Collection Iteration and Arrays

Visual FoxPro has great support for collections. Virtually all of the objects that can contain other objects have a native objects collection that can easily be traversed to access their members. Object collections provide a great access point for performing the same or similar actions on groups of objects. They also provide the means necessary to locate and act upon objects in a loosely coupled fashion. In this session Mike will introduce some utility functions and classes that:

1.       make it easy to dynamically create and act upon collections, 

2.       dramatically reduce the amount of redundant code you write in dealing with collections,

3.       helps you to eliminate object dependencies and write code that is more adaptable and easier to maintain,

4.       eliminate drill down code

Visual FoxPro also has a wealth of functions for dealing with arrays, however; developers often write very redundant code when it comes to dealing with arrays. In this session Mike will also provide a set of utility functions and classes that streamline redundant array operations and add more power and flexibility to arrays.

Attendees will learn...

1. How to easily access objects and groups of objects from anywhere within a containership hierarchy with a single line of code without drilling through the object hierarchy or writing error prone lengthy object references.

2. How to perform operations on groups of objects that are not contained within a single container.

3. How to make single line calls to convert an array to a string, merge 2 arrays, remove specific items from arrays, remove duplicates from arrays and more.

4. How to create loosely coupled object references that won’t break when controls are moved or even renamed.

PLEASE NOTE:  Meeting Location is at MAGI. 

Personalizing VFP Applications by Jay van Santen

Personalizing applications can be a challenge. If multiple customers use an application, it is important for the developer to maintain application and custom code as separate code bases. The presentation will illustrate different mechanisms for doing so, with multiple examples of increasing sophistication. Jay will provide code samples in this interactive session. This will be a fun opportunity to explore object oriented design and may provide a useful tool in your programming toolbox.
 
Jay van Santen has been a Fox developer for the past 18 years. He has developed his own applications and worked on a number of major vertical market applications at corporations based in Indianapolis. He is past president of the Indianapolis FoxPro SIG. In the literary world, he was a contributing author to VFP 3.0 Special Edition published by Que. Currently, he is consulting with manufacturing companies on ERP technology.  A new business venture -- a web enterprise -- will launch in 2008.

02/9/08

Jody Meyer, System Engineer for MAGI will be demonstrating their WinMAGI software. 

Who is MAGI?

MAGI develops and supports high quality ERP business solutions for small to mid-sized manufacturers.  MAGI has been developing software solutions since 1985 and has installations worldwide.  

Our premier product, WinMAGI, is a world class manufacturing ERP system for small to mid-sized manufacturers.  It blends solid accounting and manufacturing practices in an easy to use and implement package.  Subjected to continuous critiquing and improvement, it is used in industries as diverse as consumer products, aerospace & defense, hazardous chemicals, food and beverage, furniture, computer imaging, plastic molding, electronics, automotive components, fishing tackle and others.  WinMAGI is used by small startup companies and divisions of Fortune 100 multi-national organizations.