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The LA Fox Developer Newsletter
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June 1995
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FoxExpress Cross-Platform (FEX)
is a reality. For those of you who have been waiting for a rapid application development
(RAD)
tool,
this is it
. For those of you
who
have been struggling and hacking your way through previous versions of
FoxExpress,
this new version should be an answer to all your prayers. And this one even comes with docs.
The docs are a good place to start. Absent since November of ‘93, when the product was first introduced, the documentation comes in a three-volume set...
.FoxExpress
Tutorial,
FoxExDress
User’s
Guide
, and
FoxExpress
Procedure Reference.
Simply put, the docs meet all the requirements for proper documentation
-
the three C’s
-
clean, clear,
and concise The Tutorial rapidly takes you through a complete, though simple, application. The User’s Guide expands on the basic principles put forth in the Tutorial. And the Procedure Reference goes into great detail on the inner workings of this product.
Now for some of the newer features. FEX offers true cross-platform capabilities, full GenScrnX support, 23 levels of built-in security, ability to tap into native
FoxPro
screen wizards, improved data dictionary, transportJuntransport functions, and many more.
I don’t think of
FEX
as a program generator. It’s a development environment, not unlike FoxPro itself.
In fact, it’s more like a wizard on steroids. FEX
takes most of the mundane tasks associated with programming
-
browses, lookups, searches, filters,
control panels, menus, etc.
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and some of the trickier ones, and automates the process
while
providing solid code, open architecture, and extreme flexibility. For the serious developer, this leaves more time to work on the “tweaks” and subtleties that many applications require. For the not-so-serious, it provides a means to learn proven programming techniques.
Many of you have heard about VFP and the inevi
(Con’t, next column)
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FoxPro
Q&A....
(Ed. Note: “Ask the Foxster" is a column dedicated tc fielding questions and offering solutions to FoxPro- related topics. Currently, the Foxster wishes to remain anonymous. To reach this man of mystery foi all the answers to all the questions that have been "bugging" you, you can reach him at the CompuServ€ address listed below.]
Dear
Foxster,
Last week, I
was
working
on
a program that
kept
blowing
up.
Ifinally
traced
it
down to a SEEKfunction call. I don’t understand why a SEEK would cause
a GPF. I also
tried the same code in DOS and
it
just dumped me out to DOS. Help!!!
Signed,
Frustrated...
Dear Frustrated, A little known fact about FoxPro’s CDX file: If one of
the indexes stored in the CDX is corrupted, you will still be able to use the other indexes without problems. You
can
even set the order to the corrupted index, pack the file, or reindex the file. However, as soon as you
try
to SEEK on the file... boom, you get a GPF or get dumped to DOS. I recommend you completely remove all the tags (DELETE TAG ALL) and then recreate them. This should clear up the problem. If this doesn’t clear the problem up, you might try reinstalling FoxPro.
Sincerely,
CIS # 72426,3467
FEX
(Con't)
table question that has to be raised is, “Just how pertinent is a cross-platform development tool written for FPW2.6? when VFP is about to be released?”
The answer is two-fold. First of all, VFP will not have a Mac or DOS counterpart for many months. And
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