drmath@viking.UUCP (Doctor Math) (05/23/91)
What databases are there for the Macintosh? Specifically for someone coming from a Clipper background.. Clipper for the Mac would be nice (as would Clipper under UNIX), but since such a thing could be indefinite in forthcoming, I would appreciate any pointers in this direction. There is always SoftPC, but I am hoping for something a little more elegant... *** Doctor Math disclaimer: If my company caught me saying this, I would have to fire myself.
awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) (06/03/91)
In article <giPD32@viking.UUCP>, drmath@viking.UUCP (Doctor Math) writes: > What databases are there for the Macintosh? Specifically for someone > coming from a Clipper background.. Clipper for the Mac would be nice Your choices on the Mac are: 1) McMax from Nantucket. A third-party product re-packaged by Nantucket; not well integrated or well thought-of, I'm afraid, but I've never seen it. 2) FoxBase/Mac. An impressively Mac-like product, essentially dBASE III PLUS functionality with menus and radio buttons added to the language. I've known developers who were very happy with FoxBase/Mac, but one caveat: your Mac apps won't port easily to FoxPro on MS-DOS. 3) dBASE IV Runtime Plus for Macintosh was just released by us. It's 100% compatible with dBASE IV 1.1 (with limited "runtime" functionality and a dot prompt) and is cross- platform. Meaning you can compile a prg on MS-DOS and run the dbo object file on Macintosh, Sun, Vax, or MS-DOS unchanged. More platforms coming soon. 4) Something else, which I haven't heard of. I have played with FoxBase/Mac, and I can highly recommend it if you plan to stay on the Mac, or if dBASE III PLUS functionality is all you need and you can write to a lowest-common denominator across platforms. If cross-platform is a significant consideration, I'd suggest our product. /alastair/ -- |Disclaimer: I am speaking for myself, not as a spokesman for Ashton-Tate, |which does not monitor my outbursts here. I reserve all rights to my |opinions in terms of commercial endorsements.
AR.HFN@forsythe.stanford.edu (Hooshyar Naraghi) (06/04/91)
In article <1991Jun3.032336.21819@dbase.A-T.COM>, awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) writes: >In article <giPD32@viking.UUCP>, drmath@viking.UUCP (Doctor Math) writes: >> What databases are there for the Macintosh? Specifically for someone >> coming from a Clipper background.. Clipper for the Mac would be nice > >Your choices on the Mac are: . . . > 2) FoxBase/Mac. An impressively Mac-like product, essentially > dBASE III PLUS functionality with menus and radio buttons > added to the language. I've known developers who were very > happy with FoxBase/Mac, but one caveat: your Mac apps won't > port easily to FoxPro on MS-DOS. > I am in the middle of a port from Foxbase+/Mac to Foxpro 1.02, and it is not as difficult as you sound it here. I brought in a coder who knew dbaseIII+, and with minimal help and in 2 months time he has ported 1 MB out of 1.5 MB of Mac source code to Foxpro 1.02 on MS-DOS. Now that Foxpro 2.0 is coming out we can port everything from Mac to PC except the fonts. On another note, dBASEIII+ is a subset of Foxbase+/Mac. Foxbase+/Mac has special commands and functions that address specifically the Macintosh interface, such as Macintosh style windowing capabilities, object oriented form design and report writer design, memo field scrolling, report scrolling, variety of button tools including radio button, text buttons, check boxes, scroll list, & popup list. Just expressing my experience. Hooshyar Naraghi AR.HFN@forsythe.stanford.edu (415) 324-0155
dent@DIALix.oz.au (Andrew Dent) (06/05/91)
In <1991Jun3.032336.21819@dbase.A-T.COM> awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) writes: >In article <giPD32@viking.UUCP>, drmath@viking.UUCP (Doctor Math) writes: >> What databases are there for the Macintosh? Specifically for someone >> coming from a Clipper background.. Clipper for the Mac would be nice > 2) FoxBase/Mac. An impressively Mac-like product, essentially > dBASE III PLUS functionality with menus and radio buttons > added to the language. I've known developers who were very > happy with FoxBase/Mac, but one caveat: your Mac apps won't > port easily to FoxPro on MS-DOS. Next year - FoxPRO for Windows will be due and some convergence of Mac and PC products will occur. FoxPRO for Mac is due RSN but the interface stuff requires different code for PC/Mac. >I have played with FoxBase/Mac, and I can highly recommend it if you >plan to stay on the Mac, or if dBASE III PLUS functionality is all >you need and you can write to a lowest-common denominator across >platforms. If cross-platform is a significant consideration, I'd >suggest our product. I've actually converted some Clipper stuff to FoxBASE+/Mac and this statement is a little misleading. FoxBASE+/Mac implements a lot of extensions to the dBASEIII+ standard that make it far easier to port Clipper code than if you were porting it (backwards) to dBASE III+. >/alastair/ Andy Dent A.D. Software phone 09 249 2719 Mac & VAX programmer 94 Bermuda Dve, Ballajura dent@DIALix.oz Western Australia 6066 dent@DIALix.oz.au (international)