Help, feedback and checking for updates in Base by Zaweba
The Help menu in Base by Zaweba has the scripting guide, Send feedback, Report a problem, Check for updates, other Zaweba apps and the licence agreement.
Every app needs a place to turn when you're stuck, and a way to say when something isn't right. In Base by Zaweba that place is the Help menu. It holds the scripting guide, ways to send feedback and report problems, a check for updates, a list of other Zaweba apps and the licence agreement.
None of it needs an account. Base is free software that works offline, and the Help menu is built to fit that: nothing leaves your PC unless you choose to send it.
The scripting guide
The scripting guide is the most practical item in the menu. Scripts behind buttons are short pieces of JavaScript, and the guide explains how they are written in Base: how to read and change records, and how to call the Access-style functions such as DLookup, DCount, Nz, MsgBox and DateAdd.
Keep it open while writing a script. Checking exactly how a function is called is quicker than guessing and fixing the error afterwards. The AI helper that writes scripts follows the same guide, so its scripts and yours look alike.
Send feedback
Send feedback is for ideas, suggestions and comments. If a feature would make your database easier to run, or something about the way Base works puzzles you, this is the place to say so. Short, specific notes are the most useful: what you were trying to do, what you expected, and what would help.
Report a problem
Report a problem is for things that have gone wrong. Nothing is sent unless you click Send, so you can start one and still change your mind. A good report says what you did just before the problem, what you saw, and whether it happens every time. If you can make it happen with a small test database, so much the better.
Before reporting, it is worth trying Database > Compact and repair, which checks the file and fixes many kinds of untidiness. If the problem is still there afterwards, report it.
Check for updates
Check for updates looks for a newer version of Base. Updates bring new features and fixes. When you install one, older .obase files are moved up to the current format the first time you open them, after a backup copy of each, so your databases come along safely.
If several people share a database file, update everyone at about the same time. An older Base refuses a file that a newer one has updated, with a clear message, rather than risk damaging it.
Other Zaweba apps and the licence
Other Zaweba apps lists the rest of the family. Some work naturally with Base. Server by Zaweba lets you try the exported PHP and MySQL website on your own PC, and FTP by Zaweba can upload it to a web host.
The licence agreement is shown once, the first time Base starts, and you can read it again from the Help menu at any time. Base is free software under that agreement, with no account and no subscription.
When to use which
Stuck on how to do something in a script: the guide. Something that would make Base better: feedback. Something broken: compact and repair first, then a report. Wondering whether a fix has arrived: check for updates.
It is a short menu, but between those items most questions about Base have somewhere to go.
