these programs in interface, learning curve, etc.?

Thanks!

 

[footpad]

mckmarg,

To be perfectly honest, you may find yourself a little disappointed. Databases are inherently difficult, for unlike other software, you can't simply begin typing and create something.

With a word-processor, you can fire it up and type up a letter. You don't need to learn things until you need them. With databases, though, you need to create your tables before you can type data into them. It's a bit like the chicken and egg thing.

Paradox is quite powerful, but it's designed around a bare-bones sort of approach. You can do many things manually, but you need to learn a set of skills before you can actually do them. For example, you need to learn how to create tables before you can actually use them.

On ething that does set Paradox apart is its programming language. Once you learn each set of skills, you can tie them together in precisely the right combination of steps that you need to perform for your work. With other packages, you need to learn how they want you to perform your work.

Paradox honestly has a reputation for being hard to learn. This isn't quite true, but it is true that there are lots of things you need to figure out to accomplish what might seem to be fairly straightforward tasks. In fact, there's a reason for this and that's flexibility.

Instead of being given a kit of pre-built solutions, Paradox gives you the tools to make the best solution for your needs.

One other thing separates Paradox fro other packages and that's the community of people that use it. You can get a lot of free help by posting messages in various places. And frequently, this help is far superior to what you'd get by calling technical support.

The best advice I can offer is that you take things a step at a time. Go through the tutorials and see what's available out of the box. When you get stuck, post a message asking for clarification.

I've been involved in the Paradox community for more than ten years now and that's the best way to learn the product. It may take a while, but you will eventually see that the power of Paradox lies not in a fancy UI, but in providing a reasonably complete kit of building database applications.

As long as you keep that in mind--and try to understand why things seem difficult at times, you shouldn't have too many troubles.

Hope this helps...

-- Lance

 

[mckmarg]

Thanks for your reply, Lance. This is what I want to hear. I don't want the program to do everything for me. I want to be able to tell IT what to do. That's why I've always loved WordPerfect over Word. In WordPerfect, I tell the software what I want it to do, it doesn't tell me what to do. The same applies with Quattro Pro. These are both powerful if you know how to use them. That way I have more control. I'll do what I can to learn Paradox. That won't scare me. I've been working in complex, professional publishing software for more than 10 years. I've been around since the DOS years and was using a lot of the earlier spreadsheet, word processing, and database software back then. Some of that stuff is not around anymore but it sure was powerful. Folks these days are just lazy and want their software to just do everything for them without any real effort on their part. That doesn't work with me.

I'll be posting on the forum if I get stuck and can't figure something out, but I'll sure have fun trying. Thanks so much for your help.

Marg

 

[Langley]

Marg, just a piece of friendly advice once you dive in: Stay away from the Application Framework. Although it sounds like a easy way to get started, it actually creates more problems than it solves. Mac

"There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't"

langley_mckelvy@cd4.co.harris.tx.us

 

[footpad]

Marg,

Also, there are a few websites around that carry Paradox information, though most of what's currently available online is buried in Corel's FTP site. Thankfully, most of the old help documents apply, though there have been some minor improvements over the years that help with specific ones.

Anyway, the main Paradox sites are:

--

http://thedbcommunity.com

--

http://techtricks.com

(my own site)
--

http://rdaworldwide.com

Be sure to check out the links and additional resources at these sites for pointers to others.

Hope this helps...

-- Lance

 

[mckmarg]

Thank you both Langley & Lance. I should be receiving the software in the next few days. I'll be checking out the websites you referred me to, Lance. I'm so pleased to know I can find good help out there for this software. No one seems to know anything about it anymore. It seems most large corporations are using Access, etc. I really do hate that stuff.

I'll be posting back if I get stuck. Thanks again!

 

[jlockley]

I'm the less sophisticated one here, so maybe my experience will help. Paradox is more intuitive than Access or Excel. While Office 2K Access has a lot of user friendly aspects missing in the earlier versions, it still does not provide a fairly inexperienced user the easy tools offered by paradox. (Which this lot doesn't use).

Use a dummies book if you can find it to start. Get up a simple database (try something with phone numbers) with a data entry form and try a couple of queries. Build your own. Once you get the basics you will be able to go very far for a long time using the form and query building elements offered on the tool bars.


Using the sample elements didn't work for me, since they mean nothing to me, but I occasionally refer to one or the other to see what they use to get things to work.

Paradox Help, while not ideal (sometimes a real hair puller) is very useful for the basics.
There is, however, a point, where access probably becomes easier, but that's a long way off.

You will find that things that seem insurmountable are really quite easy once you find the right approach. For the greater degree of difficulty you will experience in learning a database over a word processor, you will also find a lot more power in the program. I can't see working in any area of my business without it.

 

[mckmarg]

Thanks Jlockey. I really appreciate your reply. It gives me a view from a different perspective. I'm just waiting to receive the software now. I've been informed it has been shipped. I've been using database software for more than 10 years; started on DOS stuff. What I liked was it gave me the power of flexibility. What I've always hated about about Microsoft Office products is that they try to do everything for you. I'm the opposite of that coin. I need to be in control of the software and don't want it trying to be doing things I've not told it to do, like Office has a "naughty" habit of doing. I'm really looking forward to getting started.

I really appreciate your input.