ContextMenu in VFP 9 SP

[ameedoo3000]

hi all
Is it possible to do ContextMenu in Visual Fox Pro v9 SP2 ?
If possible, what is the appropriate version?
Because the version that I have running on FVP v7 though windows XP.

 

[Olaf Doschke]

Well,

even in this simple case I wouldn't second that fully. To get the exact same look including the themed gradient/colored backgrounds I think is not a feature of VFPX OOP Menu. In the end it just wraps VFPs DEFINE BAR etc. commands in classes, that just is done to make the usage more easy, for example you have to give BAR numbers in the native command and thus adding a BAR at some place means shifting all bar numbers. But this project is not mainly concerned about the visual appearance of menus.

I bet you'll come back and ask how to get some of the effects and the best answer is staying with ContextMenuLib.dll or accept you can't control every pixel.

Even JAva or C# don't offers that full control about every little aspect, but are surely going deeper than VFP. If you program in VFP you decide for a programming language and form and control concept that's not meant to create games or futuristic looks or even just OS looks - at least in that aspect the themed controls adapt to a Windows look somewhat. But all you do to adapt every aspect not fully covered to a certain look has to be changed, when you chnage Windows version. My stance on this is keep off of such customizations, as you end up with XP tele tubby look on Vista or now Win10.

Moving to C# or HTML - another possibility to get more control about OS unspecific looks - means to have to redo a lot more things than are worth it, so if you do that, the looks of your application have to be very important to you and you have to be prepared to redo much stuff again and again just when OS looks change. And it's not only OS looks mattering here, but trends in modern UX driven not only by MS and apple, but by major internet sites and web designers, as todays flat look. That did neither begin with Win8 nor with iOS7, but in the web.

You always will do the wrong decision for some of your users. Some users prefer a unifomr look&feel across all the applications they use, then that can mainly only be satisfied programming by design rules of the OS, or they prefer the look of applications of a certain vendor. These might be called your fans, if you manage to have such users, but those are not the norm, as that may just apply to games and not business applications. In business applications you often don't have a choice of what you use and then have to cope with the different ideas of good UX of different software companies. And while any single concept may be finetuned and well thought about, you end up needing to switch your thinking when using app1, 2 and 3 throughout your working day.

Corporate Idenitity? I think of it as a concept, which works for the logo, the PR looks and commercials, some flyers or manuals, your products, but software and all the competing concepts have so little continuity, that you can expect to be able to give your employees software in a corporate identity look contributing to the feeling of working for a well thought concept of working spaces and workflows.

Another reason I seldom start thinking about a UX concept. Whatever you do will not be liked by all. Plus you seldom have the full screen, which would be important to justify a look differing from the norm. For example I just now used a HTML editor, Mail program, FTP client and Browser side by side to work on a website and all three apps have differing looks. Obviously the website has a differing look, but also the developer tools within the browsers.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[ameedoo3000]

Yes, there is no full-featured program. Yes, I agree with this. Each program has strengths and weaknesses. But the programmer's main reference is psychological comfort and the ability to use the programming language with satisfaction, mastery and innovation.
I have designed a few programes with Visual Basic .NET and with Delphi but there is no psychological comfort with them,In addition to the very complex and complex code and code problems, but with the beginning of use Fox Pro, I found it different in terms of the ease of the program commands, the speed and the possibilities that were not found in other software languages. I am trying to achieve my goals, including a comparison with what I have achieved in the other programming languages.

When I was asking about contextmenu.dll, I thought that the possibilities of Fox Pro do not have these properties because there are fears that the cessation of support for this language by Microsoft in 2009 may cause poverty in the possibilities of this software language.So I wanted to find an assistant program for Fox Pro. But when I found this feature inside the Fox Pro I became very, very happy.

Truly, fox Pro is a beautiful, simple, organized and fast language, and its code commands are easier and more logical than any other language.

In the end, I would like to thank you very much for learning and help and support me .I can not fulfill your right to thank you.

Bye, Ahmed

 

[Olaf Doschke]

When I was asking about contextmenu.dll, I thought that the possibilities of Fox Pro do not have these properties

Well, but what still puzzles me is your citing of that tool installed and working on an older XP machine with VFP7. You can reuse the DLL, as it is a totally independent component neither depending on VFP7 nor XP. You just have to find it and how it is registered to become a full instead of the demo version.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[ameedoo3000]

Thank you dear Olaf.
I really have the capabilities of Fox Pro and do not need more. It is really a wonderful program. I do not need anything else on it.
Thank you very much my dear professor Olaf.