Internet Applications with Visual FoxPro 6.0

Internet Applications with Visual FoxPro 6.0
| 1998-12-15 00:00:00 | | 0 | Programming


Users learn how to build large Internet database applications using Tahoe as the foundation. Covered are server side Web applications, including ASP (ODBC and ActiveX automation servers), FoxISAPI, and advanced Web features such as cookies, authentication, and browser functionality encapsulation. Non-HTML distributed applications and remote data services are also explored.


User review
Finally the pain of migrating to Visual FoxPro pays off!
This book makes the pain of migrating to Visual FoxPro pay off! I've finally found something that Visual FoxPro is better for than good old 2.x. Thank you Rick Strahl! If you are a FoxPro programmer and have a need to display your data on the web this book describes the mechanics to do it. While other internet development books only mention Visual FoxPro in passing, this book fills in the Fox hole! It's a must read for anyone looking for a Fox solution!

User review
VFPers now have the tool as reference WEB development
If we (VFPers) wanted to stay competitive in the arena of Software Development, we should be thinking of migrating apps into the Internet. This book is a perfect guide for us to build dynamic WEB Applications. Now, I am little bit at ease because VFP really is a powerful tool and I don't have anymore pressure to look for another just for WEB building.

User review
A great guide to doing it right
Despite the uneducated review of a hack programmer from one of the Northern states (you would wonder why everyone else gives good reviews yet his inflated ego makes him think everyone else is wrong and he is right) this book tells exactly how to write internet based programs the right way.

User review
Very good web development reference for VFP developers
Overall I think that Rick's book is very good. It assumes you are fascile with VFP. I believe that Rick has succeeded (moreso than Microsoft) at enlightening readers how to take advantage of the power that VFP offers for web development. The one drawback to the book is the age-old `moving target` dilemma. Since the book hs been published, Microsoft has delivered a (more) truly multithreaded version of the VFP runtime engine, and it now supports the Compile command in the run time version. This changes the equation a bit when it comes to deciding how to best deploy VFP as a web database server, and I wish Rick would e-publish an addendum that thoroughly addresses this. Regardless, I think the book is still an essential reference. To my knowledge, it's the only one of its kind.

User review
Doesn't deliver
I would like to know how many of these rave reviewers have actually tried to implement the procedures, step-by-step, as outlined in Rick Strahl's book. I spent a miserable two weeks trying to get things to work and discovering numerous mistakes, incorrect syntax, and missing function calls. While the solutions Strahl has developed are very inventive and creative, the logic in the book is often hard to follow, and he jumps into code without telling which whether he's coding web pages, the automated server, or foxpro, or where the code fits into the overall application design. There are many omissions and logical leaps of faith.

Also, the book fails to deliver what it promises. In his introductory discussion, he points out the great advantages of server-side development, because it requires the least of users in terms of the software they have on their computers or which browser they are using. He winds up his demonstration section on server-side development with an actual FoxPro form that runs on the web, but with a magical sleight of hand he almost forgets to tell you that this `requires` Internet Explorer. This is server-side development? I don't think so.

I finally hit enough blind alleys and dead ends that I decided to try something else. I would suggest that Fox developers who are interested in developing web applications point their browsers to Foxweb. They have an excellent, much more efficient product that works on the same technolology, but comes with documentation that is logical and straightforward. It took me about an hour to read and digest the documentation, and we were up and running in no time.