Visual FoxPro

Visual FoxPro

Visual FoxPro v9 running on Windows XP
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Final release	v9.0 SP2 [1] / October 16, 2007;16 years ago (2007-10-16) [2]
Operating system	Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 [3]
Platform	IA-32 [4]
Available in	IDE: English, German, Spanish Runtime: Above plus French, Chinese, Russian, Czech, Korean
Type	Integrated development environment, programming language
License	Commercial proprietary software
Website	msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro

Visual FoxPro is a programming language that was developed by Microsoft. It is a data-centric and procedural programming language with object-oriented programming (OOP) features.

It was derived from FoxPro (originally known as FoxBASE) which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Fox Technologies merged with Microsoft in 1992, after which the software acquired further features and the prefix "Visual". ^[5] FoxPro 2.6 worked on Mac OS, DOS, Windows, and Unix.

Visual FoxPro 3.0, the first "Visual" version, reduced platform support to only Mac ^[6] and Windows, and later versions 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were Windows-only. The current version of Visual FoxPro is COM-based and Microsoft has stated that they do not intend to create a Microsoft .NET version.

Version 9.0, released in December 2004 and updated in October 2007 with the SP2 patch, was the final version of the product. Support ended in January 2010 and extended support in January 2015. ^[7]

History

See also: dBase

Visual FoxPro originated as a member of the class of languages commonly referred to as "xBase" languages, which have syntax based on the dBase programming language. Other members of the xBase language family include Clipper and Recital (database).

Visual FoxPro, commonly abbreviated as VFP, is tightly integrated with its own relational database engine, which extends FoxPro's xBase capabilities to support SQL query and data manipulation. Unlike most database management systems, Visual FoxPro is a full-featured, dynamic programming language that does not require the use of an additional general-purpose programming environment. It can be used to write not just traditional "fat client" applications, but also middleware and web applications.

In late 2002, it was demonstrated that Visual FoxPro can run on Linux under the Wine Windows compatibility suite. In 2003, this led to complaints by Microsoft: it was claimed that the deployment of runtime FoxPro code on non-Windows machines violates the End User License Agreement. ^[8]

Visual FoxPro had a rapid rise and fall in popularity as measured by the TIOBE Programming Community Index. ^[9] In December 2005, VFP broke into the top 20 for the first time. In June 2006 it peaked at position 12, making it (at the time) a "B" language. As of January 2023, Visual FoxPro holds position 21 on the TIOBE index. ^[10]

In March 2007, Microsoft announced that there would be no VFP 10, ^[11] thus making VFP9 (released to manufacturing on December 17, 2004) the last commercial VFP release from Microsoft. Service Pack 2 for Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 was released on October 16, 2007. ^[12] The support of Version 9 ended on January 13, 2015. ^[7]

At the time of the end of life announcement, work on the next release codenamed Sedna (named after a recently discovered dwarf planet) which was built on top of the VFP9 codebase had already begun. "Sedna" is a set of add-ons to VFP 9.0 of xBase components to support a number of interoperability scenarios with various Microsoft technologies including SQL Server 2005, .NET Framework, Windows Vista, Office 2007, Windows Search and Team Foundation Server (TFS). Microsoft released Sedna under the Shared source license on the CodePlex site. Microsoft has clarified that the VFP core will still remain closed source. Sedna was released on January 25, 2008. ^[13] As of March 2008, all xBase components of the VFP 9 SP2 (including Sedna) were available for community-development on CodePlex.

In late March 2007 a grassroots campaign was started by the Spanish-speaking FoxPro community at MásFoxPro ^[14] ("MoreFoxPro" in English) to sign a petition to Microsoft to continue updating Visual FoxPro or release it to the community as open-source. On April 3, 2007, the movement was noted by the technical press. ^[15]

On April 3, 2007, Microsoft responded to the petition with this statement from Alan Griver: ^[15]

"We're very aware of the FoxPro community and that played a large part in what we announced on March 13th. It's never an easy decision to announce that we're not going to release another version of a product and it's one that we consider very carefully.

"We're not announcing the end of FoxPro: Obviously, FoxPro applications will continue to work. By some of our internal estimates, there are more applications running in FoxPro 2.6 than there are in VFP and FoxPro 2.6 hasn't been supported in many years. Visual FoxPro 9 will be supported by Microsoft through 2015.

"For Microsoft to continue to evolve the FoxPro base, we would need to look at creating a 64-bit development environment and that would involve an almost complete rewrite of the core product. We've also invested in creating a scalable database with SQL Server, including the freely available SQL Server Express Edition. As far as forming a partnership with a third-party is concerned, we've heard from a number of large FoxPro customers that this would make it impossible for them to continue to use FoxPro since it would no longer be from an approved vendor. We felt that putting the environment into open source on CodePlex, which balances the needs of both the community and the large customers, was the best path forward."

