>I'm going to stick to the ActiveX part. Is VFP ActiveX compliant or not. I'm not a Byte head so I can't say whats under the hood. But I've seen and heard a lot of DEV-COM speaker's and people here saying that it is. The problem they say is that the control does not meet the standard. The point I was trying to make is if the above statement is true and if MS decides if you can call it ACTIVEX and sell it to people--- THEN WHY CAN"T THEY MAKE THE PRODUCER MAKE IT WORK WITH VFP.
>
Unlike certification for the Windows logo, Microsoft doesn't place requirements on things called 'ActiveX' - IOW, you don't have to go to Microsoft to get permission to label something as an ActiveX control. The burden of such certification would be tremendous on both the developer community and on Microsoft. It costs -serious- money to certify an application as allowed to bear the Windows logo; there are hundreds or thousands of freeware and shareware controls that, if there were a requirement for certification, would never be released to the developer community at large; the cost is too great, and the return on investment is poor, especially when considering the freeware/shareware markets. I'm not about to ante up several hundred dollars for something I'm going to give away!
The important characteristics of an ActiveX object are the OLE interface to the application and event loop. VFP can't make use of some ActiveX controls because VFP lacks a mechanism to provide a callback routine to things; it's part of the price we pay for the interpretive portions of the language, which make things like very flexible macro expansion and name resolution possible.
There are some good ways to select components to add to VFP. One of the best in my experience is
Component Source, a vendor that specializes in add-ons for various developer communities. they're very good at identifying what does and does not work with VFP, or is an unknown, and they make this information available on-line via their Web site. In many cases, they'll have evaluation copies of many components, which allows you to 'try before you buy'. If you subscribe to their service (it's free, so cost isn't an issue here) they send you CDs with literally hundreds of evaluation products, many of which can be unlocked and registered for full production if you decide you like the evaluation copy.
Unlike most mail-order software vendors, these guys really do more than just put the software vendor's blurb on the page without testing. they even have decent tech support!
>Of course I understand that you have complete control over this and that is why I'm shouting at you. I feel much better now.... Thanks
>
Have a tranquilizer or two on me...
Ed
