Getting Started
Welcome to Alpha Anywhere, the Rapid Application Development platform for building and deploying mobile, web, and desktop business applications. This Getting Started section is aimed at people who are new to Alpha Anywhere. It provides a high-level overview of the Alpha Anywhere platform and its key features.
What is Alpha Anywhere?
Alpha Anywhere is a platform for developers of varying skill sets to create and deploy business applications for mobile devices and desktop/web. The platform has two parts, a developer for building applications and a server for deploying them. Applications can either be run in a web browser or they can be installed as an application on a mobile device. For more details and a video, see the Alpha Anywhere Technical Overview page.
What are the Key Features?
Alpha Anywhere has a deep feature set for all aspects of application development, including data integration, offline support, cross-platform support, reporting, touch screen and rich data support, security, and much more.
Data Integration
Alpha Anywhere applications can perform CRUD (create, read, update, delete) operations from virtually any data source, including SQL-type databases, NoSQL databases, and web services. For details, see the Data Integration page. |
Offline Support With Synchronization
Alpha Anywhere includes technology that allows applications to work in an offline/disconnected mode. When a connection is restored, the data that is entered is synched to a server. Applications can also store downloaded data for offline use that can be edited while offline. In cases of conflict, where a record is changed by two or more users, Alpha provides a system to intelligently manage conflicts. For details, see the Offline Data Capture and Synchronization page. |
Cross Platform / Cross Device Support
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Because Alpha Anywhere builds HTML5/JavaScript applications, they can be run on practically any device that has a web browser, including desktop and laptop Mac/PCs, smart phones, and tablets. On mobile devices, Alpha Anywhere applications can be installed as native applications and can access the the devices' hardware. For more details see the Technical Overview page. |
Reporting
Alpha Anywhere includes a banded report-writer that can create sophisticated reports from a variety of data sources. The reports can be generated as PDF, HTML, Excel files and in other formats. Reports can be displayed on screen, in an application, or they can be automatically emailed. Alpha Anywhere can also run reports built using Microsoft's SQL Server Reporting Services. For more information, click here. |
Rich User Experience
Alpha Anywhere supports very rich user interfaces for both desktop/mobile and web applications. Applications can include maps, charts, gauges, and special controls. There are also ink controls for drawing on a touch screen, image annotation for making notes on pictures, a signature capture control, and support for all audio and video. |
Security
Alpha Anywhere includes a role-based security framework, encryption functions, SSL support, and can use the security features built into IIS and the .NET framework. For details, see the Security Section on the main Alpha Anywhere website. |
Learning Alpha Anywhere
Ready to dive in? Check out one of the tutorials below or head over to the Alpha Software Learning Center to start learning Alpha Anywhere.
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