SWFox Practice Session:

James S. Heuer presents: Python as a Way Forward for VFP Developers

Level: Intermediate, Advanced

Python is a powerful open source object-oriented programming language with many features to appeal to Visual FoxPro programmers looking for a way to extend their applications without being tied to Microsoft .NET technology. Python has its own version of a "Command Window" where Python expressions can be typed in and immediately evaluated, and Python source code files are directly executable (no compilation step). Python even has equivalents to the & macro operator, the VFP EXECSCRIPT() function, and a powerful suite of VFP-like TEXTMERGE-type functions. All this and more make Python a comfortable environment for VFP programmers.

In this overview we will provide a window into the vast Python ecosystem of libraries, platform options (there is even a version called “Iron Python” which is compiled to .NET CLR code), and the key technologies like COM that make it interoperable with Visual FoxPro. We'll cover some of the things Python can do that VFP struggles with and touch on those VFP features that Python likewise struggles with. The presentation will end with a brief introduction to the presenter's work in building Python modules that can access DBF tables concurrently with VFP, interoperate with WestWind tools, and enable smooth integration with Visual FoxPro applications.

You will learn:

• Basic features, strengths and limitations of Python as a programming partner to Visual FoxPro
• What versions and platforms Python comes in and how to obtain and install the right one for their project
• What Python code looks like and how programming in it is both similar to and different from VFP
• Options for GUI interfaces for console applications and their strengths and weaknesses
• Basics of deploying Python applications on customer computers
• What optional Python library modules are required to enable integration with VFP
• Where to get more information on Python

Prerequisites: Intermediate level knowledge of Visual FoxPro. No knowledge of Python required.

   About James S. Heuer: Jim has had a long career applying computing technology to business problems, starting in the late 1970s with a DataFlex application built to run on an MPM-86 "micro-computer". After experience with DataFlex, Knowledgeman, SPSS, and numerous other data management tools, he jumped into FoxPro for DOS 2.5 in 1990 and started building applications for his clients as well as supporting his logistics management consulting with custom-built analytical tools. From FoxPro DOS, he migrated his skills to FoxPro for Windows 2.5 and then all the versions of Visual FoxPro through the last, lamented version 9.0.

In 2002, Jim developed logistics analysis software implementing advanced AI problem solving technology built in Visual FoxPro with a high-performance computing component built in C for heavy number crunching. Over the years that software has grown in capability to today where it is marketed as PlanTools by Jim's company Evos SmartTools. Jim has continued as the primary designer and developer of the product as it currently deployed as a web-only application serving the needs of large corporations in the U.S. and Canada to manage their inbound and outbound freight. Starting in 2012, facing the demise of Microsoft support for Visual FoxPro and pressure from potential investors to begin a migration to a more active platform, he explored several options for a way to build on the current application while retaining full compatibility with the 200,000 lines of existing VFP code. After considering .NET, Java, PHP, and others, he settled on Python as the most compatible and VFP-like of the options.

In the years since, Evos SmartTools has built scores of new modules for new capabilities in Python-all smoothly interoperating with the existing VFP code, much of which will remain functional indefinitely as new features are built out in Python. Today, Evos has over 100,000 lines of Python code which enhance and extend the original VFP applications so seamlessly that users have no idea which parts are built in Python and which in VFP.

Over the years, Jim has attended numerous VFP conferences, including several SW Fox events, but never, so far, as a speaker.

  2018 SWFox Practice Session and Surpise Speaker!

 W I N T E R     B R E A K - Happy Holidays

  Annual Elections

• Currently held positions (2017):
  • President & Webmaster: Jody Meyer
  • Secretary: Mike Lyzun
  • Treasurer: Mike Potjer

  BULK INSERT - Getting From VFP to SQL Server... FAST!!

Pracitcal Uses of wwDotNetBridge to Extend Your VFP Applications

wwDotNetBridge lets you call just about any .NET code directly from Visual FoxPro and helps overcome most of the limitations of regular .NET COM interop. This library by Rick Strahl allows you to provide .NET functionality to your Visual FoxPro applications that wouldn't otherwise be available. In this session, you'll see many practical examples that show how you can add new capabilities to your applications that would be difficult or impossible to achieve natively in Visual FoxPro.

