Runtime command window

[TamarGranor]

Curious what people are using to provide a runtime Command Window/Line in their apps. I've never had to come up with one before, but I'm working on an FPW -> VFP conversion and the old app has a little utility (that can only be accessed when a certain file is present) that they'd like replaced with something that works better in VFP.

Tamar

 

[Olaf Doschke]

How about Ed Leafe's vRunFox?

https://github.com/EdLeafe/vRunFox

Bye, Olaf.

Olaf Doschke Software Engineering

https://www.doschke.name

 

[Mike Lewis]

Tamar,

I had a requirement about ten years ago for a command window. This was so that developers working at the customer's site could make certain ad hoc changes to the system.

I looked at several possibles, and ended up with Foxbox9.EXE. I don't remember why I chose that one, but I did make some notes at the time. I'll have a look for them over the weekend, and if I find anything useful, I'll report back.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[Mike Gagnon]

We use Ed Leafe's command window for many years.

Mike Gagnon

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

 

[GriffMG]

I use a utility called Browser.exe that I wrote myself - it has the advantage that I can extend it to include
features that don't exist in the language.
I pop a copy on most servers where I need to maintain the data.

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to cut down on the use of shrieks (exclamation marks), I'm told they are !good for you. ​

 

[Nigel Gomm]

absolute necessity for me because my .exe is in hundreds of customer offices none of which have vfp installed.

... and created my own. Obviously the heart of it is an editbox with execscript(this.value) in the valid method.


but it also posts the commands to a support database so i have a history of what was done on each customer's database and requires a temporary password (from me) if someone is trying to delete or update records.

n

 

[Mike Lewis]

requires a temporary password (from me) if someone is trying to delete or update records.

That raises as important point. You need to make very certain that ordinary end-users don't have access to the command window. They could wreak great havoc if they did, not to mention viewing confidentail information.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[GriffMG]

True Mike, but a tool like this is essential from time to time.

If anyone is doing their own thing, one suggestion I have for them in to drop what ever they
type in a command window into _Cliptext BEFORE they execute it.

Can save ages of mistyping the same variable / field name over and over, but not quite right... getting older you see.

B-)

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to cut down on the use of shrieks (exclamation marks), I'm told they are !good for you. ​

 

[Olaf Doschke]

Well, let your command window save itself before executing, so you have a history you can get back to after a crash. Which is another reason to implement the history Nigel talked about besides knowing what the admins did.

Not sure if vFoxRunner has that built in, but it comes with sources and has a login foreseen as calling vRunFoxLogin.fxp, an fxp you can provide doing a log in any way you need. The only weakness of that approach is using managing to create an FRX that simply does RETURN .T., but simply change that within vRunFox code to not make this an external call and implement whatever you need, so this can't be fiddled with.

I also used a certain file existence approach. It has the risc of admins forgetting to delete the file, obviously. But as long as that's only local it has a nice comfort for admins to work in that mode as long as they like without re-login.

Bye, Olaf.



Olaf Doschke Software Engineering

https://www.doschke.name

 

[TamarGranor]

Thanks, all. Looks like I hadn't missed much in my looking around.

Tamar

 

[TamarGranor]

Just wanted to add that I played with vRunFox a little and then was able to successfully integrate it into this complex application.

Tamar

 

[Mike Lewis]

Good to know, Tamar. I'll keep it in mind next time the need arises.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads