xCase2VPM for xCase 8.2 Released
Version 1.99.237 of xCase2VPM for xCase 8.2 and VPME9 has been released. It is available here. The primary purpose of the release is compatibility with xCase8.2. Note that xCase8.1 reintroduces the multiple attributes browser, so if you are upgrading from earlier than that, see the directions below for making sure you have this valuable feature.
Other than compatibility with xCase8.2, this version introduces two important features:
The Append process at the end of an xCase2VPM run is much quicker, because where possible, the table will be copied back, rather than appended. In a few hundred table application, this can cut 10's of minutes off the processing time.
The ability to work around SQL Server's use of Allow Null is now built into the Create Remote DB process. This is important when you want compatibility with VFP-based applications, because it makes the data work just as it does with VFP. VPM takes care of the actual defaults, and whether the fields can be empty(); this eliminates views not working because of NULL FK's, etc. To make this work, run the Create Remote DB process with the settings shown below:
What about VPME9.1X
We've gotten a couple of questions about VPME9.1X lately: are we going to produce a version of xCase2VPM to go with this version of VPM? In short, the answer is no. The longer answer follows <s>.
The reasons for our decision are many, some more important than others of course. Here are some, in no particular order of importance.
- With VFP now in an end-of-life cycle, we don't foresee a move by developers to VFP; and since developers moving to VFP were a key component of the VPM market (because VPM is such a huge help in getting going with VFP when doing useful work), we don't foresee an increased market for VPM.
- Our libraries provide the capabilities we need to produce great business applications in VPME9.
- It would be a lot of scut-work changing everything in our libraries to work with VPME9.1x. Nothing has changed in the essence of the processing; but what things are called or where they are located has changed.
We would love to have a reason to change our decision. One thing that would help do that would be if VFP applications could be compiled into .Net. "What," you say? "We've been told VFP can never run within .Net, and the person telling us that was the Product Manager for VFP!" Well, we'll see how it turns out, but you might want to take a look at a Community Support Group for etecnologia.net's VFP.Net compiler. If/when Samuel et al. get this thing working, then VPME9.1X will have another life (well deserved), and it would make sense for us to proceed with a version of xCase2VPM that implements the interface we have already planned for xCase2 V2, while converting our libraries to work with VPME9.1X or beyond.
For the moment, we're producing great business applications in VPME9, using our libraries combined with xCase2VPM, and haven't found any reason to do otherwise. We see reasons to be preparing for the future, of course. Right now, what we have is working great.
xCase2VPM for xCase 8.1, VPME9 Released
Come and get it:
http://www.prosysplus.com/products/xcase2vpm_updates.htmThis takes care of the Browsers issue that resulted from the return of the Multiple Attributes Form. It has a few other little fixes, I think: when Frank gives me the list, I'll note them here, there and everywhere.
Directions for how to get your multiple attributes browser back in xCase 8.1, with the ProSysPlus defaults, are given on the download page, above.
enjoy,
Hank
PS: thanks to Frank for figuring out what needed to be done (which turned out to be a) installing over a 7.5 install directly with 8.1, and b) packaging up those browsers for use by xCase2Vpm).
xCase2VPM V1.99.112
This version fixes two bugs:
- We added a call to the datasession saver class from PSP Libraries, which was a good thing. I forgot to include it in the build, which was a bad thing.
- Somehow someone (Frank will analyze source control files to prove it was me, although I completely deny it, and truthfully cannot remember doing it) broke the code in the Process dialog that filled the Model combobox. Anyway, I fixed it.
Time to get back to the next version, don't you think? <s>
xCase2VPM V1.99.74 Released
This is the last planned release of xCase2VPM for VPME9. It incorporates, but does not mandate, support of xCase 8.
Documentation isn't done yet <gd&r> but will be forthcoming. They will be posted here when available.
The next version of xCase2VPM will be V2, for VPME9.1, which will be under a new name (PSP4VPM, which will include the PSP Data Dictionary and the PSP Libraries). The new product will be sold only through a comprehensive subscription package: for existing xCase2VPM users the annual fee for all updates (including PSP4.Net which will appear within the next year), training videos, and support (all through Groove for now) will be $495, with a $100 Early Bird discount. These subscriptions will be available on the ProSysPlus website when the time comes.
You can access the
downloads here.
Enjoy!!!
European Summer DevCon 2006
Wondering what's up with xCase2VPM? Read about it here: http://www.prosysplus.com/blog/2006/06/european-summer-devcon-2006.html !
xCase2VPM V2 Live Training in Tampa
Frank and I have committed to delivering some version of xCase2VPM V2, aka xCase2PSP for VPM, for a demo at the ProMatrix Solutions workshop in Tampa on October 21, and then we’ll do a workshop of our own, actually working with xCase2VPM V2, the next day. Workshop attendees will receive the beta version of xCase2VPM V2. This will be the first release of xCase2VPM V2, and Workshop attendees will be the first to receive it, along with access to the portal site devoted to the beta.
The Saturday workshop will be the Full Monte of the xCase2VPM Jumpstart: shake it Frank!
- Installation of xCase2PSP and PSP4VPM (you can’t use xCase2VPM V2 without both components)
- Setting up xCase (not too much to do: we no longer add attributes to xCase)
- Quick Demo to prove it works! (Developed directly in SQL Server)
- Setting up xCase2PSP Advanced: your own attributes and code generation
- Working with Entities: all the features you liked in V1
- Generated vs. xCase Views: why you will rarely need xCase views
- Working with Fields: all the features you liked in V1
- Working with Validation Rules
- Working with Business Rules
- Bonus Session: Moving your model to MM.Net using PSP4MM.Net
When I went back to the xCase model for V2, I was interested to see that it had been started in 2003: and that I still like the ideas in it. <g> Ideas like the ability for users to add their own MetaData attributes to any object, and direct how those new attributes are used.
The interface will be in .Net, which was not in the original plan. In that time, .Net has gotten better, MM.Net has matured, and Infragistics controls have progressed. So, Frank and I decided to bite the bullet and develop the interface using MM.Net and Infragistics. On the backend will be a COM object written in VPME9 using the PSP Libraries. Which we will rewrite in VPME91 once we get V2 working. Why a VPM COM object? Because nothing does data like Fox. And if Anders Hejlsberg (creator of the CLR and C#, and currently adding data access improvements to C#) doesn’t have a VFP guru looking over his shoulder and shaking his/her head in dismay at his lack of data experience, well, it’s all our loss.
This is the only live training Frank and I have scheduled at this point, since we find the Online Videos and Support format to be so effective. But live training for something like this is exciting for everyone. And this stuff will blow people away. I’m excited, and I’ve been thinking/working on this over a period of 2 years.
You can sign up for the course on the
ProMatrix training site.