  About Doug Hennig: He is a partner with Stonefield Software Inc. He is the author of the award-winning Stonefield Database Toolkit (SDT); the award-winning Stonefield Query; the MemberData Editor, Anchor Editor, and CursorAdapter and DataEnvironment builders that come with Microsoft Visual FoxPro; and the My namespace and updated Upsizing Wizard in Sedna.

Doug is co-author of VFPX: Open Source Treasure for the VFP Developer, Making Sense of Sedna and SP2, Visual FoxPro Best Practices For The Next Ten Years, the What's New in Visual FoxPro series, and The Hacker's Guide to Visual FoxPro 7.0. He was the technical editor of The Hacker's Guide to Visual FoxPro 6.0 and The Fundamentals. All of these books are from Hentzenwerke Publishing (http://www.hentzenwerke.com). Doug wrote over 100 articles in 10 years for FoxTalk and has written numerous articles in FoxPro Advisor, Advisor Guide to Visual FoxPro, and CoDe. He currently writes for FoxRockX (http://www.foxrockx.com).

Doug spoke at every Microsoft FoxPro Developers Conference (DevCon) starting in 1997 and at user groups and developer conferences all over the world. He is one of the organizers of the annual Southwest Fox and Southwest Xbase++ conferences (http://www.swfox.net). He is one of the administrators for the VFPX VFP community extensions Web site (http://vfpx.org). He was a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) from 1996 through 2011. Doug was awarded the 2006 FoxPro Community Lifetime Achievement Award (http://tinyurl.com/6po3pwv).

Toni M. Feltman presents: Putting the Pieces Together for Web Development

Level: Beginner

Up until recently I just didn't "get" how all pieces fit together when it came to Web Development. I knew and understood the basic fundamentals like HTML, CSS, Javascript, ASP.NET, and so on. What I never could fully grasp was how the pieces should be assembled. I read articles, watched videos, and even deployed a web site built upon a simple web framework that someone else wrote. I still couldn't make sense of it after following the step-by-step directions. It was not until I began to match up web techniques and components with things I had done in Visual FoxPro that I really started to understand.

This session will take you on a journey building parallel systems (a simple one) using both FoxPro and web technologies so that you can better understand how to build web applications using common architecture.

You will learn:

• Basic web terminology and how it relates to Visual FoxPro terms
• Using layers appropriately for various application types (Web Terminology = Layers)
• How to quickly and easily build simple web applications using your Visual FoxPro experience
• To understand how the web pieces fit together and should be assembled
• Prerequisites: Basic understanding of web technologies such as HTML and CSS, and of various different type of objects in Visual FoxPro and how they can be used

C A N C E L L E D

Creating Beautiful Web Sites Using Bootstrap

Laying out a web page using HTML and CSS can be challenging. Do you use the older table mechanism or CSS floats to place objects side-by-side? How do you deal with differences in browsers? And what about handling different devices: phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops?

Bootstrap is a free, open source framework for developing responsive, mobile-first web sites. It solves many problems web developers typically face and makes it easy to create beautiful web sites in record time, even for inexperienced developers.

This session shows how to get started with Bootstrap, examines using its grid system to easily layout your page elements, and discusses how Bootstrap components add attractive and functional elements to your web site. We'll do a "makeover" of a real web site to show how easy is it to make it more attractive, functional, and mobile-friendly.

You will learn:

• Where to download Bootstrap and related resources
• How to add Bootstrap to your web site
• How to work with Bootstrap's grid system
• How to use Bootstrap components and themes

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of HTML and CSS

Please join Doug's meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

GoToMeeting - 758734237

Sat, May 12, 2018 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM CDT

You can also dial in using your phone: +1 (647) 497-9373

Access Code: 758-734-237

First GoToMeeting? Let's do a quick system check.

  About Doug Hennig: He is a partner with Stonefield Software Inc. He is the author of the award-winning Stonefield Database Toolkit (SDT); the award-winning Stonefield Query; the MemberData Editor, Anchor Editor, and CursorAdapter and DataEnvironment builders that come with Microsoft Visual FoxPro; and the My namespace and updated Upsizing Wizard in Sedna.

