Hi Lennert,
Please look at this blog entry by Rick Strahl:
http://www.west-wind.com/WebLog/ShowPost.aspx?id=180727The usefulness of VFP would rocket if it were possible to extend it to run *regular* VFP apps via the web in a manner similar to the one that Visual WebGui is running WinForm apps. With their technique the application runs in the server, and through AJAX and trickery it is shown in the browser - Somewhat similar to Terminal Server but with a totally different method. VFP wouldn't require a new version to take off like wildfire.
When I asked Rick if he could accomplish that for VFP, he stated that it is "not going to happen from my end. For one thing state-management like VWG is doing which is what makes VWG attractive is not possible with VFP." I wonder if there might be another way to do state-management for VFP apps differently than the way VWG is doing it, yet keep state with apps running at the server and displaying in a browser.
We all know Rick is the VFP expert who is most knowledgeable in .NET and the web in general. Perhaps if he sees the business potential from all of us here he may spend some time thinking how to accomplish this. I for one am willing to put my money where my mouth is. For starters I am excited about what this capability would do for the applications I have already developed! Does anyone else agree?
Alex
>Premise A: MS won't bring out a new version. SP2 is there now. Sedna will come. Maybe a SP3 will come. But that's it.
>
>Premise B: Ok, having that said, there are a lot of initiatives right now on extending Fox. But they are fragmented:
>* SP2, SP3 and Sedna can be downloaded at MS.
>* Part of the documentation regarding reports in SP2 will be found at another site (thanks, Lisa).
>* To find other extensions, I can go to VFPX.
>* For good FLL's (compression etc.) I visit the SPS-site.
>* If and when Etecnologia comes out with a new version, I have somehow to integrate that version with the Report Generator of SP2, the stuff at VFPX etc.
>* If and when Guineu comes out... etc.
>* etc etc.
>
>... and I am sure I'm not aware of dozens of other well-tested add-ons (FLL's) or classes enriching VFP that exist somewhere out there.
>
>Premise C: lots of programmers regard VFP as a dead product if the core product (VFP.exe) does not evolve. We can tell everybody about enhancements (Sedna, VFPX etc) but only the (relatively) guru's will get all those fragments together and use them. The 'ordinary programmers', like me, will not go searching all around and get them.
>
>Premise D: the community will eventually die out without real new versions of VFP, because without a centrally accepted new version, people will fragment themselves, and on forums a small group will discuss one detail which can be downloaded at a particular place, instead of a big group discussing all kinds of aspects of a new version.
>
>Corollary 1: Ordinary programmers need clear new versions, and centralized documentation, downloadable at one site. In that way they will use much more functionality than in a fragmented situation. (I might even use GDI+ :-)
>
>Corollary 2: Those ordinary programmers will contribute much more on forums when there is not a fragmented VFP situation.
>
>So:
>Conclusion 1. What we need as a community is some sort of committee that defines a new product name (I guess the name VFP belongs to MS), new versions (constituted by the available elements) and a central site.
>Conclusion 2. It is inevitable that at some place, some time, another product takes the place of VFP.exe. The core product MUST evolve.
>
>I know that there are some problems to be solved. The product that takes the place of VFP.exe will (most likely) be commercial. The other elements mostly will not. That might bite each other. When big ego's are important it is impossible. The Fox community so far is quite generous towards each other, so there is hope.
>
>When I read back my message. I see holes. I use the words Premise, Corollary and Conclusion, but there are holes between them. I know. Don't shoot me on that. I try to convey a new(?) idea: I hope to bring in the idea that new versions are possible. And a hint at how that could be achieved, and why it seems necessary to me that it is going to happen.
>
>I read about SW Fox. I was not there, but when I read about the spirit there, I feel the enthusiasm. I hope we join our efforts towards new, strong versions.
>
>Lennert
