Archive | June, 2003

Visual FoxPro DevCon keynote raw notes

Hope to polish these up a little later, but here’s the raw typing, no spell-checking. About 300 attendees at the 8 AM keynote.

Taskpane
Toolbox
Empty class
AddProperty() and RemoveProperty()
Collection class
Structured Error Handling
TRY/CATCH/FINALLY
Event Binding
BINDEVENT() and RAISEEVENT()

enhanced getfile dialog
now auto-increment for tables
enhanced view designer
cihild member subclassing
vcs support for more classes
many new features for Grid control
Code Refences tools

Beyond XMLToCursor/CursorToXML
Hierarchical XML support
Multiple VFP data cursors to XML
XML to multiple VFP data cursors
XML diff grams
VFP data cursors, tables, DBC
ADO.NET compatible
XMLTable and XMLField classes
Full control of XSD schema used

CursorAdaptor Class
Similar to DataAdapter in ADO.NET
ADO/OLEDB
ODBC
Native VFP cursors
XML and XML Web services
Programmable events
Stored procedures control

New Data Features
DataEnvironment subclassing
DataEnvironment Builder
CursorAdapter class
CursorAdapter Builder
XMLAdapter class
Form BindControls property
Enhanced VFP OLE DB Provider
VFP 8.0 and VS .NET interoperability

VFP 8.0 Performance

LOCAL a1[10000]
x1=SECONDS()
FOR i = 1 TO 10000
	a1[i]=CREATEOBJECT("Custom")
ENDFOR
RELEASE a1
x2=SECONDS()
? x2-x1

VFP 7.0 = 24.5 seconds
VFP 8.0 = 0.45 seconds

DevCon Tips-of-theDay
This is the 14th DevCon conference
msdn.com = msdn.microsoft.com
Free GenScxrnX suppot expires in 2004
dot prompt still works in VFP 8.0
VFP 8.0 runs great on Tablet PCs
VFP 8.0 is hotter than Palm Springs
Europa is a moon of the planter Jupiter
Microsoft is working on Europa!

Works well with Visual Studio .NET
Greatly enhanced XML support
XML Web services
ADO.NET
VFP OLE DB Provider
ASP.NET Web forms
.NET Windows forms
Visual FoxPro Toolkit for .NET
VFP and .NET teams working together

.NET 
Software for connecting information, people, systems and devices
(video)

8:32
Building Connected Applications
Connected business, connected experience, connected development
clients, experiences and solutions, tools, services, servers, 
.net in the center, web services wrapped around all

Visual Studio .NET 2002 (last version)
.NET Framework 1.0
Simplified deployment - no DLL Hell, no need for Registry, version DLLs
All language under one roof
All application types under one roof (web, windows, devices)
Single development paradigm
Language enhancements- object-orientation to VB.NET, C#
ENterprise lifecycle support
ACT, Enterprise templates, Microsoft(r)Visio

.NET Framework 1.1
increases scalability and performance
side-by-side execution with .NET Framework 1.0
Enables no-touch deployment from the internet
code access security in ASP.NET
ASP.NET mobile controls
Native ODBC and Oreacle DB 7i/8i support
IPv6
.NET Framework version 1.1 included with Mocrsosft WIndows Server 2003

Buildeing connected Applications
Mobile development
mobile web browser - visual studio.net, ASP.NET mobile controls
PocketPC devices used .NET Compact Framework - can use WinForms 

Developer productiviity
increased IDE perforamnce
startup time reduced - now using a native control
improved IntelliSense(r)
Dynamic help faster
Object browser faster
Code editor drop-down menus faster

Upgrading applications
run multiple versions of VS side-by-side
- VS 6.0, 2k2, 2k3
upgrade from VS 2k2 to 2k3
only the project files are updated
doesn't change any of your sources
application configuration

Enhanced "Add Web Refernce" dialog
Code editor enhancements
net components
debugging enhancedments
community support and search

Languages
VB.NET 
fullu oo, free threading, structured error handline
host vb 6.0 controls in WinForms
Improved IntelliSense

C++: managed extensions
ISO C_++ conformance

C# component-oriented, type-safe
J# Java-language syntax, full integration with VS,NET

Microsoft Visual SOurceSafe
Application Centter Tes
Enterprise Templates and Policies
Enterprise InstrumentationFramework
Visio - UML tools 
Code Obfuscation

More information:
New .NET Framework certifications
MCAD
MCSD
Self-paced book/resources
Upgrade from VS 2003: $29

Empowerment through Ecosystem
Partners and community
150 VSIPs and compoent vendors, 300+ tools
.NET Code Wise Community
Third-party .NET community "influentials:
online communities reach 4.5M user sessions/month
Authors, publishers, trainers, speakers
INETA (International .NET Association)
200+ INETA user groups worldwide representing 66,0000
700+ MSDN user 

Demo: VFP 8.0 and .NET
VFP Business Tier, COM object accessed bother from VFP Form and using ASP.NET XML We Services to connect to .NET WinForm, .NET WebForm, Pocket PC, Cell Phone

Happy birthday to me

Got a surprise birthday party, cake and all, when friends interrupted my pre-conference session wth 5 minutes to go to sing “Happy Birthday.” Attendees seemed amused. After one refrain, they let me get back to finishing the presentation, only 10 minutes late or so. Carrot cake, a clever card and a golf club cover in the shape of a fox made it a fun birthday surprise.

