ProFox April 2019

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43 participants
45 discussions

FoxBin2Prg Form.Property = "" becomes .F.
by Tracy Pearson 02 Apr '20

02 Apr '20

I have just recently started to use FoxBin2Prg to store my VCX and SCX files as text versions in Git. Some of my forms have properties set to a have nothing in it. VFP displays this as "(none)". When I use FoxBin2Prg to put this particular form in to the SC2 form, the back to the SCX form this property becomes a .F. Just putting this out there for those that might use this tool. Tracy

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Re: String Reference to Object
by Gene Wirchenko 25 Feb '20

25 Feb '20

At 11:07 2018-02-15, Gene Wirchenko <genew(a)telus.net> wrote: >At 10:57 2018-02-15, "Fernando D. Bozzo" <fdbozzo(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>To talk with an example, if you have this: >> >>oObj = createobject("custom") >>reference = "oObj" >> >>The you have at least 3 options: >> >>1) The way you know => &reference..referredto >> >>2) Using evaluate => =Evaluate(reference + ".referredto") >> >>3) My preferred: Caching the object and then using it: >> >>oRef = Evaluate(reference) >>? oRef.refered1 >>? oRef.refered2 >>... > > I was hoping to avoid evaluate(), but your third way makes > sense. I will check if it works in all the contexts I am thinking > of. (I was using "object" and "reference" rather loosely.) Unfortunately, it does not work in my usual use case: as an alias. Example: use ccli where=evaluate("ccli") && Nope ? where.clcode Sincerely, Gene Wirchenko

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A FoxPro Transition @ UCLA...
by Kurt at VR-FX 31 Oct '19

31 Oct '19

Hello there folks, I'm looking to get some feedback from the hive mind of this group. And, I will admit, I'm doing this kind of last minute. Too many things going on lately, and I have not had a chance to do my true due diligence! Such as thorough research via prior postings in this forum. So as some of you may already know, I had a first interview for a programmer job at UCLA. The second interview is coming up, it's supposed to be this Thursday, but I might try to postpone until Friday. Too much stuff going on in my life lately, including doing 2 different part time jobs and an extended relative who passed away recently, that's the reason I'm going down to LA for an in-person interview, since the last interview I did via Skype. It looks like UCLA really wants to move away from Foxpro, as they know it's a dead language. But, they want to move to something similar to VFP. I suspect its also because the 1 and only programmer there, who's been there for like 30 years and may be retiring soon - doesn't want to learn something Totally new. And, also wants to minimize the transition! They are asking me to propose what I think is the best option. They have mentioned several options such as Fox-in-Cloud, the Alpha software, and even Servoy. They did not bring up things like Lianja, XoJo, or X# the open source X-base language. I know that Fox-in-Cloud even offers a type of Conversion Assistant - which looks really Great! But, once its converted and running in the cloud - I'm assuming that making updates to the system actually means programming in something that is not actually FoxPro - as I think its Javascript & HTML. But, I could be wrong - and am sure Thierry will correct me. There was also some recent discussion on X# which looked like a potentially great option. But, I heard that via the last posting - the FoxPro version of the code wasn't really ready yet! They also told me that they have already been working with Alpha SW - and in discussions with them for several months. Which makes me think they are already leaning towards Alpha. A quick review of old postings in this forum did not show a lot of discussion or users of Alpha. It would really be great to hear from some Alpha users! Anyway - any and all input would be greatly appreciated. I've seen Numerous discussions about a number of these technologies here in the forum over the years. But, honestly - I never truly got involved with any of them - until NOW! Regards, Kurt

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[NF] Migrating Skills From Foxpro to Xojo
by Paul H. Tarver 29 Jul '19

