a_dent@vaxa.uwa.oz (06/28/90)
In article <31085@cup.portal.com>, ghh@cup.portal.com (Guido - Haymann) writes: > I would like to see some comments about the relative merits of the different > dBase languages (AT, Clipper, Foxbase, Forte, etc.) as environments > to develop prepackaged applications. We are talking about a few hundreds of > copies. On the Macintosh side of things, FoxBASE+/Mac is the only dBase compatible product and is VERY good for novices as it builds command lines to match the commands they enter by selecting from menus and using the "Expression Builder" dialog. I have had a lot of success introducing people to FoxBASE on the basis of using the menu commands and then pasting the generated command into their procedures. With a little help, it is fairly easy to produce a packaged product with a very "mac-like" interface. The exiting thing is that all these statements apply to FoxPro - it is essentially a superset of FoxBASE+/Mac. There have been numerous magazine reviews (a particularly comprehensive one in a recent Data-based Advisor) but few of them emphasise this fact. If you code your package carefully, it will be almost directly portable between the two environments. (The major problem is the use of PIXELS on the @..SAY/ GET commands to position more accurately on the Mac - as generated automatically by the forms designer). Without having tried it, I'd say the best way for compatability would be to develop the package using FoxPro, but steer clear of the enhancements if you want to port to the Mac (eg: Browse & memo field changes in particular). One magazine article said that the FoxPro/Mac product would be release after version 1.1 of FoxPro, and the products then run in tandem. This would make Fox products the premier cross-development tool! By the way, IGNORE the dreadful demo programs included with FoxBASE+/Mac - they do absolutely nothing to show its capabilities or how to program for the Mac. Look at the FoxPro demos for a dazzling user interface. Andy Dent A.D. Software phone 09 249 2719 Mac & VAX programmer 94 Bermuda Dve, Ballajura a_dent@vaxa.uwa.oz Western Australia 6066