Paradox 1.1

Ansa Software
Belmont, CA

512K of RAM
dual 360K floppy disk drives
PC-DOS release 2.00 or greater
$695.00

By Bob Weeks
Reprinted from PC Business Software Review

If you're like most of us, the words "Database management package" cause several word associations to flash through your mind: thoughts like, "painful," "high-priced," "powerful" and "unavoidable." These are roughly the same associations we had as children when we were told we had to eat broccoli.

This is not to say, however, that Paradox 1.1 is broccoli. This is powerful database management without the heartburn normally associated with anything that has this much pizzazz.

PC Business Software Review readers will recall our review in December, 1985, just as Paradox was first released. It immediately became our favorite database package in the high-muscle, high-priced category. We felt that it really was appropriately named: big and powerful yet warm and friundly. With release 1.1, Paradox has gotten even better and it indisputably leads the pack, as far as we're concerned. Let's review how it works, first, and then we'll tell you about some of the changes and improvements in the new release.

First, we should say that many people don't need a database of Paradox's power in order to accomplish their immediate goals. There are many cheaper alternatives if your needs and budget are modest. We've reviewed Reflex and Nutshell as two viry good programs, and if you own Lotus 1-2-3, you've got some database capability right there. However, Paradox is sufficiently accessible that novices can use it for simple applications, and grow with the program as their needs increase.

Like all database management packages, Paradox provides a method for performing common tasks such as: defining tables of data, adding, deleting, editing and sorting and printing simple reports. Paradox performs these tasks as well as any other program. The database tables are stored in rows and columns much the same as in a Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet, with the additional advantage that you can create custom forms to suit your special needs. (Incidentally, the venture capitalist behind Ansa Corporation is Ben Rosen, who also backed Lotus Development Corporation. The similarity between Paradox's user interface and Lotus 1-2-3's is not accidental.)

Where database management programs show their muscle is with advanced operations. The cheaper packages simply don't have sophisticated options. But it's in these advanced areas that the going gets tough with many of the packages. Relational databases like Paradox, dBase III and others allow you to manipulate more than one table of data at a time. Many business data relationships--in fact, nearly anything more complicated than a mailing list--can't be modeled efficiently using a single table of data. Paradox really shines because it makes it so easy to create multiple tables and manipulate them in complex and various ways.

What Goes In Must Come Out

Once you get data into the database, you'll want to get information out. The Paradox manual is especially helpful in helping you design a database--the essential first step since you can't determine what you're going to do with your data until you enter it.

This is where most other packages cause migraines. To properly manipulate data in such stalwarts as dBase III, for example, you need considerable knowledge of its programming language. In fact, in order to query your database in dBase III, you have to assemble the characteristics of the information you're seeking into a logical expression. That can be tricky if you're seeking "all orders for more than 10 lawn mowers placed between June 1 and June 12 which have not yet been shipped."

Not so in Paradox. It uses an approach called Query By Example, which we find much more intuitive. When you want to perform a query, Paradox presents an empty view of the database called a query table. It contains all the category headings for your database, but no actual data. By filling in the query table with the requisite information, you instruct Paradox to perform operations on the data. Most often, you use queries to view a subset of a database, in which case Paradox creates a new table, containing just the rows and columns of data you want. The new table--called the answer table--is a regular Paradox database table, so you can print it, apply any other technique to it, or save it for future reference.

Query By Example is relatively easy to learn. 1-2-3's database uses a very limited form of QBE (see last month's Green Eyeshade for an example). Paradox, of course, offers many more features than 1-2-3, and these include the ability to summon query forms for several database tables and link the queries together--thus manipulating two or more tables at once. Compared to the style of queries used in dBASE III, Paradox is much easier to use for both simple and complex operations. In fact, in just minutes with Paradox you can formulate complex queries that can take hours of programming and debugging with systems like dBASE III. (For more information about Query By Example, take a look at chapter 11 of C.J. Date's, An Introduction to Database Systems, Third Edition, Addison-Wesley.)

Paradox's report generator offers something for everyone. Sophisticated users can utilize the report generator to create reports with custom headers and footers, calculated fields, data grouping and sorting by any field, and summary calculations such as subtotals, subaverages, and subcounts. The report generator also produces mailing labels, as well as simple form letters.

You'll ned a litttle practice with the report generator, however, before you've truly mastered it. All the menu options, report bands, and other features will be daunting to the inexperiened. But compensation is offered in the form of an instant report. With a single keystroke, you can command a standard columnar format that will give you a perfectly acceptable quick-and-dirty look at your data.

But once you become comfortable with Paradox's report facilities, you'll be able to produce reports as detailed and complex as anything dBASE III can create. And with the latter, you have to indulge in complex programming efforts to achieve what Paradox already does with much less energy. Probably its most appealing aspect is the depth of Paradox. As your needs grow, and become more sophisticated, it accommodates to them.

