Smartlist to Go from Palm T/X

[fritzmom]

Hello All

First time posting, hope someone can guide me.

My Palm T/X is not going to last much longer, so I have to purchase a smartphone. My mobility carrier does not have any options for me except for Blackberries.

I currently use DataViz's Smartlist to Go all the time on my handheld, and need something comparable for the blackberry I will have to purchase. Even though this past Fall I had to buy a new cell phone

Some questions are: will I be able to convert ALL the data I now have in Smartlist to HanDBase? If I can, then what would I have to buy to be able to convert the data, create databases on blackberry & desktop PC (running Windows XP and thinking of upgrading to Win 7) and will I be able to sync from blackberry to PC?

Thanks for any help/advise you can give me

[DavidDevaneyJr]

Hello,

First, thanks for considering HanDBase.

Regarding the data conversion, you should be able to do this without too many problems. There are two possible options for this.

Firstly, their desktop software, which should be included, allows you to export data to CSV files. SmartList supports up to 80 fields and 65,000 records. HanDBase supports up to 100 fields and up to 65,000 records so there shouldn't be any issues there. The only issue with exporting to a CSV file will be that the Field types are not retained. You would have to re-establish the field types in HanDBase after importing the CSV file there. You would be able to do this with any of the HanDBase packages for BlackBerry. The most basic one is the Plus.

The second option, if you have MS Access and you are familiar with using their software to export your data to Access you could do that first and then get the HanDBase Professional package which would allow you to import that data from MS Access. The benefit to this will be that the field types are retained. Or at least they should be. I've not used the SmartList software to export to Access but I would assume it's similar to our software and retains the field types when exporting.

Now in both of these instances only the data can be converted. There won't be any way to convert any forms you currently have in SmartList.

Regarding what you'd need to purchase. As I mentioned above it would partially depend on how you want to import your data. Doing it via CSV files would only require the Plus package, which is $29.99. If you want to import through MS Access, or if when using HanDBase you want to import, export or sync with MS Access, then you would want to look at the Professional package, which is $39.99. The final package is the Enterprise one. You would only need to consider that if after you are using HanDBase you want to import, export or sync with another desktop database that supports ODBC, such as SQL Server, or MySQL. The Enterprise package is $79.99.

Now as far as the BlackBerry version of the software. I will say that this is more limited than our other platform versions. Currently you won't be able to create databases from scratch on the device. You would have to create the databases on the desktop and then sync them to the device. Another limitation of the BlackBerry version is that it does not support custom Forms that you'd create with the HanDBase Forms Designer. The BlackBerry side would just use the standard interface with the field names along the left and the values along the right.

The Desktop portion of the software will run on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. All three packages include the Conduit which allows you to sync when the device is connected to your computer through the BlackBerry Desktop software. If this is a company phone you will want to make sure that the company doesn't put any limitations on you syncing with a desktop computer. Some do limit this and only want you syncing with the company's BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).

I hope this answers your questions. If you want to let us know who your mobility carrier is we can double check that they don't have some other device that might run HanDBase.

[moneil]

Hi, the previous poster has already given some ideas which should work to convert SmartList data to HanDBase. I believe you'll really like HanDBase.

I have 3 other, perhaps relevant, comments to make:

1. Before you give up on your Palm TX, you might want to check out www.palmdr.com They've kept mine going with a new digitizier/touchscreen a couple of years ago, and a motherboard repair and new battery just recently.

2. You don't mention who your carrier is, but I'm surprised that BlackBerry would be their only "smart phone" offering. Most carriers also have Windows Mobile phones, and as a platform for a database like HanDBase, that "might" be a better option. The WinMobile version, like the Palm version, is more "mature" and has more features than the BlackBerry version.
3. I have a BlackBerry Peral, and love it as a phone. When my Palm TX quit last month (now happily repaired) I thought I might have to consider using a phone for those functions also, and the BlackBerry Curve from Sprint would have been on the list of my considerations. I downloaded a trial version of HanDBase for BlackBerry onto my Peral to try it out (and to have use of some of my databases while the TX was in the shop).

I only uploaded one of my 20 databases (31 fields, 101 records), and it ran so PAINFULLY slow that I uninstalled the program after 3 days. You may notice from other comments in this forum that others have found using it on BlackBerry to be very slow, compared to the Palm and WinMobile devices. The HanDBase people have responded that it is a function of the BlackBerry software, and they may, or may not, be able to find a way to enhance performance in the future. Also, perhaps on the newer and advanced models of BlackBerry it may run better than on m Peral (2 years old). It is a shame, because from what I've read, if I will have to give up Palm someday, I think there are a lot of things I'd like about BlackBerry over Windows Mobile devices.

My suggestions, for what they may be worth, would be to look at the Windows Mobile devices, if they are available from your carrier; and/or, if they have a 30 day return policy on phones, as my carrier does, get a BlackBerry and download the trial version of HanDBase, and see if it's performance is acceptable on that device.

[Irenie]

Hi, I'm chiming in on quite an old thread here, but it seems to be most topical....

I'm a longtime user of SmartList who has recently moved to Android and am in the process of converting years of tailored data over (now I know why I hesitated so long! ). I have quite a few linked SmartLists for which I do not want to lose the links when I convert as the linked lists have a lot of records. I read on these forums that I need to convert via Access to retain field formats, so I'm guessing if it's possible, that's the way to do it. I'm not overly familiar with Access, but have managed to get data into Access, what I haven't managed to do is work out how to get it from Access to HandBase. I'm using a trial version of the Desktop at the moment.

Can you help? (many thanks in advance...)

[Brian_Houghton]

Hi,

Sure! You'll want to download a demo copy of HanDBase Professional for Android, found at http://www.ddhsoftware.com/android. Install it to your computer. Then open Start Menu -> All Programs -> HanDBase 4 -> Tools. Select Data Exchange for Access.

You will now want to start by selecting your Access database to convert to HanDBase format.
Next choose the appropriate table from the Access database.
Supply a path for the database, including a filename and the .pdb extension. (example: C:\myGreatDatabase.pdb)

You will then be able to copy the newly created databases to the "Android" folder on your phone's microSD card.

Hope this helps.

[Irenie]

Thank you! Your steps are very clear. I've managed to import some stuff. Now to work out the rest...
Thanks again for your prompt assistance.
Cheers,

[Brian_Houghton]

Glad to be able to help!