RE: Dentrix, It was the graphics (dental charts that are "edited" to show problems and solutions (cavities, crowns, etc.. Cameras in the mouth to show and capture live images. And their Scheduler is pretty impressive. But I'm not in that field, it just caught my eye and I could see no way to do that in VFP.

>Our office uses Delphi and VFP. I can understand your dilema. However, >looking at Dentrix, I didn't notice anything in its features that VFP >couldn't handle. Even the scribbles (one of the new features) could be done >using VFP and a tablet pc:

What is the downside to using ActiveX components, rather than classes...?

I did download VFP9, and I guess I'm just not far enough in. So far I can't create the same or similar forms in VFP that I can in Delphi. And BTW you expressed my view on Delphi and VFP precisely....

>I don't notice much difference between our Delphi and VFP apps as far as the >GUI and appearance is concerned. Getting good icons for your buttons is the >key. Most controls are very similar and work similarly. Setting up the data >for each form in Delphi is somewhat different though and Delphi beats VFP >hands down on web development and the ease in connecting to different >backends. However, nothing (to me) beats VFP's ease with manipulating data. >To me, if you do not need the web tools then VFP is a better choice, but if

>you need to switch out backends easily and develop webapps then Delphi would >be my tool of choice. Yet if you are seriously considering Delphi as a tool, >why not .net?

Since I'm am primarily concerned about re writing the Desktop application. The Web and Web Services has not been in my conciousness, and I don't understand where .NET would help in that regard.

Unfortunately I do need the Web Toos for this one specific requirement....

That is the reason I included the code from WorldPac. I've considered using Delphi and Advantage Database for this specific purpose running as a separate program, perhaps called by VFP. WorldPac provides sample code in both VB and Delphi. I chose to include VB thinking more people on this forum would be familier with VF than Delphi. http://www.worldpac.com/wcap

If I could use VFP to access the remote DLL and use their API to capture the data that would be a better solution. I'm sure VFP can do it, I just don't know how and what tools I will need. Do I need WestWind or are there basic winsock tools built into VFP9.

Wayne -