Fox Pro Job Offer

[cassie1964]

Hello,
I have been programming for 16 years starting with Dbase,Fox base, Dbase, Rbase, Clipper, Basic Pro, Visual Basic, Mainframe for the last couple of years. My programming in a Client Server Environment as been with Visual Basic 6.0 using ODBC Direct/Record Sets. With DB2,Sybase,Informix etc. I have been working with VFP 6.0 for two days on something that should be very simple like ODBC/DSN and found out that VB is very simple compared with Visual FoxPro that seems to just be a hacked add on to the language.
Question 1. Is VFP a programming language/ environment that MicroSoft is going to support long term.
Question 2. Simple things like ODBC DSN does not seem to supported by the programming command language. Is it?
Question 3. The commands in VFP 6.0 seem to me tobe OLD compared to VB 6.0 and .Net.
Question 4. Should I take this job.
Question 5. Help file for VFP 6.0 can I download it from somewhere?

Sincereyly,
Cassie

 

[chpicker]

1. My opinion is YES. They just released a new version last year, are already developing the next version, and there are quotes from Microsoft spokespeople stating that they will continue to support it.

2. VFP has its own ODBC driver, although the focus is moving to OLEDB instead. In order to make connections to other ODBC drivers, you have to create a database container and make a Remote View.

3. There are a LOT of old commands in VFP because it is completely backward compatible to previous versions. It can be programmed using structured programming and OOP both.

4. There isn't a straight answer to this, of course. Were it me, I would take it. )

5. Kinda. You mentioned VFP 6, and the docs for version 6 aren't available anymore. You can go to

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library,

open Visual Tools, and select Visual FoxPro, but you'll find the help files for version 7. Most of the information would apply to 6 as well, but you won't be able to tell by looking whether a given item is for 6 or 7.

Hope that helps.

Ian

 

[wjs2]

Cassie1964,

You might check to see if there is the CD's of the MSDN Library for Visual Studio 6.0 or Visual Fox 6.0 laying around somewhere that everyone has forgotton about. I think this has the help files you are looking for. Those CD's were included as part of the Visual Studio and Visual Fox install packages.

Good luck what ever your choice. When you get used to it, programming in Visual Fox can actually be fun. Can't say that for all the languages I've used.

 

[PTCruiserII]

You can't come to this forum and expect objective evaluations about FOXPRO. Most of us would rather die than switch because we know that VFP is the best programming environment ever created. And Microsoft can't kill it - no matter how hard they try. They can take my VFP 6 from me, when they pull the CD from my cold dead fingers.

 

[kindred]

Also in my opinion...

1. Yes i believe MS will support it long-term, during one stage in the beta phase of Visual Studio .Net you could write foxpro code (non-visual) and step through any of the vs langauages all in one debugger. Which also allowed you to directly imbed foxpro code in another vs language. A sorely missed feature. So from that thought, certainly MS will support it in the long term.

2. foxpro doesn't need a odbc driver or even oledb driver to communicate with foxpro data. This is a native format to foxpro, but if your using VB 6.0 or VB .Net, id recommend using foxpro 7 (it has a oledb driver finally) which allows for stored procedures and is supposed to be faster as well.

3. There are old commands in vb as there are in foxpro. Such as modifying a file in vb can be done with old file command codes, but ms recommends the filesytemobject instead under vb.

4. If your decently comfortable with ado under vb, then certainly, take the job.

5. id recommend just getting fox 7, the learning curve is minimal.


Stephen

 

[cassie1964]

Thank you All.

Quote From Microsoft Support

Microsoft Corp 1-800 support just told me that Fox Pro X.X is not considered by Microsoft Dev/TechNet as a Programming Language. This is why it is a stand alone product. This is why as a programmer I was expecting a RICH command set like VB, C++ and .Net. I do appreciate that this is a Fox Pro Expert Form and this is why I posted my questions.
Microsoft told me; “like any product sold today, you expect to make money. They will continue to support and make enhancements until such time it is no longer feasible. Most Fox Pro Apps today will someday be redone for the .NET world. But this could take time another 10 years or so”

Sincerely,
Cassie.

 

[jonscott8]

Honestly, I think the bigger question is why the job was offered to you in the first place?

