Alpha Four Specifications

I created the TrackStar database using the Alpha Four version 2 database program. This powerful relational database program comes with all the bells and whistles of more expensive database packages. Its menu driven structure makes it easy to learn and use, and its on-line help system is always available by pressing the F1 key. Alpha Four files are fully compatible with dBASE IV data files. That is, Alpha Four directly uses data files created with dBASE, and dBASE directly uses data files created with Alpha Four no conversion is necessary. Alpha Four can also import and export data to and from many other programs, including Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect. It also allows you to convert data to and from standard ASCII formats.

Alpha Four is a powerful relational database program that runs on the HP Palmtop or any IBM-compatible PC with at least 512K RAM (640K RAM recommended). Expanded memory will improve Alpha Four's performance. Alpha Four comes with the following video adapters: monochrome, Hercules, CGA, EGA, and VGA.

Alpha Four lets you create as many views, reports, indexes, queries, links and menus as needed. It also has a very powerful script language which lets you customize many aspects of your application, including the way records can be automatically updated, posted to, or looked up. It has all of the features of the most robust database packages, but it is designed for non-programmers. There are many built-in functions which are similar to the functions contained in Lotus 123.

Alpha Four data field stats:

• 128 fields per record;
• 254 characters per field in character fields;
• 4,000 characters per record (besides memo fields);
• Two billion records per data file;
• Field types: character, numeric, date, logical and memo'
• Variable length Memo fields with up to 5,000 characters;
• More than 70 data manipulation functions;
• Up to 10 data files per set;
• An unlimited number of "lookup" databases

Character Contains a maximum of 255 alphanumeric characters. Similar to the Text field in the Palmtop's built-in Database application. Numeric Contains a maximum of 19 characters, including the decimal point, any decimal places, and a negative sign. Similar to the Number field in the Palmtop's built-in Database application. Date Contains dates only; a width of 8 is automatically assigned to all date fields. With date fields, you can perform date arithmetic. For example, you can compute the number of days between 2 dates. Similar to the Date field in the Palmtop's built-in Database application. Logical Contains one character, which is used to represent a True/False value. The logical fields can also be represented as Yes or No. Similar to the Check box and Option button in the Palmtop's built-in Database application. Memo Contains a pointer to a special memo field file, which can contain up to 5000 characters of any kind of information. This is similar to the Note field in the Palmtops built-in database applications.

Alpha Four Report Capabilities

• Design up to 26 reports for each database or set;
• Design reports that are up to 240 columns wide;
• Visually layout the report on the screen by positioning the fields and text on the screen What you see is what you get.;
• Create calculated report fields from existing fields.;
• Calculate totals, running totals, sub-totals, averages, sub-averages, and other summary fields.;
• Group related records together.;
• Print long fields in multi-line windows with word wrapping.;
• Use print attributes such as bold, italic and underline in a report.;
• Design reports that automatically make multiple passes through the data to calculate complex summary fields, such as percent-of-totals.;
• Store print options (such as the index, the range and the output settings) in the report definition.;
• Print reports to the screen, to a file or to a printer.

Alpha Software Corp., 168 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, MA 01803, USA; Phone 800-451-1018 ext 117 # 3 or 617-229-2924, FaxL 800-952-8363.