I just heard that a Product similar to VFP suitable to develop 64 bit application as well as web solution.
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Any one Heard/Tried ....... Visual Dbase
- Thread starter NEE4NEE
- Start date
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- #2
one more link i missed
I have had some experience with dBase III in late 1980s, but switched to FoxBASE in 1990, and has been FoxPro programmer ever since - until last year, where I, on my new job, have to work in VFP and Visual dBase Plus.
What can I tell? dBase is still dBase (albeit Visual), not much different in the syntax from it's ancestor, and not much added functionality either. The same goes for the IDE: aside from visual design capability (similar to that of VB ver. 1.0) - that same XBase look and feel of the 1980s.
At the same time, VFP went so far ahead in all the aspects mentioned, that, after a decade of working in VFPs IDE I was able to navigate and design forms and whatnot in VS 2003/05/08 IDE without any big trouble - which may be understandable, given that both IDE were designed by the same company. That, and the wealth of features and built-in functionality present in VFP, let alone the latter's set of built-in DDL, DML and T-SQL commands, is by long, long miles ahead of all its other xBase "siblings" that are still "alive", and VDB is no exception.
It's a huge loss for the S/W developers community that MS decided to discontinue VFP, decision based totally on monetary basis (profitability). VFP will still be around for a long while, but without the financial strength that MS have had provided - it will eventually slid to the sideways and diminish to a kind of exibit item for a "kunsthaus" so to speak... Very sad!
Now, as for the claims that dBase is 32-bit now - I am yet to see that. And, considering that we are at the beginning of the transition from 32- to the 64-bit OS, we're all yet to see if the dBase, Inc. would be capable of keeping up with this transition.
Let's wait and see!
Regards,
Ilya
What can I tell? dBase is still dBase (albeit Visual), not much different in the syntax from it's ancestor, and not much added functionality either. The same goes for the IDE: aside from visual design capability (similar to that of VB ver. 1.0) - that same XBase look and feel of the 1980s.
At the same time, VFP went so far ahead in all the aspects mentioned, that, after a decade of working in VFPs IDE I was able to navigate and design forms and whatnot in VS 2003/05/08 IDE without any big trouble - which may be understandable, given that both IDE were designed by the same company. That, and the wealth of features and built-in functionality present in VFP, let alone the latter's set of built-in DDL, DML and T-SQL commands, is by long, long miles ahead of all its other xBase "siblings" that are still "alive", and VDB is no exception.
It's a huge loss for the S/W developers community that MS decided to discontinue VFP, decision based totally on monetary basis (profitability). VFP will still be around for a long while, but without the financial strength that MS have had provided - it will eventually slid to the sideways and diminish to a kind of exibit item for a "kunsthaus" so to speak... Very sad!
Now, as for the claims that dBase is 32-bit now - I am yet to see that. And, considering that we are at the beginning of the transition from 32- to the 64-bit OS, we're all yet to see if the dBase, Inc. would be capable of keeping up with this transition.
Let's wait and see!
Regards,
Ilya
Mike Lewis
Programmer
Have I heard of Visual dBASE?
Young man, I'll have you know I was coding in dBASE back in '79. That was dBASE II.
As for Visual dBASE, I attended the launch in Palm Springs in May 1996, and wrote several reviews of it. But it had already been overtaken by Visual FoxPro at that point - and has never caught up.
Mike
__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy
Young man, I'll have you know I was coding in dBASE back in '79. That was dBASE II.
As for Visual dBASE, I attended the launch in Palm Springs in May 1996, and wrote several reviews of it. But it had already been overtaken by Visual FoxPro at that point - and has never caught up.
Mike
__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy
captsnappy
Programmer
Well! I'll jump into the fray: My first experience with xBase coding was with dBase II running under CPM as the OS on Z80 processor Heathkit computers in 1986. So there!
My first exposure was dBase II on CP/M on Televideo computers. It was 1984 or 85.
Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual C# MVP,
Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual C# MVP,
Mike Lewis
Programmer
Craig and Captsnappy,
Interesting that you were both using Z80-based machines and CP/M as late as the mid 1980s. I thought 16-bit processors and MS-DOS had taken over by then. Or is my decrepit memory deceiving me?
Mike
__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy
Interesting that you were both using Z80-based machines and CP/M as late as the mid 1980s. I thought 16-bit processors and MS-DOS had taken over by then. Or is my decrepit memory deceiving me?
Mike
__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy
Dan Freeman
Programmer
CP/M lasted well into the era of DOS. (In fact, I know a developer who finally weaned her last dBaseII client off CP/M just in the last five years.)
I came late to the party, starting with dBase III Plus on an IBM PC/XT. Those were the days when we all thought 10MB hard disks were manna from heaven that would NEVER fill up. These days we wouldn't be able to work with that little RAM. <g>
I came late to the party, starting with dBase III Plus on an IBM PC/XT. Those were the days when we all thought 10MB hard disks were manna from heaven that would NEVER fill up. These days we wouldn't be able to work with that little RAM. <g>
Oh heck, I did some work on a Apple II about the same time. DOS was around then, and slowly winning the battle over CP/M.
Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual C# MVP,
Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual C# MVP,
did some work on a Apple II"
Was it using the DataBase Master program? That is what I cut my Database programming teeth on.
The interesting thing was that it was on black Bell&Howard Apple computers. Apple made special computers for the Bell&Howard company, same case, same insides but in black (not painted but black plastic) very cool looking! Oh and they had special name plates with both the color apple logo and B&H logos.
Lion Crest Software Services
Anthony L. Testi
President
Was it using the DataBase Master program? That is what I cut my Database programming teeth on.
The interesting thing was that it was on black Bell&Howard Apple computers. Apple made special computers for the Bell&Howard company, same case, same insides but in black (not painted but black plastic) very cool looking! Oh and they had special name plates with both the color apple logo and B&H logos.
Lion Crest Software Services
Anthony L. Testi
President
OK for those (1 person) who would like to see what a
B&H Apple ][+ computer looked like try this link:
(Note the ones I programmed did not have the special 'backpack' and had a huge amount of RAM 64K!)
Lion Crest Software Services
Anthony L. Testi
President
B&H Apple ][+ computer looked like try this link:
(Note the ones I programmed did not have the special 'backpack' and had a huge amount of RAM 64K!)
Lion Crest Software Services
Anthony L. Testi
President
I'll date myself. I was designing aplications with Dbase II/III+ and The intro to a multi-user verison of FoxPro called MFoxPlus.
(on an XT Turbo 10 with a whopping 512K of memory) I designed some of the first Popup and pull-down menus even before they started to add the functions to the command codes. Yes, it was DOS 2. something in the 1980s
Didn't the Kay Pro run on CP/M?
I starting programming using Apple II, IIe, II+, Franklin(clone of the IIe) TRS-80 I,II, III, IV some of which had 8 1/4 inch floppy drives. (and everyone had the commadore 64 or 128)
(on an XT Turbo 10 with a whopping 512K of memory) I designed some of the first Popup and pull-down menus even before they started to add the functions to the command codes. Yes, it was DOS 2. something in the 1980s
Didn't the Kay Pro run on CP/M?
I starting programming using Apple II, IIe, II+, Franklin(clone of the IIe) TRS-80 I,II, III, IV some of which had 8 1/4 inch floppy drives. (and everyone had the commadore 64 or 128)
Mrall,
The Kaypro ran both CP/M and DOS. Remember that the early days of the PC, both were fighting it out for supremacy. Misteps by Digital Research caused them to lose the battle.
Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual C# MVP,
The Kaypro ran both CP/M and DOS. Remember that the early days of the PC, both were fighting it out for supremacy. Misteps by Digital Research caused them to lose the battle.
Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual C# MVP,
Mike Lewis
Programmer
Such as Garry Kildall going for a jaunt in his private plane when the IBM guys came calling.
(That story might or might not be true. I heard several versions at the time.)
Mike
__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy
- Thread starter
- #15
Mike Lewis
Programmer
You're right. You asked a sensible question, and all you got back was a lot of ancient programmers looking back on their lost youth.
It would be interesting to look at the possibilities of Visual dBASE, if any.
Mike
__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy
It would be interesting to look at the possibilities of Visual dBASE, if any.
Mike
__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy
- Thread starter
- #17
Thanks mike for understanding my meaning...
one more company is claiming ..... VFP >>>> to Xbase++ 1.9
As this link showing...
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one more company is claiming ..... VFP >>>> to Xbase++ 1.9
As this link showing...
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I recently purchased dBase plus latest version. It is VERY different and much better than the old dBase III which the others above describe. Hoever, it has a 90s look and feel. It does work in a browser. However, it is inferior to VFP except for the ability to port to web automatically. I think the real problem with the program is the stability and durability of the company that purchased the rights. dataBased Intelligence, Inc. (dBI) is the legal heir to the dBASE legend. Created over a quarter century ago, by the founders of Ashton-Tate, and popularized by Borland. They have only slightly upgraded the program they bought from Borland. Most of the programming commands are similar but different enough that you have to recode everything. The "dbf" files are different from VFP but can be used. The indices are different. Most of the MS .vcx don't work in dBase plus.
If dataBased Intelligence, Inc would make a sincere effort to improve the program and let it be able to use items from Visual Studio 2010 in the web platform, then they may have a winner.
If dataBased Intelligence, Inc would make a sincere effort to improve the program and let it be able to use items from Visual Studio 2010 in the web platform, then they may have a winner.
I was working with dBase II , then dBase III and, for to have more performance, I tried MFoxplus.
Then dBase IV arrived. By then, we were very pleased with all the new features (screen generator, menu’s, report builders…), so we start to develop on the new release. Big mistake. It was so buggy, crappy and instable; we almost lost 6 month in development. Then, Foxpro arrived. I never look back
By
Nro
Then dBase IV arrived. By then, we were very pleased with all the new features (screen generator, menu’s, report builders…), so we start to develop on the new release. Big mistake. It was so buggy, crappy and instable; we almost lost 6 month in development. Then, Foxpro arrived. I never look back
By
Nro
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