====================================== FoxPro Developers Network of San Diego ====================================== FoxDev TipsLetter #01-08 31 July 2001 Website: Editor: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS: * Calendar ** No Meeting Aug 1 ** * Tech Tips: I/O Operation Failure Steve Settimi Saving Queries with StrToFile() Steve Settimi * Links: Where Can I Find...? * Other Stuff: DotFox Training - With a Free Bonus C++ Runtime in VFP7 Robert Green RealPlayer is Evil Steve Gibson * Administrivia ====================================================================== CALENDAR: All meetings are in Escondido, at 6:30 pm. August 16 *** SPECIAL DATE *** -------- Rick Strahl - Business Objects in Web Connection It's a real coup for us to have Rick visit San Diego, since he lives in Hawaii! Rick is the president of WestWind Technologies and a founder of CODE magazine. [There will be no Q&A because of the length of Rick's topic, which will start at 6:30] August 29 *** SPECIAL DATE *** --------- Eric Lendvai - DotFox Training Eric will host a complete training session on his new product. Everyone is welcome, but paid members [hint, hint!] will get a free copy of the software! [See complete details under Other Stuff. DC] Sept 13 *** SPECIAL DATE *** ------- Doug Hennig - New Interface features of VFP7 ..and.. - WinAPI for VFP The day after DevCon. Since we couldn't decide which we preferred, Doug, the creator of Stonefield Database Toolkit and regular author in FoxTalk, will be speaking on BOTH subjects! [There will be no Q&A in order to give Doug enough time. Meeting will start at 6:30] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Escondido meetings are at Bergelectric, 2222 Meyers Avenue. Take the Nordahl exit from Highway 78 (west of I-15). Head South. Right on Meyers Ave, first right past Mission. It's a one-story building on the right (there's no sign). ====================================================================== TIPS ====================================================================== I/O OPERATION FAILURE Stephen Settimi If you are supporting Fox2.x products on today's fast machines you know that a slowstart patch must be made to the foxw2600.esl file. [See "Divide by Zero" patches at following URL:] http://www.dwave.net/~clemmer/foxpro_downloads.htm But the pesky I/O error can still occur even with the patch. Error 1002, I/O Operation Failure, happens on machines >= 333 Mhz. If the error still occurs after trying a patch, just put a CD in the CDROM drive - any CD will do. Here's the explanation found at http://www.childplus.com/support/tscommon.htm: Explanation: This is a Foxpro problem caused by Foxpro attempting to read a drive that is not ready. Most often this happens on systems that have a CD-ROM drive but there is no CD in it. Simply keeping any CD in the drive will prevent this problem from happening. Stephen Settimi http://www.settimi.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SAVING QUERIES WITH STRTOFILE() Stephen Settimi Here's a use of PUTFILE(), STRTOFILE(), FILETOSTR() functions. I have some programs that display user input in an edit box. The content of the box can then be saved and recalled later. For instance, in one a example a rudimentary query builder outputs the user input to a SQL statement and displays it in an edit box. The user can then save this query to recall at a later date. This saves the user time in not having to reconstruct the query. Or the query can be modified and resaved under a different name. Using PUTFILE() the user can select the directory and use the default extension, in this case 'sql', or change the extension to one of another choices to save the content of the edit box: (substituting _cliptext for edit box value is also handy!) *-- Saving the contents of Edit1 edit box If ! EMPTY(this.Parent.Edit1.Value) cFile=SYS(3) STRTOFILE(this.Parent.Edit1.Value, cFile) COPY FILE(cFile) to PUTFILE('Save SQL','',"sql;qpr;txt;*.*") *-- Default file extension is 'SQL' DELETE FILE (cFile) ENDIF *-- Recall a query from user-selected file cFile = GETFILE("sql;qpr;txt;*.*") if not empty(cFile) cFileStr = FILETOSTR(cFile) this.parent.Edit1.Value = cFileStr Endif Stephen Settimi http://www.settimi.org ====================================================================== LINKS ====================================================================== This is a (semi) permanent list of places to look for technical help when you get blind-sided by the latest urgent requirement. We don't give specific URLs for MSDN articles because (a) they're too long and (b) they change too often! ------------------------------- MSDN ON LINE: There's a ton of stuff here, look at the Magazines tab, and read some of the regular columns. MSDN Library Look in Technical Articles | Visual Studio | Visual FoxPro 3-Tier Apps: MSDN Library: "Building Three-Tier Client/Server Applications