>viva la france..oh wrong war....viva la foxpro!!!!
>
>although in all fairness, we have been mentioned .net development in the past couple of status meetings and they seem that they are for it. We'll see how it all plays out. I'm interested in how you are using web connect. we have users that currently are planning on emailing us dbf files zipped up. i just put togther the proposal module that will handle the files they send us. in a nutsehll, they send the info to a central mailbox, the program opens up the email, downloads the zip file attachment, massage it, preproces against it. make sure it is a complete data set, runs validations against the file and notifies the data entry crew and the sender if everything passes. then it throws the correct data into sql server and the process starts all over again. of course, it's updating a separate audit table to track what's being sent and updated.
>
>the team who is developing the originating application, (from ca) is a vfp guy, live and die by....he is interested in a way we can cut down on the procesing and using web connect is one way we are talking about. we are currently having a development web server put together. what are somethings you guys are doing that we need to be weary about if we're looking into purchasing web connection and going from there?
>
>we want those same users who are using the stand alone application to send us data to be able to send it via the internet.

We're not looking at .Net specifically at this time. Too busy. We will address it closer to when VS.net is released.

Generally, there is nothing specific to watch out for with WC. Like with any framework, it has to be set up properly and you have to learn the framework. But the Help and the samples are good so the learning curve is not too bad. My experience ( with the web stuff generally, not just WC ) has been that the security issues bite the most often and sink the teeth the deepest. :-) This is an area I would like to get further instruction.

We are using WC for some Intranet applications in our group. Internet here at CDC is a whole other ball game since you have to go thru IRMO for setting up servers to go thru the firewall etc. We have a group here who is doing Internet stuff but the team I am on is only Intranet at this point ... and honestly, I really don't want anything to do with CDC Internet-wise unless we really have the need. It can be a real pain in the neck due to the control they have to place on it due to security issues. You'll probably want COM components sitting on servers, server control ( at least at some level), etc. and they'll probably go ballistic over this type thing.

Before going headlong into WC, I would start by using FoxIsapi to get your feet wet. WC was based on the FoxIsapi concept so you can migrate pretty easily. It's free ( with VFP ) and MS has some sample apps to help you get going. Also, R. Strahl has a free wwFoxIsapi framework you can download and use which will introduce you the "feel" of WC. Try some small apps using it, get them running, look at the pros and cons, decide if you all really want to use the Internet for your task ( i.e. find out what will be required from the CDC (IRMO) perspective and will it be worth it :-) ), then possibly move on to WC. That's how I got going and it worked pretty well.

I hope it works out for you.