How many of you have left 8.0 for 9.0?

[FBM357]

It appears as though many have made the leap. For some odd reason, 8.0 seemed to be available for less than a year before 9.0 became available. Is 9.0 really better than 8.0 or less? If so, what do you love so much about 9.0?

Curious to know....

Thanks,

Vernon

 

[Mike Gagnon]

Vernon

I personally enjoy the use of GDI in reports, forms etc...Certainly enhances the look of an application.
Take a look at this link.
Here is what in new to Visual Foxpro 9


Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first.

 

[FBM357]

Mike,

I haven't had enough time to 'really' look @ 9.0. However, from the link you provided, there's quite a bit added (from what I've briefly read). I'm seriously considering upgrading (personally, as I'll probably have to wait a while if my job agrees - i.e. red tape). Lots of SQL compatibility and major improvements in the report area... good stuff.

Thanks,

Vernon

 

[craigber]

VFP 9.0 is definately worth it. More stable than previous versions and great new features.

Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual FoxPro MVP,

http://www.craigberntson.com

Author, CrysDev: A Developer's Guide to Integrating Crystal Reports"

 

[Mike Lewis]

Vernon,

I haven't "left" 8.0 for 9.0. I am using them both, plus 7.0 and occasionally 6.0.

It's not that I enjoy switching between multiple versions. It's just that independent developers like myself often don't have a choice. We have to use whichever version is mandated by the client. My main client is in the process of going from 8.0 to 9.0, and I am happy to follow.

Personally, I am very pleased with 9.0. It has several features that justify the cost of the upgrade. For me, support for varchars in remote views is a big benefit. But your needs will be different, so you will have to look at the list of new features and decide for yourself.

By the way, Craig mentions that it is "more stable" than previous versions. Microsoft has made that claim for every version since 5.0. You would think there would be a limit to how stable a program can be. Can we expect that all the instabilities will eventually be removed, and they can no longer make the claim? If only it were so.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[craigsboyd]

Very pleased with VFP 9.0 here as well. It would take some time to reccount all the useful features it provides above and beyond it's predecessors. Reporting, dockable forms, shape and line enhancements, database enhancements, developer productivity enhancements, the list goes on and on. I more than recouped my investment 1 day after the upgrade arrived, and had a lot of very happy customers soon thereafter. It is definately worth the price.

I, like Mike Lewis, work in previous versions of VFP. It is always driven by customer requirements when I am not using/developing in the newest version of VFP.

Having been through every major release of FP since the days of 2.6a, I'd say that this is one of the better releases to come along, if not the best so far. I was pleasantly surprised on a number of fronts when I installed it and started working with it. I am convinced that any serious VFP developer would also not regret purchasing VFP 9.

http://www.sweetpotatosoftware.com

 

[TamarGranor]

Lots and lots of reasons, but a biggie for me is the additional SQL capabilities. I just answered a question on another thread here with a query that wasn't possible in VFP 8 and earlier versions.

Tamar

 

[awaresoft]

I've started porting projects to VFP 9 and haven't hit any problems yet. Actually this porting process is moving ahead much faster and smoother than I thought.

I haven't started to port reports to VFP 9's report listener engine. But most of our reports are Word based documents vs. traditional reports so this isn't that big a deal.

Features allowing me to simplify code include no practical limit on array sizes or recursion and the enhanced string functions (trim accepting chars to trim and strextract returning matches with optional delimiters).

Regarding GUI features, there's the new autocomplete properties for textboxes. I love this functionality but [nitpicking mode on] am a little disappointed in the esthetics of the autocomplete dropdowns - actually my only complaint about VFP 9 so far.

Overall I've found VFP 9 to be an absolute pleasure to use. I am very satisfied with this purchase.

Malcolm

 

[rgbean]

I'm with Mike, I still regularly use VFP 6.0 SP5, VFP 8.0 SP1 and VFP 9.0. Although I often use 9.0 to make the updates on all the projects - of course being carefull not to use any new features - then just recompile them in the older platform for distribution.

Rick

 

[wgcs]

I, too, have switched from 8.0 to 9.0 (hardly doing any work in v8, it did seem like it wasn't out long).

The biggest improvements to me were (Descending importance):

BINDEVENT to windows messages
CREATEOBJECT('EMPTY') works
Built-in Autocomplete for textboxes
Collections can be rowsource for ListBoxes
ICASE()
create complex shapes / Rotate labels

( I think there was another addition which I can't remember, that made VFP9 seem Absolutely necessary... TRY..CATCH did it for VFP8 )

- Bill

Get the best answers to your questions -- See FAQ481-4875.

 

[dbMark]

My #1 reason in favor of VFP 9 is that I was part of a project where we had to place OMR bars (a technology simpler than bar codes) on every page of a report, tens of thousands each month too. Prior VFP versions would only allow stationary code in headers or footers, but a header or footer taking up a third of the page was out of the question. VFP 9 beta had just been released and we discovered just in time that it had a new report functionality where watermarks can be placed anywhere on the page. That plus the system report variable _pagetotal resolved all issues, saved our skins, and our team did not have to pull out all our hair and go bald. We did all that in late 2004 using the beta version for free!

 

[GriffMG]

Hi,

I'm still using versions 5, 6 and now a shiny new 9!

New projects are all being done in version 9, but my older ones stay in the version they were developed in. I haven't figured out the best way to get remote users to update the runtime environment - in some cases I can see it would be worth it, but in others, I'm not sure.

VFP 9 is MUCH better than 6 though - I find the development evironment easier and the finished products seem very reliable.

Sometimes the report designer crashes, if I am working constantly creating/modifying reports - I think it must be a resources thing. I've learnt to SAVE a lot while I'm working - likewise for forms (just once in a while I loose a bit of work).

Well done MS (don't often say that!)

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

 

[rob444]

I've been using Foxpro 2.6, VFP6, VFP7 and VFP8 up until now.
Being very content with VFP9 I've moved these "oldies" to backup storage and only use VFP9 now.
And.. I'm more than pleased with it.

Rob.