1) Anyone with the amount of experience in VB that you claim to have, knows what and where the MSDN is. There you can find almost all the help you need with VFP, especially something as simple as - what commands are available and how to use them.

2) VB HAS A RICH COMMAND SET??? I beg to differ. VB's native command set is anemic in comparison to VFP. VB relies heavily on COM & ActiveX - both of which VFP is just as able to implement.

IRT your Quote from MS Support - Sounds as if your dictation skills need refreshing. VFP was removed from VS because it will not sit atop CLR in the form of .NET. Jon Hawkins

 

[cassie1964]

Hello Jon,
Thank you for your feedback.
1) Job offer was not just about Fox Pro. It was about rewriting OLD, Fox Pro App into XML and Java,.Net Apps, web based n-tier applications. I have no skills on VFP and yet in 13 hours I managed to create an application. (No help)
2) I do have MSDN BUT my computer does not have a DVD player. So I just wanted the help file to copy to my hard disk.
2) I never posted any questions about VFP commands and how to use them. Sorry, Not sure what this is all about.
3) Back-Office Batch Programming with AS400, DB2, HP-Unix Informix, MS SQL, SAP and JDE One world Servers. FAST Data Warehouses Access (10G Bytes). VB, C++ gives the programmer unlimited LOW LEVEL control, Small EXE’s. Visual Fox Pro is a HIGH LEVEL, Visual Object oriented, single tier client development tool , with a integrated relational database, and reporting capabilities. An all in one dev tool. Power Builder is it main competition.
4) I ask questions to learn. I am not perfect. Please keep an open mind.

Sometimes you should read between the lines. ..!..

Sincerely,
Cassie

 

[jonscott8]

1) The MSDN is online. You got internet?

2) "Simple things like ODBC DSN does not seem to supported by the programming command language. Is it?"

Open-minded??? While after only 2 days, "seems to just be a hacked add on to the language."
Jon Hawkins

 

[DarrenWard]

I will try and bring some objectivity to the question.

I have been programming for nearly 15 years, but am the first to point out that I am not primarily a programmer.
I have historically concentrated on various versions of Basic but have used other languages over the years.

For the last 6 years I have been doing a lot of VB programming so would say that if anything I do come from that camp.

I bought a copy of VFP6 a month or so ago, and have already put together some useful applications that are being used by 100 or so users on my company network.

The development environment and construction techniques are different from VB and did cause me some problems in the early days. I say early days, as I feel that I have an understanding of the product already.

I can use all my favourite activex controls as in VB, but the main huge advantage is that I now have this wonderful GUI combined with a database connection that go's like stink.

The learning curve was not huge, but I do still have a way to travel on it. I have always been under the impression that if you can program you can program, it’s the syntax that changes not your skills.

VFP is a powerful tool that has a command set that compares to anything else that I have used.

I see it as an additional to my programming toolbox not a replacement for what is already in there.

Take the time to learn it, opening a database and having immediate control sure beats all that ODBC stuff I had to do in VB.

Dazz

NB. I have just completed an app that crunches through our sales order and transport system database (FoxPro 2.6) and compares the information to our debit note/returns database (Access) and it works faster than anything that I could have written in VB. It is not just propriety database software but a real language in it's own right, and I (even as a VB user) can not understand Microsoft or anyone else having that point of view. (Like Harry Potter's schooling, I can't do anything without a spell checker)

 

[hdc]

Question 1. Is VFP a programming language/ environment that MicroSoft is going to support long term.
My opinion: Certainly.

Question 2. Simple things like ODBC DSN does not seem to supported by the programming command language. Is it?
My opinion: Actually it supports some critical ODBC DSN like SQL. The support is quite good, at least it satisfies my needs. For the other ODBC, I've little experience.

Question 3. The commands in VFP 6.0 seem to me to be OLD compared to VB 6.0 and .Net.
My opinion: I am still using VFP 3.0 HAPPILY.

Question 4. Should I take this job.
My opinion: That's hard to say. Traditional XBASE always has its market but it doesn't seem to have a big expansion in the future. Just consider VFP as a front end development tools for menu and control. Leave the back end to SQL. Then the combination will be very power.
VFP can be very simple. It can also be very complicated. It depends on how much you want to take from it. I have a suite of books (8 volumes) that is 1 foot thick. However you can start using VFP by reading half an inch.