L. A. Fox meets on the third Monday, at 6:30 PM at the Torrance Airport, 3301 Airport Drive, in Torrance. Look forward to seeing you there!

Bill Anderson

Coming Attractions:

February 15, 1999, 6:30 PM, Y.Alan Griver. COMmunication - This session will cover parameter passing in all its glory. We'll begin with a quick look at approaches to parameter passing in VFP applications, continue to parameter passing with COM and finally look at approaches for passing parameters in web-based applications.

March 15, 1999, 6:30 PM, Jonathan Melvin. Creating and Operating an Enterprise System Using Visual FoxPro. The largest underground storage tank testing company in the United States operates their order entry, field operations, and reporting using a distributed FoxPro system. This system has been in continuous operation since 1983, when it was first coded in FoxPro 2.5 for DOS. Last fall it was upgraded to Visual FoxPro 5.0, and communications previously carried out over modem between field computers and the central office were converted to Internet communication. This system operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and supports a company that has expanded to over 200 field locations and 12 sales offices. Database size is growing 100 MB per week.

This system includes:
· User and group access authorization and access control to each table;
· Tracking of revisions of all records with ability to view and recall prior versions;
· A uniform object oriented visual interface with simple class libraries;
· Internet based synchronization of the database between more than 200 locations;
· Automatic propagation of table structure changes from the central server to field computers;
· Use of OLE to imbed drawings, scanned images, and photographs;
· A naming convention that allows automatic generation of a data dictionary;
· Transparent splitting of very large tables (> 2GB) into separate files that can reside on separate disks or even separate servers;
· Per table SQL query optimization.
Each feature will be described in detail.

The talk will also cover:
· How half a million lines of code were converted from FoxPro for DOS and Windows to Visual FoxPro last fall by two people in 6 weeks;
· Internet communication issues;
· Strategies used for deploying and maintaining 200 field computers;
· Database problems that have come up and their resolution;
· Performing system customization regularly required by specific customers.
Jonathan D. Melvin, Ph.D., Consulting Services, Culver City, CA, 310/202-0190, jdmcs@compuserve.com

April 19, 1999, 6:30 PM, Rod Paddock. Rod Paddock is president and founder of DashPoint Software, Inc. DPSI based in Seattle, WA, specializes in developing applications and training software developers. DPSI develops with Visual Interdev, VFP, VB and SQL Server. DPSI's clients include: ADTC, SBT Accounting, The US Coast Guard, The US Navy, Pinnacle Publishing, Intel and Azalea Software. Rod was a featured speaker at the 1996/1997 German FoxPro DevCons, the 1995 and 1998 Visual FoxPro Developers Conference, the 1995-1997 FoxTeach conferences, and the 2nd Annual Southern California Visual FoxPro Conference. Rod writes for several database publications including: Data Based Advisor, Foxtalk and Dbase Advisor. Rod's books include: VB5 for Web Development and VFP 5 Enterprise Development from Prima Publishing. Both of these books have been revised for the Visual Studio 6. DPSI can be found at: www.dashpoint.com.