The LA Fox Developer Newsletter

January 1995

Pick a Project, Any Project

by Kelly G. Conway, Practical Business Solutions

Since I started developing in FoxPro, it seems that

I always have been working on multiple projects at

the same time. For years, I’ve had an idea that I

should write myself some sort of program that runs

when FoxPro starts up that lets me select the

project I want to work on that session. I figured I

would get it done whenever I “got around to it.”

Well, I never got around to it, so I finally decided to

sit down and write it a while back.

It turned out to be much simpler than I thought and

still is, at least to me, very useful. I thought that I

would share that tool with you this month. The

reason for sharing it is not only so that you may

make use of it (maybe you’ll find it useful for you,

maybe not), but also to give some insight into the

making of such a tool. Also, maybe someone out

there will have a better version already written and

I can learn from their ideas too.

I call my project selection utility DEV (short for

development). That reminds me to give you some

insight into the way I have my development

projects organized on my computer’s hard disk. I

have created a directory off of the root called

“DEV.” I also have created a subdirectory of DEV

for each project on which I am working. I have

contemplated a middle level which would be a

subdirectory for each client. Then all projects for a

particular client would exist in sub-directories under

the client’s subdirectory.

My biggest reason for doing this is to ease back-

ups. All I need to do to back up all of my projects

under development is backup the DEV directory

(and all sub-directories). I also find it convenient to

locate a project I have not worked on for a month

or so. Because I know that they all are located

under DEV, I can look through a shorter list of sub-

directories than I would have to if I placed all of my

projects in separate directories off of the root.

Back to DEV. DEV consists of a simple table

(DEV.DBF) and one program (DEV.PRG). The

table contains one record for each project. The

fields contained in DEV are DE_PROJ (the name

of the project), DE_CLIENT, (the name of the

client) DE_PATH (the directory path were the

project’s top-level directory is located) and DE_SETUP

(an optional program to run when I choose to work on

the project).

I have configured FoxPro so that DEV.PRG is ex-

ecuted when I start FoxPro. I did that by adding

“COMMAND=DO C:\DEV\DEV.PRG” (without the

quotes) to the CONFIG.FPW file in my FoxPro direc-

tory (e.g., C:\FPW26). It also is possible just to “DO

DEV” from the command window after FoxPro already

has started. I use that method too when I stop working

on one project and start working another.

Either way DEV is executed, it reads the records

contained in DEV.DBF and presents me with a pop-up

list of projects from which I may choose to work. I can

use the arrow keys, {PgUp} and {PgDn) (which would

indicate that I am working on far too many projects at

the same time) or {Home} and {End} to move the

highlight to the project I would like to work on. Since

the list of projects is a FoxPro popup list, I also can

type the first few letters of a project and quickly move

the highlight to that project. The list of projects displays

the DE_PROJ field mentioned above and is in alpha-

betical order.

With a project highlighted, I can press {Enter} to

indicate that I wish to work on it. I also can press {Esc)

if I wish to do something besides work on a current

project. If {Esc} is pressed, DEV simply exists, leaving

you in the default working directory for FoxPro.

If I choose a project and press {Enter}, DEV uses the

SET DEFAULT command to put me into the project

directory (as specified in the DE_PATH field of the

current record). DEV then looks to see whether I put

anything in DE_SETUP for the project. If a valid pro-

gram name is in the DE_SETUP field, DEV executes

that program. The program name that I put in

DE_SETUP typically is the program I call SETUP in

each project. That program issues all of the appropri-

ate SET commands for the project, including SET

PATH.

After DEV sets my default and runs the SETUP pro-

gram, I’m ready to work on that project. When I need

to switch over and work on another project, I just issue

“DO \DEV\DEV" in the command window and go

through the process of selecting a project again.

There are some obvious enhancements that could be

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