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Home > Archive > Getting Started with dBASE > August 2005 > Question about dBase 2.6
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Question about dBase 2.6
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| I haven't done any serious programming for several years. Most of my
experience is with Visual dBase 5.5. If I purchase 2.6, can I jump right
into using it with the knowledge I have accumulated with 5.5 or will I have
to start from the ground up? Also, will my 5.5 projects convert over? I want
to get back into programming and not sure if I should go the VB route or if
I can use what I already know with dBase.
Jim
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| Ken Mayer [dBVIPS] 2005-08-18, 8:23 pm |
| Jim M wrote:
> I haven't done any serious programming for several years. Most of my
> experience is with Visual dBase 5.5. If I purchase 2.6, can I jump right
> into using it with the knowledge I have accumulated with 5.5 or will I have
> to start from the ground up? Also, will my 5.5 projects convert over? I want
> to get back into programming and not sure if I should go the VB route or if
> I can use what I already know with dBase.
It is possible to convert, but it may be easier to start over. There's a
lot of new stuff. However, you're just in time -- I have a book about to
be published -- details at:
http://www.goldenstag.net/dbase/dBASEBook.htm. The details I posted
earlier today are wrong, and I haven't updated it ... the book MAY be
available in a couple weeks ... maybe less.
Ken
--
/(Opinions expressed are purely my own, not those of dataBased
Intelligence, Inc.)/
*Ken Mayer* [dBVIPS]
/Golden Stag Productions/
dBASE at goldenstag dot net
http://www.goldenstag.net/GSP
http://www.goldenstag.net/dbase
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"Ken Mayer [dBVIPS]" < dbase@_nospam_golden
stag.net> wrote in message
news:iA6IW2EpFHA.1420@news-server...
> Jim M wrote:
>
> It is possible to convert, but it may be easier to start over. There's a
> lot of new stuff. However, you're just in time -- I have a book about to
> be published -- details at: http://www.goldenstag.net/dbase/dBASEBook.htm.
> The details I posted earlier today are wrong, and I haven't updated it ...
> the book MAY be available in a couple weeks ... maybe less.
>
Thanks for the info. If I have to start over, my company will probably
prefer I use Visual Basic.
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| John Marshall 2005-08-19, 9:24 am |
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Jim:
I had tried at least one of everything, VB, Access, Magic, Alpha, etc, and never felt that same "fuzzy" feeling and comfort that I had grown to know and enjoy with dBase. I however was jumping from dBaseIII to Plus v 2.5. Because of the amount of dif
ferences, it took me at least 3 months to gain a baseline comfort level, and 6 to really be able to feel that same familiarity and comfort in using it. There are still many features that I have yet to use or perfect, but to me this speaks to the depth of
where dBase has come.
If you were at the 5.5 stage, I suggest that you read all the upgrade lit and specs before you let yourself be swept into VB. While most of my dBase III apps worked under 2.5 with just minor corrections, I too have gone back into them and rewritten to
take advantage of the many new features, etc. The key here is still that there is the underlying comfort that what you have can be converted almost instantly, yet the sky's the limit in terms of enhancement/upgrade potential. This flies in the face of
having to master a new product (VB) as well as completely rewriting the old apps. To me there was no reasonably alternative.
JM
Jim M Wrote:
> I haven't done any serious programming for several years. Most of my
> experience is with Visual dBase 5.5. If I purchase 2.6, can I jump right
> into using it with the knowledge I have accumulated with 5.5 or will I have
> to start from the ground up? Also, will my 5.5 projects convert over? I want
> to get back into programming and not sure if I should go the VB route or if
> I can use what I already know with dBase.
>
> Jim
>
>
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| Gerald Lightsey 2005-08-19, 8:23 pm |
| On Thu, 18 Aug 2005 17:09:05 -0400, in the dbase.getting-started group,
Jim M said...
> I haven't done any serious programming for several years. Most of my
> experience is with Visual dBase 5.5. If I purchase 2.6, can I jump right
> into using it with the knowledge I have accumulated with 5.5 or will I have
> to start from the ground up? Also, will my 5.5 projects convert over? I want
> to get back into programming and not sure if I should go the VB route or if
> I can use what I already know with dBase.
Taking your questions apart a bit.
1. If your VdB5.5 forms were created using the standard Forms Developer
process, the conversion tools included with dBASE PLUS 2.6 will do a
good job converting them. One of the major problems going back to when
the first 32 bit version, VdB 7.0, was released in 1998 was that a
different default form metric was used which would make VdB 5.x forms
opened in 32 bit wrong in height vs width. That would still be true in
PLUS because it derives from VdB 7 except that Jim Sare developed an
excellent form converter 3-4 years ago. If you built your forms in ways
that violate the rules used by the Visual dBASE streaming engine, (i.e
two-way tools), you have a tedious hand-coded job to repeat to get them
to look and perform the same as VdB 5.5.
