future of VFP 9.0

[elke@harogifts.be]

hi
we work with VFP 9.0, but in october it won't be supported
our programs are mainly: read XML files, manipulation of data, creation of clients/orders and PDF files
my request is what the next step/language would be most suitable?
thank you in advance for sharing your experiences
have a nice day
Elke

[wriedmann]

Hi Elke,
The X# Project is here to give the programmers of discontinued XBase languages a way into the future.
For Visual Objects this mission is already accomplished, and now the team works on the FoxPro compatibility.
But there are people here that answer much better than myself: Irwin has a VFP background and is part of the development team.
Wolfgang

[elke@harogifts.be]

thank you, Wolfgang

[Chris]

Hi Elke,

As Wolfgang said, we have already achieved a very good level of compatibility for the Visual Objects dialect, with several dozens VO developers having successfully ported their apps to X# and .Net, and we are confident we can achieve the same for VFP. It will take some time, but we will get there, and the upcoming X# 3.0 release will already include a lot of new features and improvements on VFP compatibility.

Of course we need the help of as many VFP developers as possible, same as we got a lot of VO developers to help us in the beginning. Both financially, but also in terms of feedback, tell us how well what is already implemented works for you, what are the most important missing features for you so we can give them priority etc.

[Irwin]

Hi Elke,

We are working actively to get the most compatibility of the FoxPro dialect. The next 3.0 version will include a lot of changes regarding 2.x series including new built-in functions, fixes and improvements on auto-array creation.

Our plan is simple:

- Implement all built-in and OOP to get the most compatibility from VFP.
- Enhance the VFPXPorter to support migration and smooth the "onboarding" from newcomers
- Get the feedback from subscribers and start fixing possible bugs or semantic errors.

If you need to produce early results then you can use the FoxPro dialect in your projects and mix it with the "Core" one to cover unsupported FoxPro features as well.

Code: Select all

USING System.Collections.Generic
USING XSharp.VFP

FUNCTION Start() AS VOID STRICT

    // FoxPro
    CREATE CURSOR devTeam (ID I, NAME C(25), EMAIL C(30))
    APPEND BLANK
    REPLACE ID WITH 1, NAME WITH "Robert", EMAIL WITH "zzz@xsharp.eu"

    // Core
    VAR people := List<Person>{}

    // FoxPro
    SELECT devTeam
    SCAN
        // Core
        people:Add(Person{}{;
            ID := devTeam->ID,;
            NAME := devTeam->NAME,;
            EMAIL := devTeam->EMAIL ;
        })
    ENDSCAN

    // Core
    FOREACH VAR p IN people
        ? i"Name: {ALLTRIM(p.Name)}, Email: {ALLTRIM(p.Email)}"
    NEXT

    Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue...")
    Console.ReadKey()

Irwin.

[COMSYSplus]

Hi Elke,

we have the same problem. After 40 years in Foxpro development we are using an converter from VFP 9.0 to X#.
See some information at - www.vfp2xs.net -

Peter