Product Description

Moving from a pen–and–paper data collection environment to using Palm organizers can ensure more than just keeping your desk free of clutter –– it can also help you re–evaluate your approach to work!

The tools offered in this book take you beyond the built–in applications of a Palm OS organizer. From expense reports and work orders to merchandise inventories and data from the field, The Official Pendragon Forms for Palm Starter Kit helps you get a handle on the types of data collection you perform every day. With this book you can:

• Plan, design, and manage customized forms that provide solutions to your needs
• Construct specialized forms that perform calculations, branching, and more
• Use Pendragon forms with existing databases
• Control data flow from Palm OS devices to PCs
• Print from Palm OS devices
• Configure forms for and work in a multi–user environment

The CD–ROM accompanying this book includes evaluation versions of Pendragon Forms 3.0, Bachmann Print Manager, WaveSync synchronization server, MultiMail PRO, and all sample forms from the text.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #660885 in Books
• Published on: 1999-12-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The word empalmable does not yet exist (and probably won't since spell checkers would replace it with something mortifying) but if it did, Pendragon's developers/writers Debra Sancho and Ivan Phillips would be the empalmers to the masses. Their lucid text The Official Pendragon Forms for PalmOS Starter Kit introduces do-it-yourselfers, who see the promise of PalmOS applications but who lack certain resources, to a software development solution that allows one to build PalmOS applications from scratch.

Pendragon Forms is akin to a scripting environment for PalmOS applications. Form style and internal data manipulation are constructed with the Pendragon tool kit on the PC-side of the application, which uses Visual Basic for data manipulation. The PalmOS hot synchronisation mechanism loads the Pendragon product and accompanying forms/scripts and (optionally) data records into the Palm device. With subsequent synchronising, the new user entered data passes from the Palm device to the host computer for entry into a permanent database. No form exists without the core proprietary Forms software, so no form could be considered, or used, as its own stand-alone application.

Sancho and Phillips are refreshingly candid about Pendragon's limitations. They provide a list of feasible as well as unlikely tasks in their opening chapter: Yes, one can create user interfaces for recording on-the-spot selections from fixed lists or user-generated text; yes, one can perform simple mathematical calculations (for example, sums, averages); no, one could not synchronise collected data to an HTML/httpd server.

The Official Pendragon Forms for PalmOS Starter Kit is half the bulk of modern how-to texts with twice the content. Weighing in at just under 400 pages, the authors cover installation, form design strategies, ODBC interfaces to common commercial databases, and security issues. The text is copiously illustrated with PalmOS user interface design examples, screen dumps of the form-development environment on the PC side, and figures of the data entry/user interface environment on the PalmOS side. The book's editors make efficient use of tips, notes, warnings and side bars. The book is accompanied by a CD-ROM containing an evaluation copy of Pendragon Forms 3.0 distribution. --Peter Leopold, Amazon.com

From the Back Cover
The Official Pendragon Forms^™ for Palm OS^® Starter Kit Pendragon Forms software lets you transform a Palm OS organizer into a powerful mobile data–collection device. This complete guide, written by two senior executives at Pendragon Software, gives you all the inside tips and tricks you need to create robust forms and scripts that are tailored to your specific needs — from expense reports and work orders to merchandise inventories and data from the field. You'll discover how to automate with bar code readers, link Pendragon forms to external databases, and more — all with no programming skill required. Working Solutions for Data–Collection Challenges:

• Create custom forms for fast and efficient data collection
• Maximize accuracy and productivity with proven form–design techniques
• Write powerful scripts that perform calculations, branching, and more
• Master synchronization rules for controlling data flow between Palm OS devices and PCs
• Link Pendragon Forms to external Microsoft Access, SQL, and Oracle databases
• Find out how to print from Palm OS devices
• Set up Pendragon Forms for a multi–user environment

CD–TOM ROM includes Pendragon Forms 3.0 evaluation version! PLUS evaluation versions of Bachmann Print Manager, WaveSync synchronization server, MultiMail PRO, and all sample forms from the book. www.idgbooks.com System Requirements: PC: Access 97 or Access 2000 recommended; Palm Desktop 3.0; Windows 95/98, or Windows NT4/SP3. Handheld: Palm OS 3.0 or later.

About the Author
About the Authors Debra Sancho is a vice president at Pendragon Software and the author of much of the technical documentation for the company's products. Ivan Phillips is the president of Pendragon Software and the lead developer for Pendragon Forms. He has been developing software for more than 15 years and is the coauthor of two books on Java.