Advice on what to use for Windows version of a DOS program

[Sean Collins Sean_M_Collins]

I have recently undertaken the task of porting a Dos program written in C
for a dos environment, to a windows environment. We would primarily like
to use c++ for the user interface and foxpro for the database, but have found
little documentation on this setup. Perhaps this is not the way to go.
We have considered SQL Server but the price in prohibitive. Does anyone
know where we could find documentation on such a setup? Perhaps the whole
program should be done in VFP. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Nancy Folsom \(MS FoxPro MVP\)]

<Sean Collins Sean_M_Collins> wrote in message
news:38d78e64$1@news.devx.com...
>
> I have recently undertaken the task of porting a Dos program written in C
> for a dos environment, to a windows environment. We would primarily like
> to use c++ for the user interface and foxpro for the database, but have
found
> little documentation on this setup. Perhaps this is not the way to go.
> We have considered SQL Server but the price in prohibitive. Does anyone
> know where we could find documentation on such a setup? Perhaps the whole
> program should be done in VFP. Any and all advice would be greatly
appreciated.

What does the program _do_?

[Sylvain Bujold]

>> Perhaps the whole program should be done in VFP.
I think this is a **** good idea. I don't think that you would not be able
to do the user interface with Fox so why use two language for one apps? Of
course, your dos program is in C so upgrading to C++ could be easier but
again, not sure...

>What does the program _do_?
Of course, if your program don't need strong database features, you could
do it all in C++, but again... I think it would be a lost of time, Fox would
be a faster way. Unless you are a good experienced C++ programmer of course,
it always depends of your ressources. Don't use Foxpro exclusively if you
and/or your team are all better with C++.

Thanks,
Sylvain Bujold

[Sean Collins Sean_M_Collins]

"Sylvain Bujold" <sylvain@ntechweb.com> wrote:
>
>>> Perhaps the whole program should be done in VFP.
>I think this is a **** good idea. I don't think that you would not be able
>to do the user interface with Fox so why use two language for one apps?
Of
>course, your dos program is in C so upgrading to C++ could be easier but
>again, not sure...
>
>>What does the program _do_?
>Of course, if your program don't need strong database features, you could
>do it all in C++, but again... I think it would be a lost of time, Fox would
>be a faster way. Unless you are a good experienced C++ programmer of course,
>it always depends of your ressources. Don't use Foxpro exclusively if you
>and/or your team are all better with C++.
>
>Thanks,
>Sylvain Bujold
The program is a property management system for hotels, rangeing in size
for one terminal to 15. The strongest language experience we have is a C
programmmer for 15+ years, so this we feel would greatly help us with the
transition into C++. Our greatest concern with foxpro(and I mean no disrespect
by this) is the seeming lack of wide spread exceptance such as VB, C++, and
Access. Thankyou for the responses and your time.

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

<Sean Collins Sean_M_Collins> wrote in message
news:38d852e2$1@news.devx.com...
>Our greatest concern with foxpro(and I mean no disrespect
> by this) is the seeming lack of wide spread exceptance such as VB, C++,
and
> Access. Thankyou for the responses and your time.

Well, if acceptance is a major criteria for you, then maybe VFP isn't the
right tool.

However, VFP7 will be coming out with the rest of Visual Studio 7, and one
of the VFP team members gave a demo with a folder called "VFP8" accidentally
visible, so I would speculate that you don't have much to worry about as far
as technical support from Microsoft goes. FoxPro 2.6 was supported into this
year, almost 6 years after its release. That's not to say anything about
support of later versions, of course, just a data point.

FoxPro will definitely handle your 15-terminal situation with ease, I see no
reason not to do the whole thing in VFP, unless you want to get really
creative with the interface. If you decide to do the UI in C++, consider
writing the business layer in VFP, whether you use VFP tables for the data
or MSDE (SQL Server would probably be overkill in this case).
--
Garrett Fitzgerald
#INCLUDE "\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VFP98\StdDsclm.h"