Applications ?royalty-free ?.EXE ?native code 1

[oztb]

I am a Clipper programmer emerging from 6 years semi-retirement and evaluating various development tools.  What does VisFoxPro produce in terms of a marketable application?  Does it produce compiled .EXE etc?  Is it interpretive like dBase?  Any help to understand this appreciated. Thanks, oztb

 

[dgrewe]

VFP is still an low level interpretive language.<br>Yes it does compile into stand alone exe's.<br>VFP is now owned by MicroSoft and has been included into the Visual Studio Family. It basically intermingles with C++, Java, and VB and has moved into producing HTML code. It also now has drivers for MS SQL Server 7.0 database so any file size limatation is eliminated.&nbsp;&nbsp;You can assess SQL 7.0 database without any code changes.<br><br>Hope is brief statement answers your questions <p>David W. Grewe<br><a href=mailtoave@internationalbid.net>Dave@internationalbid.net</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[foxdev]

VFP doesn't quite build truly standalone EXEs; you'll still need the VFPRUN DLLs, but effectively you can build an app and setup disks that contain everything a user would need to install and run the application, and royalty free.<br><br>Its true that when you access a remote data source such as SQL Server you are bound only by the remote system's limitations, but the limit on native Fox tables remains at 2Gb (which is the same limitation for the now-free MSDE data engine).<br><br>OZTB, Fox remains and outstanding choice for many types of applications.&nbsp;&nbsp;Other products to consider include Delphi. <p>Robert Bradley<br><a href=mailto: > </a><br><a href=

http://www.foxdev.com/>FoxDev

- Visual FoxPro Development</a><br>

 

[oztb]

Many thanks to David & Robert.&nbsp;&nbsp;I could not ascertain this info from the on-line material I have viewed. -oztb.

 

[SMCmtg]

To Dave/Robert: For us in the balcony. . can you clarify what you mean be &quot;low level&quot; interpretive as vs what? and the limit on &quot;native&quot; tables. . .2gb vs ?<br>THX

 

[foxdev]

I won't answer for David, but VFP has (and has had for years) a limit of 2 gigabytes for any single native (DBF) table, regardless of whether it is a part of a DBC or not.&nbsp;&nbsp;Given the advancement of current operating systems, one has to assume that the 2Gb limit is one that is perpetuated for reasons beyond simple disk volume limitations.&nbsp;&nbsp;MSDE, the freely-distributed and distributable scaled down SQL Server, also has a 2 Gb total <i>database</i> (not single table) size limitation.&nbsp;&nbsp;I would assume this was a business decision, not a technical one.<br><br>When VFP connects to remote data sources such as MS SQL Server or MySQL or Oracle or Access, the size limitation (if any) is imposed by the host, not by VFP.&nbsp;&nbsp;Therefore, VFP can work just fine with a table of 5Gb in size if that table resides in MS SQL Server.&nbsp;&nbsp;If you tried to make a cursor from that remote data, and the cursor exceeded 2Gb, I have no idea whether it would work.&nbsp;&nbsp;Even so, a cursor is a temporary object, so I don't think there's any viable workaround there. <p>Robert Bradley<br><a href=mailto: > </a><br><a href=

http://www.foxdev.com/>FoxDev

- Visual FoxPro Development</a><br>

 

[JDurbin]

2GB = max for signed 32bit integer <p>John Durbin<br><a href=mailto: > </a><br><a href= > </a><br>ICQ VFP ActiveList #73897253

 

[dgrewe]

Do not have a text book available to give you the correct defination of a low level language but here are the language break out a nut shell answer.<br><br>A High level language is one like Machine Code.<br>You write code directly in the form the computer needs to read it without any other to assistance.<br><br>A Mid level language is on like C++<br>You write code that requires a complier to transform the code from a version a human can understand into a form the computer can understand. This code does not require a run time module to operate as a stand alone EXE.<br><br>A low level languauge is one like FoxPro, dBase, Basic Clipper, QuickSilver:<br>Normally they are written in a Mid or High level language. Fox is now written in MicroSoft C++&nbsp;&nbsp;(Shame, MS screwed it up when they stopped using WhatCom C). It Requires an translator to translate human code (Prg) into a Pusdo code (Fxp). Then a Compiler to transform the Pusdo code into a code the language it was written in so that language can understand the code and run it.&nbsp;&nbsp;All low level languages require a Run Time Module or the main application to operate as a Stane Alone EXE. All low level languages a read one line of code at a time, run through the interpertior (Run Time Module), that line of code executed and then another line of code read (ect). Low level languages run slower then Mid level languages because of this interpertior. <p>David W. Grewe<br><a href=mailtoave@internationalbid.net>Dave@internationalbid.net</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[SMCmtg]

To: Robert/John/David THX, THX, THX

 

[JDurbin]

David I think you have that backwards.  Machine level is as low as you get.  Then up to Assembly which is still low level.<p>John Durbin<br><a href=mailto: > </a><br><a href= > </a><br>ICQ VFP ActiveList #73897253

 

[AbleA]

John,<br><br>I agree with you, but to avoid misunderstanding by others reading this thread I believe your comment needs clarifying.<br><br>Low-level language:&nbsp;&nbsp;Machine code<br><br>High-level language:&nbsp;&nbsp;BASIC, Fortran, FoxPro, etc<br><br>An application using a low-level language would be expected to run more quickly than one using a high-level language.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, high-level languages are easier to work with and have more powerful constructs so that application development is far quicker (IMHO anyway). <p>Andy Blay<br><a href=mailto:a.d.blay@talk21.com>a.d.blay@talk21.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[dgrewe]

Your Right, I had them upside down.<p>David W. Grewe<br><a href=mailtoave@internationalbid.net>Dave@internationalbid.net</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[khoona]

Marketable applications come in two basic flavors:&nbsp;&nbsp;Win32 and web-enabled.&nbsp;&nbsp;Coming from a Clipper background, the web-enabled apps may actually use more of your existing database language knowledge, while doing Win32 GUI's means you'll have to get used to the object-oriented, event-driven aspects of the language, which are unlike Clipper and more similar to VB, though Fox 6 has a more full-blown inheritance capability than VB.&nbsp;&nbsp;Visual Studio 7 will change than, as VB will get full OOP.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>Fox getting up to speed in VFP, I highly recommend getting one (or more) of the Visual FoxPro books from <A HREF="

http://www.hentzenwerke.com.&nbsp"

TARGET="_new">

http://www.hentzenwerke.com.&nbsp</A>;&nbsp;These

are the best books for VFP, but they didn't sell enough copies to keep QUE, etc interested in publishing them.<br><br>I've worked in Fox for 10 years and am doing a presentation tomorrow night for the local user group on using XML with FoxPro and SQL-Server.&nbsp;&nbsp;So I'm a biased developer.

 

[JDurbin]

I think Que published Using Visual FoxPro 6 <p>John Durbin<br><a href=mailto: > </a><br><a href= > </a><br>ICQ VFP ActiveList #73897253