Hi Ed,

I have considerable experience with both SBT and AccountMate. Both have their strong points, and both have several shortcomings.

SBT, from a developer's standpoint, should stand for "Software's Been Trashed" -- the source code has been patched so many times, anything more than a minor modification is a *nightmare*. The code is NON-object oriented (don't let anybody tell you otherwise). Their accounting principles seem to be reasonably sound, and they give you ALL the source code. Entire businesses, some rather good sized, have been built solely on the modification of SBT modules. Stay AWAY from their 32-bit version -- it's written in PowerBuilder (they purchased it).

AccountMate, on the other hand, uses (most of) the entire capability of VFP, including SQL pass-through on the SBS and SQL configurations. The big catch here is that their core modules are proprietary -- you can't see the code AT ALL, and they won't sell it to you. Their big selling point is their accounting principles, which appear to be excellent (their IC system needs some help if you're using both serialized and non-serialized inventory with multiple bins). Modifications to VAM are *significantly* less difficult than SBT, -UNLESS- you need to augment or override some part of the core functionality, in which case you're SOL. Anyone thinking about modifying VAM code should attend their developers' workshop in CA -- it's three days VERY well spent.

While we're on the subject, I am also aware of another VFP-based accounting package, set to debut sometime this fall, which will be completely OOP and will provide all the source code. I can't give you any more information about it (yet), but as soon as I'm allowed, I'll enlighten.

HTH.

>Hi,
>Does anyone know of a accounting program with muscle written in VFP that includes the souce code? A client of mine wants to switch to something that I can make some hooks into so the business application I've written for them will work with an accounting program.
>Thanks
>Ed