Nigel,

I'm impressed with the variety of what you do.

Ever since I started learning Office Automation I see more and more situations where it's the perfect solution. I make spreadsheets which we distribute to collect information, and then dump the data back into VFP tables. I'll be adding more data validation code to them this time around.

Now that I know some VB I'm sure I'll see opportunities to make myself some ActiveX controls, and I can already see plenty of opportunity to write some code to enhance my Outlook rules. It's just a matter of finding the time to try these things.


>Cindy,
>
>I tried to book myself into a crossover VB course over here (VB for VFPers) but they have discontinued due to lack of interest??
>
>I've always been a multi-tool developer but hadn't done much with VB until a client came along with a request to convert a VFP app into Excel/VBA (the VFP app used Excel spreadsheets anyway) - I also added the option of switching the backend between VFP and SQL by changing the connection string in a certain cell (two other cells held the two different strings).
>
>I've also recently embarked on web development using ASP/VB/SQL where VB ActiveX DLL deals with the data acquisition from SQL. I now have a large set of VB ActiveX DLLs that my VFP apps use (login screen, email, licensing, encryption, aboutbox, etc) - VFP just uses CreateObject to create them and my VB apps (all quite small - still learning) also use the same DLLs.
>
>I have also written a set of DLLs in VB that could have been done in VFP but I expect to sell the use of them to my Client's parent company when they get round to rewriting their system (I'm doing the UK rewrite, parent is in USA).
>
>I hope you find as much use for multi-language development as I have (it certainly impresses potential clients). The work gets far easier once you've established a set of controls that can be used by any OO language.
>
>If you need any help from somebody who has recently been through it, I'd be happy to assist wherever I can.