>>Thought I would post my question here. I am making the jump from VFP to C# and .Net and am looking for a framework that is very flexible, robust and customizable. I have a complex application I want to write with very complex relations between tables. I have narrowed my decision to either MM.Net or Strataframe and am just looking for input.
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>>Peter
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>Hi Peter
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>I am very familiar with VFE ( see signature) and have just finished two weeks of Strataframe training (there were other VFE developers, some Visual Maxframe people and some very advance VPM users as well in the class)
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>I am also a one-man shop and need a team of framework developers to take care of the plumbing and to guide me in best practices while I try to flatten my .NET learning curve.
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>I'm very very impressed with Strataframe and with the Microfour team. I had no idea just how much was in the framework until I took the class. An example is Tracy's statement on localization which was my impression before I really learned how it worked.
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>I've never seen localization as good or extensive as what is in SF but would not have guessed that from the website. It is localized in 10 languages right out of the box and even has tools for communicating with translation services.
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>The role based security, the Data Deployment Toolkit and the Enterprise Server are also as impressive as anything I've seen. Very good messaging system.
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>The business objects employ strong-typed properties and are very performance oriented. (the microfour guys work with and test against huge datasets - the framework was originally designed for and is currently used for medical records and hospital and practice management ) Work well with stored procs, multiple data sets on one server trip, scalar pulls etc
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>I can't speak to MM as I haven't owned it since the first version (no fault of Kevin - for whom I have great respect - I just wasn't ready to get into .NET yet then and bought it prematurely) but I would say SF is as close to VFE as I could have wished. The Microfour guys are accomplished Foxpro developers, so they speak Fox and can easily answer questions from a Foxer's perspective. They are fluent in VB and C# and all examples are in both.
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>I would suggest dropping by the forum section on the Strataframe website. Very active group there and very responsive Microfour people will answer any questions you may have to help you find out if this is the right solution for you.
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>You can also feel free to email me directly if you like and I'll answer anything I can, though I am a beginner compared to people like Ivan Borges here who are very experienced SF developers.
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>Good luck. Nice to see someone who agrees with my approach that the first step in moving to .NET should be finding a good framework.

For an independent developer who intends to work for himself, I agree with you.