Hi Gary,

Just curious, did you ever look at Iron Speed for dotnet development? I was testing it out a couple of years ago but I got sidetracked...


http://www.ironspeed.com/



>Hi Sergio
>
>>Since you converted to NET already, It wld be interesting to all of us
>>who are still with VFP, if you could provide some transitional parameters
>>figures in terms of ;
>
>Just to qualify, I wouldn't say I have "converted" to .NET; its not one or the other, I simply learned .NET. I am obviously happy to code in either. At the moment, I enjoy coding more in .NET because it is new and fresh. After coding in Foxpro for nearly 20 years, it's nice to have a change :)
>
>>1. Time to get *comfortable* with NET.
>
>Depends on the individual and where you want to go with .NET. But, to get to grips with a .NET language, become familiar with the main classes/namespaces, ADO.Net and a single interface technology (Winform or ASP.Net), probably give yourself a minimum of six months to become productive and twelve months to feel really comfortable in the environment overall.
>
>>2. Time to create your own, or adopt workable commercial framework
>>(Not to someone like PaddockR or BonnieB , but to regular senior VFP level)
>
>For a newbie to .NET, I wouldn't even consider trying to write a commercial framework. Buy one - I use StrataFrame currently priced at $495.00 - a steal when you see what you get.
>
>>3. Time/Complexity for conversion of typical VFP custom project.
>>Let say, ordinary sales-invoicing application, involving standard reporting
>>with some typical yearly/monhly/weekly/summary sales figures being derived
>>from the system and presented to the user.
>
>Once you are familar with .NET code, I don't personally think the complexity is any more than it would take in VFP. As for timescales, I am currently producing work in .NET/StrataFrame in the same kind of time frame as I did with VFP/Codemine.
>
>>4. Typical SQL licence costs for SME/LE clients (0-25, 25-100 ,100+ )
>
>Sorry, I don't know the cost of SQL licences but for most smallish applications, you could use an ODBC connection to a free SQL back-end or SQL Express 2005, also free. StrataFrame will handle many back-ends for you. If you can do it with VFP .dbf's, in most circumstances, you could use SQL Express 2005. Even if I were doing a VFP application, I would use SQL Express 2005 over .dbfs every time.
>
>>5. Typical Hardware Upgrade costs required for clients.
>
>No idea. There is nothing to say that your .NET application will not run on existing hardware. Windows forms/ADO.Net in .NET 2 are much faster than they were in .NET 1. So, you would need to try it out first. FYI, at our site, using the same PCs the VFP application is no faster than the .NET application - we haven't upgraded the workstations.
>
>>6. SQL Administration/Maintenance costs.
>
>We have SQL server clusters and about 15 separate SQL server boxes. We also have three dedicated, full time SQL DBAs. So, there is an overhead at this level. However, if you are only using the SQL servers as a data-backend, a couple of days consultancy with a DBA to tune the database(s) and a few maintenance scripts and you are away. As SQL servers can be administered remotely, you could have a DBA remotely check them over every few months but, most developers will probably be able to get to grips with basic SQL admin to be able to do a good enough job all by themselves.
>
>>Not exact figures but at least something that can help someone like OP,
>>or me make gross estmates of costs involved. I asked CraigB already about this, but I got declined figures due to non-disclosure reasons.
>
>Not really sure what you mean here?
>
>>Since you already published some of your real figures, I hope you will be
>>able to provede us with some aproximate figures as per above list.
>
>Sorry, again I am unsure what you mean. I am unable to tell you what it would cost to change to .NET.
>
>HTH