>Hi Garrett,
>
>>I have been considering Visual ProMatrix because it has alot of builders
>>which will help me get up and running quickly yet will this eventually limit
>>my efforts when I become more proficient with working with classes.
>
>I can't recommend Visual ProMatrix enough. You can easily bypass the builders when you want, but usually you won't need to.
>
>>2.  How important is it to know the Visual FoxPro Codebook 3.0 framework?
>>I've seen alot about products being "codebook compliant/compatible" and
>>there are many employers looking for codebook proficient programmers.
>>Whould a commercial framework like Visual FoxExpress be a good medium
>>between having RAD builders and being codebook compatible?
>
>You don't need Codebook with VPM.
>
>>3.  Can Commercial Frameworks be mixed?  ie. Could I use one framework that
>>has a lot of builders and then later integrate other features from other
>>frameworks (hopefully without too much hairpulling)?
>
>I doubt it.
>
>Whatever you do, buy a framework. I can't understand why anyone would want to try to build their own (unless they have nothing but time).
>
>Dave

Dave,
some people feel that most of the frameworks and RAD tools are too confining for their needs .. There was a flame-thread going on the MS developer newsgroups dealing with some ones frustrartions with VFE and some other stuff the last few weeks.. (I had the misfortune to try asking someone to knock off the threats and stuff going on the thread)..

I stand by the competition to Promatrix (Visual FoxExpress) I think it is a little better package.. But that is my opinion too..