>>We have a bunch of stuff written in VFP 6.0 and now are going to be writing everything in VB. Is there an easy way to integrate the output from these two languages? We're thinking of some OLE automation type stuff, but would activedocs be easier?
>>
>>In at least one case a VB form needs to call a VFP form.
>>
>>Thanks alot.
>>
>>Matt
>Matt,
>
>I have read somewhere about saving a VFP form as a DLL. After registering the DLL you can call it from VB. When I find it I will let you know more.
>
Unfortunately, you can't do what's being discussed with a .DLL
VFP has the ability to implement COM Components, both in- and out-of-process servers can be created. COM servers can be invoked from VB (or any other language that can use the COM interface) to access VFP application functionality.
In-process servers (the kind that generate a .DLL) written in VFP can't have any UI components in them, so aren't suitable for this type of interaction. You also can't create ActiveX controls with VFP.
An out-of-process server can have a user interface, but the server's UI won't integrate into the VB app's event loop. It is, in effect, a separate application, running in its own address space, and with its own event processing. The VB app can pass parameters to a method of the out-of-process server, and can read and write public properties of the VFP COM server, but the COM server is not integrated into the event processing of the VB app, and coordinating the VFP COM Server's UI and the VB apps forms may be tricky.