The conference starts in earnest in two hours, with an 8 AM keynote. Reception tonight and a bonus session, an outdoor dinner and another bonus session tomorrow night will round out the schedule. We’ll be busy.

A switcher speaks

All my bags are packed, and I’m ready to go… (to OS X). I read David Weinberger’s account of PC woe today, and a smile ran across my face.  Not because I wish ill on David; I most certainly don’t (and I feel his pain).   I smile because his account of having to reinstall software on his Windows machine coincides with my re-reading for the second time David Coursey’s Macintosh OS X for Windows Users: A Switcher’s Guide.


You see folks, I can now admit it.  I am deep into the planning stage of making my next computer purchase, which will be an Apple 15″ Powerbook with OS X.  I’m not going to get into the Windows bashing.  I like Windows 2000 and Windows XP.  They’re pretty stable and it’s not Microsoft’s fault that it has to make its products compatible with every grain of sand on the beach.


But I have several computers in my home and it’s not my fault that they require constant rebooting and reinstallation of software.  Or that they attract viruses like horses attract flies.  Even when they work as they are supposed to they require tweaking and configuring. 


Of course, all computers require maintenance, and I’m glad for the very thorough education in this process that the various versions of Windows have afforded me.  So now I stand before you today a very technically savvy man, with a great respect for Microsoft engineers, as I say: I don’t have the time or inclination to do it any more.  I’ll always have at least one computer that has Windows in my home, but starting soon I’m going to have at least one that has OS X and I suspect that will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.


And I will always feel a tremendous sense of loss for the poor souls who will have chosen to remain behind, toiling in the fields of configuration and reinstallation.  I’d stay behind and help, but I just can’t.  I’m lazy and I don’t want to fight my computer anymore.  When I put it to sleep I want it to go to sleep and when I open the case I want it to wake up quickly. 


I have the feeling that switching to Mac OS X will be an awakening of sorts for me to.  It’s not a panacea, but I will be that I won’t be rebooting as often as I do now.  I’ll let you know….

[Ernie the Attorney]

Off to another conference

LasPalmas.jpgA typical frantic day of pre-flight chaos. Gotta be on a bus 10 miles from home at 6 Am tomorrow to make the connection to the wait-in-line to the flight to the place where I start talking at 8 AM the next day (fortunately, a couple time zones to the left). Ah, such a life…

Forty-two errands to run today, including a 250-mile round-trip dropping off computers and visiting clients. I can sleep, I’ve been told, when I’m dead. Good. I’ll be ready then.

SourceGear & Ximian

Great news, and hopefully a step in the right direction. I’ve been following SourceGear for years, as I use their SourceOffSite products to connect to client’s remote SourceSafe databases. SourceGear has developed a powerful replacement for the file-server model SourceSafe, a new product called “Vault.” While a promising client-server, low-bandwidth architecture, I was disappointed when they chose to limit themselves to the Microsoft platform with .NET languages and SQL Server as their back-end, making for a more expensive and more platform-dependent application, a more difficult sell to my clients in these lean times. Now, SourceGear has announced a venture with Mono to port clients to other platforms. My hope is that the server may follow.

SourceGear and Ximian Announce Partnership. Link from OSNews

IEEE approves 802.11g standard

Now, to see if the cutting edge hardware I bought back in January is upgradable and workable with the new standards… IEEE approves 802.11g standard. The new standard sets ground rules for wireless LAN gear capable of at least 24Mbit/sec. and up to 54Mbit/sec., while remaining backward compatible with 802.11b gear, which tops out at a maximum 11Mbit/sec. From Computerworld News

Good night, David

A picture named Brinkley.jpgA fixture in our house in the 60s, a way to know that, despite sometimes horrific news, there was always a basic humanity I could count on. Brinkley never liked it, according to an interview rebroadcast with Terry Gross yesterday, but the simple ritual of two men wishing each other good night set a remarkable tone to the entire news show.

David Brinkley, 82, Newsman Model, Dies. David Brinkley was the wry reporter and commentator whose NBC broadcasts helped define and popularize television news in America. By Richard Severo. From the New York Times: Business

Good night, David.

Happy Father’s Day!

Dad got to celebrate his first Father’s Day when I was born on the day… a few years ago. It’s also my birthday this year. To celebrate the day, and because I finally got around to it, I picked up Dad’s computer and took it home to tune it up. It’s a PIII-550, Dell Dimension, 128 Mb RAM, 10 Gb HD, Win98SE, IE 5.00.000 (oh, oh), a couple of years old. Did the usual scandisk, defrag (had to go into safe mode to get it to work, oh-oh!). Ran Windows update to get IE 6.0 SP1 and 17 other critical patches. Then on to virus check. I used HouseCall’s online service (http://www.antivirus.com), as his Norton subscription had expired years ago. Oh-oh, again. 512 copies of Klez.H had infected just about everywhere. Used Symantec’s tool to clean it up, and it looks like it was able to repair nearly all the files. Then, on to Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoft.de) to remove Alexa and a doubleclick.net cookie it didn’t like. Got 512 Mb of RAM and a new copy of Norton to keep things clean.

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