29 Jul '19

I hijacked the original thread with a reply changing the subject and adding an [NF] flag to the subject because a small comment Kevin made caused me chase a different rabbit for a little bit. I have reviewed Xojo on a couple of different occasions over the past few years and I have tried to work my way through the book that was written to teach people how to program it and I find myself drifting by the 3rd or 4th chapter every time. Not a fault of the author; just rather a fault of me wanting something a little more advanced. Anyway, I've run into a couple of hurdles with trying to learn Xojo and perhaps someone here has some suggestions to help me out. Try not to laugh at what may be very dumb questions! :) 1) I build a lot of similar but customized apps using a shared library of tools I've developed over the past 25 years. Every app I build contains a LOT of forms, reports and programs shared by all my applications as well as a lot of forms, reports and programs which are copied from previous projects and then customized for the current client. While I have seen multiple Xojo advocates confirm a similar process is possible, but I cannot find clear explanations of how to make that happen. 2) Every Foxpro application I build starts with a .PRG which reads a configuration .INI file and then setups up the environment, displays a splash screen, checks my version numbers, calls a database update process if a version change is detected and if all is good, it displays the main screen for the user. Once the user chooses to exit my application, a shutdown process is initiated and everything is closed in an orderly way. That having been said, I have been unable to find source code to a simple, complete Xojo application or instruction book that can walk me through the start to finish logic and firing order of all the start-up and shut-down events and allow me to compare that to the process I'm so familiar with in Foxpro. 3) Are there any good white-papers or books by Foxpro programmers that can provide insights into translating my Foxpro knowledge and skill directly into Xojo. I use Foxpro on a daily basis for my business because I cannot find a language that satisfies my clients' needs the way Foxpro does. I would love to be able to say I have a backup language like Xojo, but I get only so far before I give up and go back to what I know and love. So let's assume Kevin is correct when he states Xojo is " a viable language for VFP developers" because I do not want to go down the rabbit hole of considering all the other alternatives for this sake of this discussion and share with me any tips that can help me understand Xojo on a higher level beyond just creating a simple form. I want to understand Xojo at a Complete Deliverable Application level and talk about mimicking the features I depend upon in Foxpro to share a library of tools, forms and code across hundreds of similar custom applications. Paul H. Tarver -----Original Message----- From: ProfoxTech [mailto:profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com] On Behalf Of Kevin J Cully Sent: Friday, February 22, 2019 8:11 AM To: profoxtech(a)leafe.com Subject: RE: false news.... Well, a lot of that article is correct, even though I don't want it to be. VFP as a *language* is as secure as the programmer programmed it to be. VFP as a *database* isn't secure itself. You can encrypt fields. You can encrypt the directory that the data is stored in. But DBF data isn't secure. You wouldn't store social security numbers or credit card numbers in Excel spreadsheets, right? I've haven't recommended DBFs for storage for over a decade now. There are better storage mechanisms such as Postgres, MariaDB, and even SQLite which can be set up as an encrypted database. VFP as a language is still valid, although it will never be able to create 64bit applications but that is a different subject. [Insert Xojo plug here as a viable language for VFP developers.] I had a potential client where they based their primary keys based on employee Social Security Numbers. They didn't like it when I told them that they'd need a complete rewrite. Notice this would have been the case no matter what language/technology they were using. It was just piss poor design. It appears from the article, that when the vendor was notified of the situation, that they were able to quickly address it although the article didn't say what that solution was. Probably encrypted the field? Hash the field with an external secured table containing the sensitive data? Who knows. To me, that's a win. Hopefully the vendor contacts all customers notifying them that there is a vulnerability and that there is a solution available. As Ted Roche always says "Security is a process". -Kevin -----Original Message----- From: ProFox [mailto:profox-bounces@leafe.com] On Behalf Of Dave Crozier Sent: Friday, February 22, 2019 6:07 AM To: 'ProFox Email List' <profox(a)leafe.com> Subject: VFP: false news.... Ignorance and stupidity still runs in the so-called “expert consultant” fraternity. “An outdated software that is used by about 200 Vermont municipalities and the Vermont Tax Department has long contained flaws that exposed sensitive information including Social Security numbers, according to an IT consultant and the software company’s founder.” “You could make a strong case that Visual FoxPro shouldn’t be used on a government level,” Johnson said. https://vtdigger.org/2019/02/05/consultant-outdated-software-left-worker-in… Thankfully the software owners realise that it isn’t a fault in VFP, it is a fault in the designing of the infrastructure. Expert: Ex - Out of date Spurt – a drip under pressure!! Dave Crozier Software Development Manager Flexipol Packaging Ltd. ﴾⚆ᨎ⚆﴿ Flexipol® Packaging Ltd T 01706 222 792 E DCrozier(a)flexipol.co.uk W https://www.flexipol.co.uk/ Follow us: Unit 14 Bentwood Road, Carrs Industrial Estate, Haslingden, Lancashire, BB4 5HH This communication and the information it contains is intended for the person or organisation to whom it is addressed. Its contents are confidential and may be protected in law. If you have received this e-mail in error you must not copy, distribute or take any action in reliance on it. Unauthorised use, copying or disclosure of any of it may be unlawful. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by telephone or email. Flexipol Packaging Ltd. has taken every reasonable precaution to minimise the risk of virus transmission through email and therefore any files sent via e-mail will have been checked for known viruses. 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VF9: Exporting a Memo Field to Excel
by Desmond Lloyd 04 May '19

