>>I am looking at buying one of the Visual FoxPro application frameworks and I am looking for advice from people who have tried one. I am particularily interested in two of the Visual Codebook based frameworks, Visual Fox Express and the Codebook for Mere Mortals Framework.
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>>Has anyone out there any of these and if so how do they stack up. I am expecially interested in how much development time they really save and how much flexibility there is within the framework. I would greatly appreciate any information.
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>>TIA
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>>Bill
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>I assisted the individual who was assigned the task of evaluating frameworks for our department.
>
>I purchased the Codebook and played with the framework that came on the CD. After encountering some problems I searched the internet and found the Mere Mortals website, which contained a document containing patches and upgrades that would make CB3.0 work. I played with the patched CB for a while and then saw Visual MaxFrame, by Drw Speedie. I downloaded the freebie version and found that it ran very nicely. It was then I began to realize how tightly woven the various objects are and how it can be a real pain to modify something to better fit your requirements. For example - the data entry objects usually have a pageframe on the form. The first page contains the query listbox which allows you to find a particular record. When you select that record the pageframe immediately switches to page two where the data edits are located. If you want some of the edits to be on page one you have some serious modifications to do or a lot of dead weight to hide. (I know, some guru while say,
>with a snap of his/her finger, "it's a snap" - don't) Child grids aren't found anywhere but on a pageframe.
>
>CB3.0 required a lot of putzing to set up an app. VMF automated that process but manual generation of the executeable is still required. Testing a demo copy of Visual FoxExpress I found that the VFP program manager tree was removed in favor of the "Application Manager", which allows the developer to go from scratch to EXE in almost no time at all, providing the framework has what you need or can be modified without too much trouble. I was also testing version control software and VFE seemed to get in the way of that process, increasing the number of steps to check out and in objects.
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>All the votes are not in yet, so I don't know how our department will go. Initally, I voted to go with Mere Mortals, but as I continued to play I found myself thinking more about how to bend the model to fit my needs, and not about bending foxpro to my needs. For a "quick and clean" (not dirty) app that wouldn't require too much modification most in our department seem to be leaning towards VFE.
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>I have come to the conclusion that the most important objects we need are standardized logins and access level control (security) and error handling. Using "The Revolutionary Guide to Visual FoxPro OOP" from WROX publishing as a guide, I plan to write my own security and error handling objects that will attach to the _SCREEN object of the various projects I develope, unless a commercial framework becomes department policy.
>
>Jerry

Jerry,
F1 has a document online, on how to intergrate VFE with Visual SourceSafe, if you are interested..

Thanx!

Tony Miller
Vancouver, Wa