Doug is co-author of VFPX: Open Source Treasure for the VFP Developer, Making Sense of Sedna and SP2, Visual FoxPro Best Practices For The Next Ten Years, the What's New in Visual FoxPro series, and The Hacker's Guide to Visual FoxPro 7.0. He was the technical editor of The Hacker's Guide to Visual FoxPro 6.0 and The Fundamentals. All of these books are from Hentzenwerke Publishing (http://www.hentzenwerke.com). Doug wrote over 100 articles in 10 years for FoxTalk and has written numerous articles in FoxPro Advisor, Advisor Guide to Visual FoxPro, and CoDe. He currently writes for FoxRockX (http://www.foxrockx.com).

Doug spoke at every Microsoft FoxPro Developers Conference (DevCon) starting in 1997 and at user groups and developer conferences all over the world. He is one of the organizers of the annual Southwest Fox and Southwest Xbase++ conferences (http://www.swfox.net). He is one of the administrators for the VFPX VFP community extensions Web site (http://vfpx.org). He was a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) from 1996 through 2011. Doug was awarded the 2006 FoxPro Community Lifetime Achievement Award.

Introducing Project Explorer

The Project Manager is one of the oldest tools built into VFP, and it's been showing its age for a long time. For example, it doesn't provide integration with modern distributed version control systems (DVCS) such as Mercurial and Git, it doesn't have a way to filter or organize the list of items, and it can only work with one project at a time.

Project Explorer is a soon-to-be VFPX project that replaces the Project Manager with a modern interface and modern capabilities. It has all of the features of the Project Manager but adds integration with DVCS (including built-in support for FoxBin2PRG and optional auto-commit after changes), supports multiple projects within a "solution", allows you to organize your items by keyword or other criteria, and has support for easy "auto-registering" addins that can customize the appearance and behavior of the tool.

This session introduces Project Explorer and shows how it can make you more productive than working with the Project Manager. This session starts by going through the interface and functionality of Project Explorer, then looks at its internals to see how it's designed, and finally shows how to write addins that extend the functionality or customize the user interface.

You will learn:

• How to use Project Explorer
• How its integration with DVCS increases productivity
• How to organize and filter your project items
• How Project Explorer was designed
• How to write Project Explorer addins to customize its behavior and appearance

Prerequisites: Experience using the VFP Project Manager

Please join Doug's meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

GoToMeeting - 884386213

Sat, Jun 9, 2018 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM CDT

You can also dial in using your phone: +1 (647) 497-9373

Access Code: 884-386-213

First GoToMeeting? Let's do a quick system check.

  About Doug Hennig: He is a partner with Stonefield Software Inc. He is the author of the award-winning Stonefield Database Toolkit (SDT); the award-winning Stonefield Query; the MemberData Editor, Anchor Editor, and CursorAdapter and DataEnvironment builders that come with Microsoft Visual FoxPro; and the My namespace and updated Upsizing Wizard in Sedna.

Doug is co-author of VFPX: Open Source Treasure for the VFP Developer, Making Sense of Sedna and SP2, Visual FoxPro Best Practices For The Next Ten Years, the What's New in Visual FoxPro series, and The Hacker's Guide to Visual FoxPro 7.0. He was the technical editor of The Hacker's Guide to Visual FoxPro 6.0 and The Fundamentals. All of these books are from Hentzenwerke Publishing (http://www.hentzenwerke.com). Doug wrote over 100 articles in 10 years for FoxTalk and has written numerous articles in FoxPro Advisor, Advisor Guide to Visual FoxPro, and CoDe. He currently writes for FoxRockX (http://www.foxrockx.com).

Doug spoke at every Microsoft FoxPro Developers Conference (DevCon) starting in 1997 and at user groups and developer conferences all over the world. He is one of the organizers of the annual Southwest Fox and Southwest Xbase++ conferences (http://www.swfox.net). He is one of the administrators for the VFPX VFP community extensions Web site (http://vfpx.org). He was a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) from 1996 through 2011. Doug was awarded the 2006 FoxPro Community Lifetime Achievement Award.