The Alpha platform is a unified mobile and web app development and deployment environment with distinct "no-code" and "low-code" components. The vendor says that using the Alpha TransForm no-code environment, business users and developers can take full advantage of all the capabilities of the smartphone to turn any form into a mobile app in minutes, and power users can add advanced app functionality with Alpha TransForm's built-in programming language. IT developers can use the…
$35
Felgo
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Felgo provides components, tools and professional services for developing apps on Mobile, Desktop and Embedded platforms. The Felgo framework extends Qt with 200+ APIs. Among them is support for 3rd party SDK integrations like push notification or analytics, native iOS styling, Qt Quick Controls extensions for native look & feel on Android & iOS, density independence and responsive layout support. Felgo also provides features like AR (Augmented Reality) and Machine Learning integrations…
The speed of development from concept, through development and delivery of the end product is so impressive [with Alpha Anywhere]. There is an impressive array of genies and helper functions meaning that you can focus on what matters, the end user experience. It is not a "No code" solution but it is a very impressive "low code" solution which allows detailed access under the hood to tweak the applications to your own needs and the needs of your clients.
Felgo shines in rapid prototype development and fast iterations. It also has a very short learning curve compared to many other technologies that promise "code once, deploy everywhere." It is not appropriate if you are not willing to mess with the licensing related to Qt but I am still waiting for a clear answer on my doubts from the Felgo team.
Our company had been creating small business applications since the 1980's, when we used DBase IV (don't laugh... that's what was available). Then, we got more "sophisticated" with Microsoft Access. Clearly, we would always be limited with what we can do with those two programs. By accident, during an Internet search, we saw and ad for Alpha Anywhere (back then, it was called Alpha V). After working with the 30 free trial for just two weeks, we retired Access, for good. The best part was Alpha's flexibility in its use of "back end" data tables. That allowed us to use existing Access tables as we redesigned the front-end program (Alpha ships with its own DBF system, but we prefer SQL-Based tables). You can choose, SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, Access, Paradox (actually, too many to name) for your tables. You can even create links to Excel spreadsheets or QuickBooks Tables. It's outstanding!
Alpha allows developers to create very large and very complex programs. However, it's also a great choice for RAD (Rapid Application Development) for those who need to be up and running quickly or for less experienced programmers. Actually, the interface truly allows for "codeless" development of your application (more on that later). That means you can design a fully functional application, without typing a single line of code. They have some examples on their website.
My favorite part of Alpha is that it is constantly adding features and functions that allow us to do more with our applications. In fact, one of my biggest problems is that I need more time to learn and practice the added features as fast as they are introduced
Prior to Alpha Anywhere, we never considered creating/developing "mobile" applications (for tablets, smartphones, etc.). Alpha created a unique "panel" system that makes those application work great... and allows for the design of very sophisticated Apps.
Ready available solutions for all platform mobile app development.
Live hot reloading of UI and other advance controls by Felgo implemented in Qt.
Using Qt underneath provides an opportunity to developers to use it in all kind of sectors like embedded devices, mobile apps, desktop apps, games etc.
I am happy with the constant feedback that I am receiving from the team. Although most of it is marketing related, there are some interesting and valuable materials that they have been pushing to ease my learning.
The quality of the documentation and the ease of use may be some important values to take into account.
We believe that the agility that we have acquired until now for developing apps for our business cases give this framework an important lead.
As with any product, Felgo has some edges to it, but from our past experiences evaluating "code once, deploy everywhere" platforms, we were really surprised at how fast the team went from exploring, into playing and presenting prototypes in very little time.
The dev cycle is really fast as I can get an almost instantaneous feedback on the changes that I make. And it is refreshing to see how I am able to target several platforms at once.
The javascript plus QML combination made it really easy to pick up for me and I am certain sure that many devs can migrate from Web only into multi-platform in a fast manner.
And there is also the possibility to implement C++ code if the need arises to support and bridge native libraries.
Alpha Anywhere is a full-stack IDE. It’s no code and low code, but you can also custom code if you need to. About 10% of our application is no code. 80% is low code and 10% is custom code.
Allows for a great return on investment since you can quickly become very productive and complete more projects and applications in a shorter period of time with hand coding and the normal programming headaches of PHP, C#, Angular, etc.
You can afford to take on more and smaller projects since they will require far less time to complete than more traditional development environments.
Alpha Anywhere is continuously updated coming out with new features and capabilities on essentially a daily basis. Continuous improvement and frequent updates allows you to always stay ahead of the curve and competitors.
Alpha Anywhere allows you to offer lower cost solutions that will be completed in less time and that will be much easier to support and maintain.
