Thanks for this msg..

This answers my question to Bob..
>Just to throw my two cents in here <s>...
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>I'd like to start with a basic explanation of business objects for the uninitiated...
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>Any application that you create has certain entities that are the main objects handled by the application. For example, if you are creating a point-of-sale application, the main business objects might be Customers, Invoices and Inventory. Visual FoxPro allows you to create classes that represent each of these entities. The Codebook framework gives you a jump start on this process by providing the business object classes that serve as a template for business objects.
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>The beauty of the business object is that you can encapsulate all of the characteristics and behavior of an entity, such as an Invoice in one class, rather than spreading it throughout your application's forms and control methods, program functions, etc (Which is how we used to do it with non-Oop environment such as FoxPro 2.x). For example, you can add a custom Print() method to the Invoice object that gives it the intelligence to print itself. You could add a custom Total() method to the Invoice business object that gives it the intelligence to total the quantity and dollar amount of all invoice items.
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>The benefits of the business object approach are tremendous. You can drop an instance of the business object on any form and have full access to all of its properties and behavior. One of the big mistakes that many developers make that prevents re-use of business objects is adding user-interface controls to the class. This kills any possibility for reuse in an application. There are also many benefits when it comes to maintaining an application. When you have a single business object entity that has all of its characteristics and behavior encapsulated into a single class, maintenance is *much* easier.
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>I agree with Bob that the initial implementation of Codebook business objects was a great idea that was somewhat short on usability. There were many limitations regarding the placement of a business object on a form, relationships between parents / children and so on.
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>Ed Leafe and I worked in parallel on a solution to these limitiations. The result for Ed was his eBizObj, the result for us was our enhanced business objects that are available in our VFP Codebook for Mere Mortals framework. We have also done a lot to automate processes such as requerying of views, etc. You can set a single property on a business object that tells the framework to automatically requery a business object's views under certain conditions.
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>Regards,
>Kevin McNeish
>Oak Leaf Enterprises Solution Design, Inc.