The LA Fox Developer Newsletter

June 1995

FoxExpress

X-Platform

by Barry R. Lee

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 intro-

duced, 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 prod-

uct.

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. - and some of the

trickier ones, and automates the process while

providing solid code, open architecture, and ex-

treme 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)

FoxPro Q&A....

Ask the Foxster

(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 prob-

lems. 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

(Con't, page 9)