with Visual FoxPro" ADO MSDN Library: ADO Jumpstart for Microsoft Visual FoxPro Developers John V. Petersen, April 1999 DNA (Distributed interNet Architecture): MSDN On-line: "Top Windows DNA Performance Mistakes and How to Prevent Them" MTS: Microsoft Transaction Server MSDN Library: "Microsoft Transaction Server for Visual FoxPro Developers" ODBC: MSDN Library: "Using Visual FoxPro to Access Remote Data" ODBC drivers are part of MDAC - Microsoft Data Access Components - and are available for download at: "www.microsoft.com/data" VS Installer: MSDN Library: a. "Using Visual Studio Installer for VFP 6.0 Applications" b. "VFP 6.0 and VS Installer Tutorial" VFP General: This is the most complete set of FoxPro links you're likely to find: http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_visual_foxpro.html WEB Development: These products all work well with VFP. AFP www.afpweb.com and www.afpages.com DotFox www.elsoftware.com and www.dotfox.net FoxWeb www.foxweb.com WestWind www.west-wind.com X-WORKS www.x-works.com Windows General XML - What's New in XML for Microsoft Windows 2000 See also OLE DB drivers for XML in MDAC 2.6 at "microsoft.com/data" [Contributions solicited. DC] ====================================================================== OTHER STUFF ====================================================================== DOTFOX TRAINING - WITH A FREE BONUS On Wednesday, August 29th, Eric Lendvai will present a 2-3 hour training session on EL Software's latest product, DotFox. This meeting is free to all comers; in addition, paid members of FoxDev will receive a free copy of the software!! DotFox is the Web Framework Eric showcased at our June meeting. It allows VFP programmers to create active web sites using only Visual FoxPro. For those of you that fell lefts out of the.NET framework from Microsoft, this will be the ideal solution to develop full fledged active web sites. During this training session you will learn how to build a complete web site from the ground up, using DotFox and VFP only. You will learn how to manage Pages, Page Templates, Page Components, Forms (Generated from SCX), Cascading Menus, Data Access, Security Issues, Remote Web Site Updates, Page Access Logs, and much more. Web sites created with this new framework can be accessed from virtually any browser, including the latest PDA's running Windows CE. ---- FREE BONUS ---- All participants that are paid members of FoxDevSD will receive a copy of the DotFox product and a free registration for the web site of their choice. [Not a paid member yet? Bring $25 and we'll sign you up at the meeting! DC] The DotFox engine and framework management tools will soon be available for public downloads from www.elsoftware.com. Registration will be by web site using the product. The initial registration fee will be $200.00 per site. Eric Lendvai eric@elsoftware.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C++ RUNTIME IN VFP7 Robert Green From the ProFox forum: Q: Where did the C++ 7.0 runtime come from? A: Visual C++ .NET can build both .NET and COM based applications. VFP 7 was built with the non-.NET side of VC++. The only reason we have a commercially unreleased C++ compiler is because it is still in beta . It will ship, as will Visual Studio .NET, by the end of the year. Robert Green Microsoft ---------------------------------------------------------------------- REALPLAYER IS EVIL Steve Gibson [From Steve Gibson's site - www.grc.com] Unfortunately, Real Networks is Evil - We inherently identify with, and root for, the little guy, therefore Real Networks was once our favored choice. So it's sad and unfortunate that time and time again Real Networks demonstrates active contempt for the privacy rights of their products' users. They spy every way they can on their users' activities. There is NO WAY we would ever have any of their junk on our systems and we would never recommend their use to anyone. --------------------------Administrivia------------------------------- This newsletter is a service to all FoxPro developers, provided without charge by the FoxPro Developers Network of San Diego (FPDN). Anyone may subscribe (or unsubscribe) at our web site . The link is on the home page. The Resources button on the website will take you to the back issues of the newsletter. The editor (Dan Covill) is solely responsible for the content. E-mail him with YOUR tips, comments, or complaints. Editor: Dan Covill 858-272-2448 dcovill@acm.org Board of Directors: Eric Lendvai - President 760-734-4929 eric@elsoftware.com Art Bergquist - Vice Pres 760-740-0428 abergquis@cs.com Claude Nikula - Secretary 619-615-6318 crndev@home.com Barbara Peisch - Treasurer 760-729-9607 barbara@peisch.com Dan Covill - Director 858-272-2448 dcovill@acm.org Thad V'Soske - Director 619-544-9900 tvsoske@hanoverdirect.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------