The LA Fox Developer Newsletter

July 1995

Visual FoxPro (Con't from page 5) Microsoft SQL Server back-end servers, development-focused wizards, an Icon Editor and hundreds of additional graphics files, a graphical help file, and the online Win32=AE application programming interface (API) programmers reference.

Class Browser. The class browser in Visual FoxPro, Professional Edition, allows developers to trace class hierarchy in their solutions graphically, and can be used to view, use and manage classes and their user-defined members and components. The class browser displays interrelationships between classes in a visual class library file (.VCX), and can be used to open single or multiple visual class libraries or form files (.SCXs) with the purpose of subclassing a new class, and redefining, removing and renaming a class. The Visual FoxPro class browser will also display the actual code behind classes in a visual class library. The developer can leverage this capability to learn object syntax by studying this code and can make changes to the code based on development objectives.

OLE Controls. An OLE Control allows users to add OLE Objects tu applications. OLE thjects include OLE Controls and insertable OLE objects from other applications such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. The Professional Edition of Visual FoxPro ships with additional development-focused OLE Controls designed to simplify the process of building robust Visual FoxPro solutions, including OLE Controls designed to add mail functionality to Visual FoxPro solutions and to view files in an outline hierarchy.

Upsizing Tools. The Upsizing Tools built right into the Professional Edition of Visual FoxPro allow developers to automate the process of upsizing data from Visual FoxPro to Microsoft SQL Server completely. The Upsizing Wizard preserves the database structure, including data, indexes and defaults. It also automatically converts the Visual FoxPro validation rules to Microsoft SQL Server equivalents. Lastly, all of the relationships and referential integrity will be maintained after upsizing

Developer-Focused Wizards. The Professional Edition of Visual FoxPro allows developers to create executable files that are royalty free and unlimited in terms of distribution. The executable can be run on

any PC that meets the system requirements for Visual FoxPro, and Visual FoxPro does not have to be installed on the run-time machine. The Setup Wizard in Visual FoxPro, Professional Edition, creates a setup routine for an application over a network or can create a set of disk image directories containing all the files needed to install an application. Visual FoxPro, Professional Edition, provides a distributable file that can be installed to take full advantage of all Windows operating systems:

Windows 3.x, Windows 95 and Windows NT. Developers who build and distribute applications through the Setup Wizard can choose to distribute open database connectivity (ODBC) drivers and MS Graph applications and can automatically register OLE files if they are included with their solution.

Online Development Reference. The CD-ROM version of Visual FoxPro, Professional Edition, contains an online version of the Win32 programmers reference. The Microsoft Win32 API allows applications to exploit the power of 32 bits on the Windows family of operating systems. The Win32 functions, messages and structures form a consistent and uniform API for all of the Microsoft 32-bit platforms: Windows 95, Windows NT version 3.1, and VVindows 31 with the Win32s API. Using the Win32 API, developers can develop applications that run successfully on all platforms while still being able to take advantage of unique features and capabilities of any given platform.

Visual FoxPro is by far the most sophisticated database on the market, said Will Foster, vice president of information at J. Crew, an apparel company whose FoxPro-based application tracks apparel from its initial design phase through production and manufacturing. J. Crew is designing new applications using Visual FoxPro and will port its existing applications to Visual FoxPro.

Computer-Based Training Title Provides an Expert in a Box for Experienced Database Developers. Visual FoxPro is the first Microsoft development tool to produce its own computer-based training tool from Microsoft. “Mastering Visual FoxPro”, which will also be available separately in approximately 30 to 60 days, is a comprehensive training tool for experienced database developers. It presents key concepts and methods in a variety of ways to best meet the unique needs of each developer. A con (Con’t, page 9)

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