Visual FreePro development resumes 8

[foxmuldr3]

I'm going to be resuming development on Visual FreePro, Jr. It plans to clone the VFP9 operational environment and add some new functionality. I'm going to be focused on compatibility with existing source code and features presently so that existing code bases will gain a new lease on life regardless of what Microsoft update might break existing VFP functionality.

If any of you would like to participate ... please! Jump on board!

--
Rick C. Hodgin

 

[Steve Yu]

... that is the market for the product. In short, are there enough potential users in the world to justify the time and effort involved? ... especially given that the market for VFP in general is shrinking rapidly....

Sadly that is the state of VFP as a viable software product, excellent as we all know it is

How many of us would switch back to VFP development if Microsoft announced today they were resuming VFP10 development?

Yes. probably most of the people in this forum would; and actually we are still working with the product anyway, regardless.
But the problem is, dare I ask, "how many of us here are under 50 years old ?"
Recently I asked a freelancer on one of the talent search websites for help with an API http call to a major web portal that I'm having problem with in my VFP code.
All I needed from him was tell me what's wrong with how I format my JSON payload for the http request; a JSON object is a JSON object in any language I thought.
Wrong, he simply responded flatly, 'sorry, I can only give you Python coding as a demo' even I made clear to him I'll pay whatever his hourly rate is whether it works or not.
Young guys (from his profile) just don't want to tough this thing.

Kudos to foxmuldr3 for his valiant and ambitious attempt to revive the waning interest in VFP; best luck.

Steve Yu

 

[DobsRock]

Could you use AI/Chat GPT to help with your JSON format? I use it from time to time and it is great with all kinds of languages old and new.

 

[DobsRock]

It's not asking it legally worldwide, I think, but Mike convinced me at least VFPA could stand a chance against an MS lawsuit in/for parts of the world that override the copyright act under specific circumstances. This means it becomes legal to fix and extend such a product and to provide it commercially, too.

We use it a lot, runs a good deal of our company as well as Windows Code, VMS, IBM I- series stuff. A real good mix of super old, kinda old, and modestly new technology on a coding basis. Our web stuff order entry and the likes are in Alpha Anywhere (great product) and we have things purchased written in code that was popular in the 90s and perhaps 00s.. Amazing how well it all comes together.

 

[GriffMG]

@Steve Yu - 62 here

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.

There is no place like G28 X0 Y0 Z0
​

 

[DobsRock]

I'd like to add on the age front the guy who does our Alpha Development is 72

 

[Chris Miller]

DobsRock, are you talking of VFPA or Rick C. Hodgin Visual FreePro now?

By the way, I'm close to retiring, agewise, too.

Chriss

 

[DobsRock]

DobsRock, are you talking of VFPA or Rick C. Hodgin Visual FreePro now?

Sorry VFP now and FreePro in the future. Responding to both I guess.

 

[Steve Yu]

@GriffMG
@Chris Miller
@DobsRock

I thought so.
Life goes on.

 

[ggreen61]

I think the age point is valid for any new development in VFP. There are not many new people (younger) looking into VFP as a development platform. So, the future beyond the current developer base is limited and will continue to dwindle. My self, I am in my mid 60's. I had semi-retired before covid hit in order to build my own house (acted as my own general contractor and did a lot of the actual work myself). During that 1-1/2 years to build the house I was busy. I went back to contract work after that. I had tried the retirement again at the beginning of last year; but I found that I was bored as I did not have a plan for retirement that kept me busy. Now I am back at contracting full-time. I like the contracting as I generally can take time away from work as needed (only constrained by the project demands and schedule).

I now only do VFP development to support several applications that I wrote for non-profits and my daughter's business (I also run my business on my VFP application). The work that Rick is doing may attract new developers -- many people around the world like/prefer open source to commercial based solutions. Open source has the advantage from my perspective that all can see the source code and make improvements or identify bugs or bad behaviors. Also, given that many commercial businesses now want to capture your personal data for their purposes (bad behavior), not having the source code public allows them to act covertly. Open source allows all to see what is actually being done by the application.

Greg

 

[Steve Yu]

The work that Rick is doing may attract new developers -- many people around the world like/prefer open source to commercial based solutions

Strictly on technology terms this may be true. Or it may not.
Another Rick many of us here also know, Rick Strahl of West Wind fame, has already done a tremendous job extending the capabilities of VFP among his other accomplishments. Our website and many others I'm sure is based on his work, beating ASP by a mile with seamless integration with VFP databases. We also employ the many essential internet utilities he wrote to consume web services, keeping us connected to today's web environment.
But unless VFP is picked back up from the floor by a major corporation (think JAVA/Oracle) the future is not clear at all.

Steve Yu

 

[DobsRock]

I think the age point is valid for any new development in VFP. There are not many new people (younger) looking into VFP as a development platform.

Agreed, unless somehow it could create native mobile apps and websites.
Even in the Alpha Anywhere world, the developers are a bit older as well. Europe still has a big VFP/xBase following. Claris/Filemaker is still going strong as well.
In the US everything is hinged around .NET/Java/Python and the likes. Oracles Apex is a really nice product as well.

Where I'm currently at, the ERP software industry is shrinking and most of our peers a writing their own systems. Some have tried MS Dynamics and another industry solution written in .NET and they walked away after much frustration or not working as promised. Unless you have a pretty generic business that fits into what is currently available, it's tough. Good software is hard to find for specific industries. To boot, it's so expensive and time-consuming that the company will cease to exist unless everything goes well.

 

[foxmuldr3]

For my part, I think Visual FoxPro, if you were to add some general purpose networking and graphics abilities, would be the best developer platform ever created.

I hope to not only replicate, but extend it. Visual FreePro, Jr. has every major component framed, and it is literally sbout 30% completed. Framing the design was hard. Most of the rest is just routine grunt work.

--
Rick C. Hodgin

 

[Pieter Koemans]

How about implementing a api to execute python code directly in vfp so you can mix xbase and python while leaving the vfp part intact.
This will create a whole new set off tools and libraries and certainly will get the attention of many developpers.

 

[foxmuldr3]

How about implementing a api to execute python code directly in vfp so you can mix xbase and python while leaving the vfp part intact.
This will create a whole new set off tools and libraries and certainly will get the attention of many developpers.

Pieter, I will never support Python in Visual FreePro. I will, however, support ActiveX/OLE, and DLLs. I'm sure someone out there has created a python ActiveX/OLE object, and if not someone could implement it that way as an add-on, one that would be as easy to use as loPy = CREATEOBJECT("Python.Object") and then loPy.* as needed.

I would, however, implement a Perl API.

--
Rick C. Hodgin