FWIW I checked out ReSharper on your recommendation and downloaded the trial version. It looks pretty slick in the demos. I agree with your outlook -- if a tool can make my work easier, I am not interested in proving anything by doing things the hard way.

>Well, you won't see me going to something that doesn't work in .Net.
>
>And without VFP.Net I won't have all the parts I wanted to keep from VFP, which wasn't just the SQL DDL. Search the VSX Gallery for a visual design builder that works from a data dictionary. I look about every 6 months, and I haven't found one. Not one. In fact, I haven't found a visual design builder. All those little pieces that allowed us to design a bunch of little builders that take a lot of scut work out of the development process, and to do it intelligently based on the (rather complete) store of metadata we have, might be able to be created in .Net.
>
>So, while I will get over it, I will still want a development environment that hits the sweet spot for the kind of work I do. VFP.Net would have done it. It was -- or maybe is if we believe Martin is more accurate now than he was a few weeks ago when he said an update was around the corner -- to have aselobj(), and a builder system in SharpDevelop that would be programmable in VFP code. Etc.
>
>IronPython doesn't offer very much that .Net does not have, but what it offers it does without requiring the complexity that .Net requires. For me, it offers a cleaner development language, where I can concentrate on the meat of what I am doing, rather than the trivia of casting, the various rules of class inheritance (sometimes simpler is better: viz. the iPhone), and so forth. And everyone is different: I've seen posts by super developers saying they prefer creating form layout by writing code. I guarantee you my mind works differently than theirs. <s> And there are people who seem to know all this .Net trivia without even using ReSharper: I guarantee you my mind works differently than theirs, too. So, maybe what I'm after is a programming environment for those of us (you are not included <s>) with relatively simple minds. I'm convinced there are a lot of us. <s>
>
>Hank
>
>>IronPython is .NET... As is IronRuby and they are dynamic.
>>
>>But... that's still a funky language setup especially for doing .NET stuff IMHO.
>>
>>Honestly I don't understand the fascination with dynamic languages. Sure there are SOME things that are easier but for the most part statically typed languages just offer so much more support at compile time to produce more robust code without runtime debugging. Especially when you look at C# 4.0 which IMHO provides most of the good features of both static and dynamic languages in a single language interface.
>>
>>I'm guessing the main feature of VFP.NET has always been the SQL DDL engine if it actually were to work. While that's nice it's hardly a deal breaker IMHO. Get over it, if that's what it is :-}
>>
>>+++ Rick ---
>>
>>>Hi John,
>>>
>>>I've followed dabo nearly since it was first created.
>>>
>>>For the market I reach, I need to be in .Net or Java, with a market preference for .Net.
>>>
>>>.Net also has the richest ecology, or at least the richest somewhat coherent ecology, available for application development. (Java has everything .Net has, but it's scattered here and there, hence is less coherent.)
>>>
>>>Thus my choices.
>>>
>>>Hank
>>>
>>>>Wow - I feel sorry for those that invested $ in the tech. I guess you really love MS because again you are bypassing a replacement that has been around for the last few years. I know it's not because of the python language because you are willing to use IronPython in this new tech. So that can't be the reason. So telling have you reviewed what Dabo can do?
>>>>
>>>>Johnf