TFP vs TF5

[Helmut Janetzko]

Hi,

I have now tested TFP extensively, and I’m wondering: what has actually changed?

First, I migrated my 4 GB TF5 database to TFP on my Mac. Everything worked perfectly.
Then I synchronized using iCloud with my iPad and iPhone … that also worked flawlessly.

So now I have my database in TFP, and everything looks exactly the same as before.
What has actually changed? Forms, fields, layouts, scripts – editing – everything is just like it was before.

The layout is a bit nicer, but the handling of the whole program and the programming itself … nothing has changed at all.
And the new templates for forms? Nobody needs them. You can create much better ones yourself.
Even script editing is exactly like it was in TF5. No modernization visible.
Old wine in new bottles. I’m honestly a bit disappointed!

So, where is the added value of the Pro version?

So far, I don’t see any … I’m still in the two-week trial phase, and as it stands, I’ll probably stick with TP5.

[Bryan]

Interesting! I was looking to upgrade from TF5 to TFP. Now I may wait.

Did you ever get a response to your post?

Bryan

[Brendan]

Whoops. I didn’t see the original post. So sorry about that.

There’s a ton of new things and improvements in Tap Forms Pro.

Please see this page for a list of many of the new features in Tap Forms Pro:

https://www.tapforms.com/new-features

If the new Template Library is not your thing, that doesn’t mean it’s not useful for other people. There’s always going to be features that some find useful and features some don’t find useful. Everyone has their own needs. Many people would find the Template Library useful so they can import templates into any documents they like. The old version required you to open the specific Sample Forms document, export whatever you wanted from there and imported into your other documents. Plus I can add new form templates to the library at any time and the entire Tap Forms Pro community will get them.

Script editing has been greatly enhanced. It uses a new scripting engine that supports snippets, better code completion, and the ability to access other forms’ fields without having to exit the script editor and go find the other form and take note of the field Ids for use in your code. The script editor is now modeless so you can have multiple script windows opened at the same time.

Plus Cascading Pick Lists, Tags, the ability to have your documents in a location that you determine rather than Tap Forms only looking in its own hidden container folder for documents. Full Dark Mode support even with the ability to selectively turn it on and off for the sidebar and custom layouts. Search counts, sidebar icon sizes, forms and search lists in the menus, sync with other Apple ID accounts that are not your own, the new reporting engine, and so much more.

If all that disappoints you, then I would recommend taking another look because perhaps you missed all those things.

I also wanted to make sure that people coming from Tap Forms 5 were able to use Tap Forms Pro without having to think too hard about how to use it. So it would feel comfortable, yet modern, with all the new things you can explore as time permits.

Thanks,

Brendan

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