Applications To Go

Like dBASE III and other full-featured database systems, Paradox includes a programming language with the clever/corny name PAL (Paradox Application Language). With PAL, you can access all of Paradox's commands and features under the control of a computer program. Most people will use PAL to create their own applications or to perform tasks too complicated for the regular Paradox menu commands. With much database software, utilizing the programming language is sometimes the only way to get something done. Happily, Paradox performs a wide variety of complex operations without resorting to any programming. That's important--as deceptively simple as PAL seems at first, it's still a programming language, and you'll need practice and experience to create programs that run correctly.

Still, PAL is much more accessible than the language in most other database systems, and in two very important and useful ways. The first level of access is Paradox's scripts, often called macros. Creating scripts is easy: just turn the script recording on, run through the keystrokes as normal, and turn the recording off.

New Features in Version 1.1

The second level of access to PAL (and one of the new features of version 1.1) is the Application Generator. This program, which requires 640K RAM memory and 1.8 megabytes of disk space to operate, creates "applications." That warrants a little explanation. Suppose you use Paradox interactively to work with your data, but some of your subordinates simply use it to manage a mailing list. Normally, they'd have to borrow your copy of Paradox for their work. Even managing a mailing list, however, requires a series of tasks: database tables, data input and editing forms, report forms and mailing labels, and any PAL scripts you've created.

Using the Application Generator, you would write an application for your subordinates. That application would tie all those parts and procedures together with menus and custom help screens. Although your subordinates could not break out of the custom-tailored application to develop another Paradox project, they could run the application you'd created for them without having to be Paradox wizards. From your perspective, the menu-driven Application Generator produces PAL programming code to implement the menus and procedures without requiring that you know anything about PAL.

Creating applications is easy once you've gained a little experience using Paradox. The results are outstanding. Your own applications look just like Paradox itself, but everything that's there is of your own design. And it works--you really don't have to be a programming genius to perform useful work with the Application Generator.

Once you've created an application, you'll want to share it with others. That's possible with Paradox Runtime, one of the best software values going. It's a program that runs applications created with the Application Generator. Paradox Runtime is not Paradox itself. That is, you can't use Paradox interactively with Runtime; you can only run applications already developed with the Application Generator. Ansa sells Paradox Runtime for $9.95, and that includes the right to make up to 250 copies of Runtime. That's a remarkable offer: if you buy the runtime package for dBase III Plus, it'll cost you $50 per copy (compared to $.04 per copy for Paradox).

What makes Runtime attractive is that one person can use the Paradox Application Generator to develop applications, and the rest of the office can run the applications for what essentially amounts to the cost of a few blank diskettes. It helps offset Paradox's high initial cost.

The one major feature that Paradox lacks in respect to its competitors is network capability. But we wouldn't be surprised to see a network feature offered in a future version of Paradox .

Among other new wrinkles in 1.1, Paradox no longer is copy-protected. Unprotected software lets you make backup copies, easily install the program on your hard disk drive, and provides peace of mind. No longer will you worry about losing your only working copy of the system disk--and access to your data with it. You'll also like the "incremental undo" feature. It allows you to make changes selectively. In other words, if you need to undo some changes made during a database session, you don't need to undo them all, as was the case previously.

One of Paradox's most valuable features is its ability to work with more than one database table at a time, but in version 1.0, data had to be entered into each table separately. Version 1.1 contains multiple table entry, a nifty feature if you have beginners entering your data. First, you create a map telling Paradox which data goes where. Your aide enters your data into a special input form and Paradox routes it to the appropriate tables.

Paradox's export and import facility now trades data both ways with the latest versions of Lotus 1-2-3 (2.0) and Symphony (1.1). ASCII file import is also enhanced and simplified. The version 1.1 update is free. If you haven't received yours by now, contact Ansa.

Paradox requires 512K memory to operate; 640K is desirable for increased speed. Although the program works on two diskette drive systems, we recommend a hard disk drive for use with Paradox, as the extra disk capacity is needed for anything but the smallest projects. Developing applications with the Application Generator requires a hard disk drive. Applications developed with Paradox and run under Paradox Runtime will often require a hard disk drive, as well.

Summary

Paradox is a full-featured database program that is both powerful and easy to use. Highlights include a powerful example-based method of making queries, a flexible report generator, and a nifty Applications Generator that's one of the best software bargains around. Paradox can handle nearly any data management project, but remains accessible to novices.

Recommendation

If you need a full-featured database, we heartily recommend Paradox over alternatives like dBASE III Plus. In nearly every area of comparison, Paradox is superior to dBASE III Plus, especially in the important areas of querying the database and generating reports. Paradox is based on sound theory; Query By Example is a proven method of handling a database. It's a significant step beyond the programming language-like system used in dBASE III and other systems, and there's no reason to use an outdated system when something clearly better is available. Highly recommended.