State of VFP in X#?

[Anonymous]

I saw there's a list of supported command. Saw the "conclusions" from SW Fox.. But what is the current state of VFP in X#? Can i write pure VFP applications? If not, when would this be possible, any estimates on when a working Exporter would be publically available..?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[lumberjack]

Hi LG,

I saw there's a list of supported command. Saw the "conclusions" from SW Fox.. But what is the current state of VFP in X#? Can i write pure VFP applications? If not, when would this be possible, any estimates on when a working Exporter would be publically available..?

It all depends what you define as pure VFP commands.

If you start with a new application, I would suggest you make use of what is available in .NET.

The commands are basically all available, DBF support etc. VFP classes, DBC and Cursors not yet available. My gutfeel is that 90% of VFP is already supported

[FoxProMatt]

Hi LG.

Maybe the X# Dev Team will give an update soon. I do know they were very busy prior to the Southwest Fox conference in preparing and they gave over a week of their time to travel to the conference and we greatly appreciate all that they did. It’s understandable that they may be slow in responding while they recover but I do believe you’ll hear from them soon.

I can tell you that many FoxPro commands work but not all of the functions.

I believe the first road block you would hit, besides some missing runtime functions, is that the native FoxPro SQL commands are not working yet. This means that, while you can call the USE command to open individual DBFs into Work Areas (Cursors) you cannot create a SQL Select command on the local Cursors. In my opinion this is one of the first things FoxPro people would find missing at this time.

Anyway, let’s see how all the X# Dev Team responds to your question.

In the meantime, I encourage you to download the current public version and get it working inside of Visual Studio. Create a new X# VFP Console app project, then one code startup method, call the USE command and then do a Scan/EndScan over the Cursor to print out a few fields to the console. That’s the first baby step that would give you some hands-on experience with it and get you ready for the next release which should have more FoxPro functionality in it.

[Chris]

Guys,

I do not think it is possible to give exact estimates right now, VFP support will be an ongoing development, like VO support (and other dialects supper) still is and will continue to be. Right now the compiler does support a lot of the VFP syntax, there's runtime support for it, too, so already VFP-like apps can be developed. But still of course a lot is missing as well, and every week or so more features will be added.

[FoxProMatt]

Robert started a FoxPro Compatibility list back in mid-October. I think it would be good to maintain a “Current State of VFP Compatibility” list so people can see where it is at any point.

The only thing that is really needed is the “What isn’t implemented yet” list.

Then, indicating the priority of attack on those missing things would be helpful.

https://www.xsharp.eu/itm-help/foxpro-c ... ility-list

[kevclark64]

I believe the first road block you would hit, besides some missing runtime functions, is that the native FoxPro SQL commands are not working yet. This means that, while you can call the USE command to open individual DBFs into Work Areas (Cursors) you cannot create a SQL Select command on the local Cursors. In my opinion this is one of the first things FoxPro people would find missing at this time.

I agree with you on the importance of the internal SQL commands. In my VFP programs I've almost entirely switched to SQL commands, such as using UPDATE instead of REPLACE. A missing function here or there wouldn't matter much since you could just write a replacement yourself in most cases; but missing internal SQL functionality would be very time-consuming to get around.

[FoxProMatt]

Kevin Clark - I think the best thing FoxPro community could do is show their support of the X# project by joining the (paid) FOX membership program to show our willingness to support them and it gives us a voice in guiding what area of X# they work on next. Maybe VFP community can play the "squeaky wheel get the grease" card.

More info here: https://www.xsharp.eu/store

[kevclark64]

Matt, I agree with you on the importance of supporting this project. That's why my company signed up for the Friends of X# program as soon as I returned from SWFox. Of all the projects to update Visual Foxpro this is the first one I've seen that looks like it can become viable.

[David Martin]

I also signed up for FOX to show support for getting FoxPro dialect going.

[FoxProMatt]

IvyLeague and Kevin Clark

Great!!