>>There is no doubt that VFP works well with SQL Server, but I just want to get some honest opinion on which is better? VFP/SQL Server or VB/SQL Server? My knowledge in VB is very basic, and I am more inclined in using PB or Delphi. Is VB/SQL Server combination good enough?
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>Micorosoft had some independent test results on their VB site that showed it was better than either PB or Delphi...and we know that VFP is better than VB...so you make your own decisions from that.

That study disregarded the fact that Delphi and PowerBuilder both offer true objected-oriented languages, which everyone here states as a VFP advantage over VB. I see Delphi's approach to the table and query components as superior to VFP's database container.

First, you don't have to worry about hard-coded drive letters as with the DBC. The Borland Database Engine (BDE) can hit Paradox, DBase, Fox 2x, and Access 97 (assuming DAO install) data NATIVE. In fact, in a simple test against 300,000 records (300 + megs), the BDE performed a query against Fox 2x as quick as VFP with no noticeable difference. And the databound components refresh themselves as the record pointers move in their respective data sources. Yep, you don't have to remember to LOCKSCREEN and REFRESH everytime you move a record pointer in Delphi.

Second, Delphi was built from the ground-up as Object Oriented, not as a second thought. The tables, queries, stored procedures, menus, and reports are all object based. VFP 5.0 has the same report writer and menu design as FPW 2.6!

Thirdly, creating a SDI app is a snap. Don't have to set a form as top-level and free to move outside some Win 3.1 based MDI left-over. Don't have to include a Config.fpw file to hide said anachronism.

You don't have to wait for VFP 6.0 to create forms that run in a browser either. That's been around since Delphi 2.0.

So, VFP is more objected oriented than VB. But Delphi is more so than both of those MS products. VFP does excellent LAN based database applications, but it still lags behind other products in the OOP implementation and all the benefits that one can reap from it.

By the way, why didn't MS push to include VFP in that study? Guess they didn't want to point out that VFP provides a more visual approach to data management and better cursor technology than VFP, eh? Also, VFP is OOP, but that didn't matter in that study anyway. Why not check out Inprise.com to see why they suggest Delphi over Powerbuilder or VB? The advice couldn't be anymore biased than what one finds here or at Microsoft...

People should stop posting such questions here. They'll never get an unbiased answer. That should be a UT policy. But then I'll never get to follow these threads and see the lack of objectivity...

Regards,
Jack Mendenhall
Reinsurance Management, Inc.