2. In the period 1995-1998 when VdB 7 was under development, a lot of
dBASE developers were very disenchanted with Crystal Reports version 3
included with VdB 5.x. As a result one of Borland's priorities was to
release a built-in report class that would replace Crystal Reports. The
good and the bad of this decision was that Crystal Reports lost interest
in DIRECTLY supporting Visual dBASE at the dBASE language level. At the
same time the built in report class had some rough edges particularly in
report design. Like any tool some dBASE developers liked the new class
and some did not. Over the years Crystal has continued to develop and
improve their product which can be used in connection with .DBF tables
but not directly using the dBASE language. There are report converters
also that are supposed to covert VdB 5.x Crystal reports to the dBASE
report class. I haven't used these so can't vouch for their quality.
3. The 32 bit versions of dBASE feature new data objects that MAY be
used INSTEAD of the cursor in work area command language you are used to
in previous versions of dBASE. These include database classes, query
classes and rowset classes in addition to others. They offer much more
granularity and control of the data environment but the syntax involved
with their use is quite different from the older command language.
4 The older command language is still present and operable in every
respect that I can think of except that the commands that used to
address the screen in dBASE DOS do not operate in a Window, but you are
already used to that in VdB 5.x. What this means is that forms you
visually convert as covered in #1 should still perform in most respects
at the command language level. There is one area that tends to create a
divide between use of the older command language and the newer data
objects. That divide involves the Browse/Grid controls. The 32 bit
Grid which also offers more granular control of a variety of it
properties can ONLY connect to rowsets produced by the data object
hierarchy. The Browse control which is a subset of the Grid object is
NOT a derivative of the VdB 5.x. It can and does connect to a cursor in
a work area like previous versions of dBASE but it is not quite as
powerful implementation as the VdB 5.x Browse control. Therefore there
MIGHT be something to be given up in a forms application converted from
VdB 5.x depending upon what you are requiring of the Browse control.
The whole conversion subject has a lot of ramifications. The first
question that must be addressed is why convert a VdB 5.x application
that is running well? If there is not a strong motivation I would
advise against spending a lot of time fixing something that isn't
broken. If there is strong motivation then I would certainly try a
conversion before I would try to rewrite it from scratch. For any NEW
APPLICATION in dBASE Plus 2.6 I would certainly use the new data object
classes rather than the old command language. Developing a NEW
application is by far the easiest way to LEARN the new data object
syntax.
5. For interactive work in the command window, non-visual programs and
some quick utility forms the old command language works fine. I use it
every day for these kinds of jobs mostly because it is somewhat less
verbose and will perform quick and dirty jobs with less typing.
6. PLUS version 2.6 includes an improved version of dQuery which
provides a lot of tools to build data modules, convert back and forth
between a variety of other data sources and write automatic reports. If
one is careful to craft the view of the data presented to the automatic
report writer it will often produce a very good prototype of a report
that can be saved and modified in much less time than creating a report
from scratch.
7. Regarding other languages you can obviously go any direction you
prefer. I am not personally a fan of Visual Basic and going into that
community will get you into the middle of a great controversy between
the older VB 6 camp on one side and the VB .NET camp on the other. I
personally prefer C# .NET and Java which I find to be quite similar.
I hope this helps.
Gerald
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| Ken Mayer [dBVIPS] 2005-08-19, 8:23 pm |
| Jim M wrote:
> "Ken Mayer [dBVIPS]" < dbase@_nospam_golden
stag.net> wrote in message
> news:iA6IW2EpFHA.1420@news-server...
>
>
> Thanks for the info. If I have to start over, my company will probably
> prefer I use Visual Basic.
You should be able to run most of your 5.x code just fine in dBASE Plus.
There is a chapter in the User Guide that ships with dBASE Plus (both
teh hard copy and the electronic version you can get to from the HELP
menu) that discusses converting/upgrading applications to more recent
versions.
Ken
--
/(Opinions expressed are purely my own, not those of dataBased
Intelligence, Inc.)/
*Ken Mayer* [dBVIPS]
/Golden Stag Productions/
dBASE at goldenstag dot net
http://www.goldenstag.net/GSP
http://www.goldenstag.net/dbase
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| Thank you for all the responses. I appreciate the time you took to answer my
questions. Now I have to think about what I am going to do. If I go the
dBase route then I just need to convince my Manager (who wants me to learn
VB) of it.
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