04 May '19

Does anyone have a quick and easy way to export a memo field(s) into Excel? TIA/Appreciate the help. Regards, Desmond --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative text/plain (text body -- kept) text/html ---

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Re: FoxPro Job
by Kurt at VR-FX 01 May '19

01 May '19

That's a pretty funny one Gene. Especially as it relates to my scenario here in Cali. Turns out - when I got here - my sister insisted that NOBODY Goes to an interview in Cali w/a Suit on! As such, when out here - I have not used a suit at all... -K- On 4/29/2019 10:06 AM, Gene Wirchenko wrote: > I remember one post in alt.folklore.computers some years ago > where the poster mentioned his company had trouble with hiring. It > seems that there was one group of people who expected an applicant to > be wearing a suit and another group that did not trust any applicant > wearing a suit.

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[ADMIN] Updated Website
by Ed Leafe 29 Apr '19

29 Apr '19

Hey everyone, Well, it’s lasted 15 years, but my old website has run out of gas. Specifically, it was created using Python 2, and that’s going to be unsupported at the end of 2019, so time to re-write in Python 3. Gone are Apache and mod_wsgi; it’s now running on nginx and uwsgi. The hardest part was choosing a CSS framework, and I tried a lot of them before settling on Materialize (https://materializecss.com/) It’s light, easy to use, and responsive. Under the hood I’ve replaced how archived email messages are stored and processed. Before it was MariaDB using its fulltext index; now everything is stored in Elasticsearch, where full text searching is native. I’ve run a lot of tests, and queries take about 1/10 the time as before. Of course, there may be glitches, and I’d like to know about them if you find them. I’ve also tried to keep the URLs the same, but some are not. One example is the archive search: Before: https://leafe.com/archives/search/<listname> After: https://leafe.com/archives My old web framework (Pylons) made it difficult to combine the lists into a single form, but the new framework (Flask) makes things much simpler. I’ve added a redirect for some of the old URLs, but not all, so if there are any that are causing you pain, let me know. The new site should be available as soon as the DNS update propagates through the inter webs. -- Ed Leafe

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Re: FoxPro Job
by Gene Wirchenko 29 Apr '19

29 Apr '19

At 15:48 2019-04-26, Kurt Wendt <kurthwendt(a)gmail.com> wrote: >Actually, HR wasn't involved at all. I was interviewed by the department >where the position was to occur, as well as multiple people in that >department including I'm assuming maybe users of the system as well as >programmers of the system. I was mentioning the likeliest (to me) scenario. There are other ways for things to go pear-shaped. I remember one post in alt.folklore.computers some years ago where the poster mentioned his company had trouble with hiring. It seems that there was one group of people who expected an applicant to be wearing a suit and another group that did not trust any applicant wearing a suit. [snip] Sincerely, Gene Wirchenko

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File Access Issues
by Chris Davis 29 Apr '19

29 Apr '19

We are seeing increasing problems with VFP applications (some of our own and other commercial ones) as our customers have their servers upgraded. A lot of these servers are now virtual machines hosted on a physical machine. In some instances these are remote desktop servers which access the VFP data from a different server. The file access issues seem to be random, in some instances the indexes get corrupted and need to be repaired. Anti Virus has been ruled out by uninstalling it, but the problems persist. Any ideas? Any issues with VFP data and VM's? Regards Chris. --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative text/plain (text body -- kept) text/html ---

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Dead link when trying to find a Craig Boyd article
by Paul Newton 27 Apr '19

27 Apr '19

Hi all I am trying to track down an article by Craig Boyd without success so far. Does anybody have any ideas or, even better, a copy of the article in question. This article is called "Hosting a .Net activex control in Visual Foxpro" and the (dead) link is http://www.sweetpotatosoftware.com/blog/index.php/2006/01/16/hosting-a-net-… Many thanks Paul Newton --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative text/plain (text body -- kept) text/html ---

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ProFox April 2019