Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!lll-winken!uunet!ontek!mikey
From: mikey@ontek.UUCP (Mike Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: 4th Dimension
Summary: My experience with 4D
Message-ID: <290@ontek.UUCP>
Date: 31 Mar 89 17:51:15 GMT
References: <11632@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <16630@mimsy.UUCP>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Ontek Corporation, Laguna Hills, CA
Lines: 46


IMHO, 4D blows away any other database programming environment.

It is also one of the toughest to program, IF YOU WANT TO GET THE MOST
POSSIBLE PERFORMANCE OUT IF IT.  By this I mean that you can print
stuff out in any format you like, validate user input to the letter and
generally customize it to the point where 4D knows as much about the
data and what it should look like as the programmer does.  This takes
time, as usual.

On the other hand, the average Joe can scrape together a few layouts
and just type in some data and PRESTO there is a database.

I may be bragging, but I think it should only take about six months
to get used to 4D's quirks.  Pressure your consultant to get stuff
working, even if the output isn't perfectly formatted and the user
has to use buttons instead of menus. 

The problems you are having with Mr/Ms. consultant may not be  entirely
the his/her fault.  4D is buggy in many ways, but in my experience with
it, there is ALWAYS a workaround, but you have to have the guts to call
Acius and get it.  Into this category fall many of the features that
make 4D the best.  The text boxes in layouts can be buggy and the way
that your code is tied into the layouts is very non-intuitive, even if
it isn't buggy.  The menu bar stuff is bizarre, but again, it will work
once you get the hang of it.  One thing I never tried was multi-user
use of the same database.  If that is part of the application I could
see many headaches just waiting to happen.

I switched to various other projects and haven't used 4D in about a
year.  I am almost certain many of the bugs I had to work around have
been fixed since then.  Make sure your consultant has enough in his
budget to get the most recent rev of 4D.

I must add that I found customer support at Acius to be among the best
I have encountered.

Mike Lee
Ontek Corporation

VOX:  1-714-768-0301
UUCP: ontek!banzai!mikey@uunet.uu.net
USPS: 22951 Mill Creek Road
      Laguna Hills CA 92653

DISCLAIMER: In my opinion, my opinion is only an opinion.