The Tutorials introduce several important areas of developing with DataFlex Studio. Each section discusses the development of specific features using a series of steps. This provides a hands-on introduction to major features of DataFlex Studio in a clear and ordered manner.
Start by reading the Overview of DataFlex to learn about the major concepts behind DataFlex. It also points you to additional sources of information about the tools and features available in DataFlex.
Quick Start provides an introduction to DataFlex Studio to get you started using the product right away.
Creating Basic Application Components demonstrates how to develop major application component types for Windows and Web applications.
Creating a Complete Order Entry System demonstrates, in detail, how to create a complete Order Entry system, like the Order Entry sample application.
The Tutorials will show you how to perform certain tasks in the development tools, mostly in the DataFlex Studio. Most steps will tell you to access something via the Studio's toolbars or menus. In many cases you could perform a task in multiple ways, but showing every possible way of doing something during the tutorials would make them more complex and less efficient. In selected places, we will point out additional ways to perform tasks via a Tip.
Examples:
You can open a workspace or create a new workspace from the Studio's File menu or from the Start Center.
You can view the components in a project in Workspace Explorer or the Workspace Dashboard.
You can create a new component (e.g. a view) from the File menu or from the Standard Toolbar.
Most tasks can also be performed via shortcut keys, most of which can be found next to the tasks they are for on Studio menus and context menus (which pop up if you right-click in most Studio panels) and tooltips (e.g. if you hover over toolbar buttons).
You can follow the links in the bullet points to read more about these Studio features.
Every DataFlex developer should work through some parts of the tutorials, and through QuickStart at least once. Even if you are an experienced DataFlex developer, this short tutorial will familiarize you with the major Studio components and show you how we expect developers to use our tools.
You can find information on DataFlex in the following ways:
For information about new features in this release, refer to What’s New in the online Help Contents.
The DataFlex Online Help system is the most comprehensive information resource for users of DataFlex. Online Help is updated with each release to include the latest features. It provides detailed information about user interface design, language implementation, programming tasks, and the components. It includes the Language Guide, reference material, and a host of topics covering all of the features available in DataFlex.
To look up the components or any other topic, click the Index or Find tab and type your request.
You can get context sensitive Help on any part of Studio, including the code editor, properties window, dialog boxes, toolbars, and components by and pressing F1.
DataFlex includes sample applications for Windows, Web, Client-Side Web Services and Server-side Web Services. The purpose of the Sample Applications is to provide you with programs that you can run to see their operation, and then view the applications in Studio to see how they are constructed. The source code for the Sample Applications contains comprehensive comments to aid understanding and provides a rich source of code snippets that can be cut and pasted into your applications.
You run the examples from the "DataFlex {Revision} | Examples"
Start menu. See Learning
from the Examples for information about the operations and techniques
illustrated in each of the samples.
Note: {Revision} above refers to the revision
of DataFlex you are using, for example 12.1.
www.dataaccess.com/support describes a variety of support offerings and facilities for DataFlex developers, including support policy definitions, information about supported operating systems and product revisions and more.
The DataFlex Learning Center is a video library with lessons for new and experienced DataFlex developers alike.
Public Forums are available for all Data Access Worldwide products and related topics of interest. The Forums offer a rich resource of information contributed by Data Access Worldwide and thousands of users around the world.
http://www.dataaccess.com/forums