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AUGUST1990
NEWSLETTER OF ThE LOS ANGELES AREA
FOXPRO
/ FOXBASE USER GROUP
FoxPro and the Future
The problem with these solutions is the
by Randy Unruh
lack of standards and the formidable
It seems that a possible development learning curve to effectively utilize them.
for FoxPro this year will be an open at- Nantucket is attempting to address this
chitecture similar to Clipper’s. The word with replaceable file drivers (a way to ad-
on the street is that Fox Software will dress different data file types) in Clipper
attempt to design an open architecture 5.0 and Fox Software reportedly has a
system compatible with the Clipper Ex- database server project in the works.
tend system. What this means, if it comes aside from the connectivity issue in
to pass, is that FoxPro
will
be able to run the Dbase Language world there are
third party libraries written for Clipper several other areas that have not been
with little or no modifications. The
pos-
addressed in the past and issues that will
sibilities for developers to pick and choose need to be addressed in the future. The
to meet the requirements of any given following is an excerpt from a letter I
project will be numerous and will require wrote to the president of Fox Software,
careful thought and a great deal of sup. David Fulton:
port. This necessary support will spawn a
If,
as a
user,
I
may request some
whole new area of Dbase language niche features
for future versions
of
FoxPro
business for professional consultants just
then allow
me
to
presume
on your
as Clipper’s open architecture spawned
tolerance
a
bit
further. In my opinion
the third party library vendor business,
one
of
the
great
lacks
(and
strengths)
The drawback will be the areas where of the Dbase
world
is
the limited (but
the Dbase languages are traditionally
simple
to use)
.dbf file
structures and
weak. Connectivity is probably the
the
lack
of a
data dictionary.
Since
Fox
primary weakness of Dbase for the cor-
recognized
as a
standard for
porate world. Clipper can be used as a the
Dbase language
i
believe that
Fox
front end for the Gupta SQL Base server
will
find
even
greater
acceptance
with
through The Library from Planet a
more generous file
structure
with
Software and as a front end for the Novell
longer field
names and
more
data
SQL server through the library RASQL
types.
FoxPro could
work with
both
the
from Communications Horizons. Other
old
and
new .dbf file types and the
new
software/hardware combinations provide structure
could be
differentiated
from
connections to mainframe sessions
through the IBM HILLAPI standard.
continued
on
page 13
President’s
Report
by Greg Dunn
ibis month we are fortunate to have
Joel Kneisley, direct from Fox Software,
as our speaker. Come with plenty of
questions!
We Have a Home!
Thanks to one of our members, Pam
Leslie, and to the hospitality of her
employer, Southern California Edison,
we now have a “permanent” home. Our
new meeting room will be at Edison’s
facility in Long Beach. Located just three
blocks past the end of the Long Beach
Freeway (710) at 100 Long Beach
Boulevard (near the Long Beach Con.
vention Center), the facility will seat 100
people comfortably. We are
very
grateful
to Pam and others at Edison who are
making this possible!
But One More Thursday
Meeting...
Our August meeting will again be on
a Thursday night, this time
that
we can
take advantage of the presence in town of
our speaker from Fox Software. Note
that it is not “the second Thursday”, but
rather the “Thursday after the second
Tuesday.” Easier still just to remember
“the 16th”!
...Then
Back
to Tuesdays
Beginning in September we will return
to our plan of “second Tuesday” meet-
ings. For that meeting we tentatively
plan a panel and an open Q&Asession on
Foxbase and FoxPro. If you’re interested
in participating on the panel, which will
involve preparing a 10-minute presenta-
tion, please let a member of the steering
committee know. More on this next
month!
Call for Presenters and
Authors
If you’re interested in being a
presenter at one of our group meetings,
please contact me (Greg Dunn), Charles
Williams, or one of the other steering
committee members. We’d like to see a
demo of your vertical market Foxbase or
FoxPro application; a discussion of how
you handled a particular technical prob.
lem; or other
things
that would be of
interest to members. There’s no better
continued on page 12
August
Meeting
Topic:
"Foxbase, FoxPro, and Fox Software Inc."
PRESENTER Joel Knelsley Fox Software
DATE:
Thursday, 16 August 1990
TIME. 7:3OPM
PLACE: Southern Cailtornia Edison
100 Long Beach Boulevard
(1 blk ri. of Ocean BIvd, Thomas Guide map 75 C5)
tong Beach
1st FIoor Con1erence Room
Everything you always wanted tO ask Fox Software but
couldn’t because you didn’t want to go to Toledo!
ADMISSION $5 TO NON-MEMBERS
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