FoxPro to XSharp conversion

[kevclark64]

It seems to me that the biggest issue going forward for VFP developers is going to be the conversion of foxpro projects into XSharp projects. At the SWFox conference last year Fabrice (I think) loaded up a quick sample form converter, but obviously converting a project would include converting reports especially, but also such items as VCX class libraries. So, I'm wondering whether there is any plan for this conversion process.

BTW, creating a VFP to XSharp converter seems like a project that the VFP community could help with. I'd be happy to assist.

[Chris]

Hi Kevin,

Yes, this is already under development, Fabrice is working on it. Thanks for the offer, I think it's a very good idea to have community assistance (also!) on this! Please let us prepare a first experimental version and then we can take it from there.

[FoxProMatt]

You don't have to wait for a full-blown conversion app to experiment with creating a few WinForms custom controls and drop them on a form to see if you can get WinForms to function anywhere close to what VFP does (hint: it doesn't)

When I tried to create even one simple WinForm custom control (i.e. a Container with a Label and and a Textbox inside), then drop that on a WinForm, I quickly found out that the native WinForms stack is nowhere close to VFP as far as inheritance and local customization goes. There will be LOTS of changes required in the thinking and coding of us VFP people if we're gonna work in WinForms.

Go ahead... play with it yourself. If you can't achieve something manually that works well, then having a conversion tool to blow through an entire project isn't gonna change the outcome.

[wriedmann]

Hi Matt,
the same is true for us VO people: both Windows Forms and WPF are far away from what we are used to have.
But creating subclasses and adding functionality helps a lot.
After all: Robert has created GUI classes compatible to the VO GUI classes but based on Windows Forms using a proxy approach, and something like this will be also needed to rebuild VFP functionality on Windows Forms or WPF.
Wolfgang

[FFF]

...Robert has created GUI classes compatible to the VO GUI classes but based on Windows Forms

pmfji, but "has created" ? I thought, we are still waiting to see this coming? Or did i miss that in a what's new?

[wriedmann]

Hi Karl,
you can do two things: download the sources from Github and compile it yourself - maybe the best in this stage. Or look in your redist folder <g>.
Wolfgang

[wriedmann]

Hi Karl,
I'm really sorry: in the current version it is not more in the redist folder - was there in a previous version.
So the best bed would to download the class libraries sources and build it yourself.
You will be surprized how many things already work! And it is very interesting to look at the code!
Wolfgang

[FoxProMatt]

@FFF - You may know this, but he's talking about the Visual Object (VO) dialect. Regardless, hopefully that work can be used to expedite the VFP needs.

@Wolfgang - My point was saying that I'd love to see some working preliminary examples of a VFP/WinForm to get a sense of how it's going to work, so we can assess if it's a suitable solution to wait for. There doesn't need to be a full blown app converter just yet; I'd love to see the UI classes, we we can manually create a few working pieces and forms based on these new VFP-capable WinForms UI pieces.

[FFF]

@FFF - You may know this, but he's talking about the Visual Object (VO) dialect.

Thx, Matt - as i entered the Vo-World using 1.0beta, i assumed that...
@Wolfgang,
no worries, was only curious, if i had missed something, what possibly would point to a reason for some problems i have. As for digesting the source myself, even if i were smart enough, i wouldn't know how to find time for this. It's hard enough to manage all on my plate without reaching out to far beyond my understanding