Version Timeline

All versions listed are for Windows. ^[16]

Version	Release Date
Visual FoxPro 3.0	June 1995
Visual FoxPro 5.0	October 1996
Visual FoxPro 5.0a	October 1997
Visual FoxPro 6.0	18 May 1998
Visual FoxPro 7.0	27 June 2001
Visual FoxPro 8.0	1 February 2003
Visual FoxPro 8.0 Service Pack 1	7 October 2003
Visual FoxPro 9	20 December 2004
Visual FoxPro 9 Service Pack 1	8 December 2005
Visual FoxPro 9 Service Pack 2	16 October 2007

Code samples

The FoxPro language contains commands quite similar to other programming languages such as BASIC.

Some basic syntax samples:

FOR i = 1 to 10     x = x + 6.5 NEXT&& Instead of "NEXT" can also use "ENDFOR"IF i = 25     i = i + 1 ELSEi = i + 3 ENDIFx = 1 DO WHILE x < 50     x =  x + 1 ENDDOx = 1 DO WHILE .T.x = x + 1     IF x < 50         LOOPELSEEXITENDIFENDDOnMonth = MONTH(DATE()) DO CASE     CASE nMonth <= 3         MESSAGEBOX("Q1")      CASE nMonth <= 6         MESSAGEBOX("Q2")      CASE nMonth <= 9         MESSAGEBOX("Q3")      OTHERWISEMESSAGEBOX("Q4") ENDCASEFOR EACH oControl IN THISFORM.ControlsMESSAGEBOX(oControl.Name) ENDFORf = Factorial(10)  FUNCTION Factorial(n) LOCAL i, r      r = 1     FOR i = n TO 1 STEP -1         r = r * i     NEXT&& Can also use "ENDFOR" here instead of "NEXT"RETURN r ENDFUNC

Hello World examples:

* Output at the current location  ? "Hello World"* Output at a specified location  @ 1,1 SAY "Hello World"* Output in a separate window, cleared on inputWAIT WINDOW "Hello World"* Output in a standard dialog box, cleared on OKMESSAGEBOX("Hello World") 

Object

Output of the Hello World program.

* Output in a defined windowloForm=CREATEOBJECT("HiForm")loForm.Show(1)DEFINECLASSHiFormASFormAutoCenter=.T.Caption="Hello, World"ADDOBJECTlblHiasLabel ;WITHCaption="Hello, World!"ENDDEFINE

loMine = CREATEOBJECT("MyClass") ? loMine.cProp1               && This will work. (Double-ampersand marks an end-of-line comment)? loMine.cProp2               && Program Error: Property CPROP2 is not found because it's hidden externally.? loMine.MyMethod1()          && This will work.? loMine.MyMethod2()          && Program Error: Property MYMETHOD2 is not found because it's hidden externally.DEFINE CLASS MyClass AS CustomcProp1 = "My Property"&& This is a public propertyHIDDEN cProp2             && This is a private (hidden) propertydProp3 = {}               && Another public propertyPROCEDURE Init()          && Class constructorThis.cProp2 = "This is a hidden property."PROCEDURE dProp3_Access   && Property GetterRETURNDATE() PROCEDURE dProp3_Assign(vNewVal)     && Property Setter uses the "_assign" tag on the property nameIFVARTYPE(vNewVal) = "D"THIS.dProp3 = vNewVal ENDIFPROCEDURE MyMethod1() * This is a public method, calling a hidden method that returns* the value of a hidden property.RETURNThis.MyMethod2() HIDDEN PROCEDURE MyMethod2()  && This is a private (hidden) methodRETURNThis.cProp2 ENDDEFINE

• VFP has an extensive library of predefined classes and visual objects which are accessed in the IDE by a Property Sheet (including Methods), ^[17] so code such as the above defining classes and objects are only needed for special purposes and the framework of large systems.

Data handling

The language also has extensive database manipulation and indexing commands. The "help" index of commands in VFP 9 has several hundred commands and functions described. The examples below show how to code the creation and indexing of tables, however VFP has table and database builder screens which create the tables and indexes without making you write code.

Output of the Data handling program.

* Create a tableCREATE TABLE randData (iData I) * Populate with random data using xBase and SQL DML commandsFOR i = 1 TO 50 APPEND BLANK REPLACE iData WITH (RAND() * 100) INSERT INTO randData (iData) VALUES (RAND() * 100) ENDFOR* Place a structural index on the dataINDEX ON iData TAG iData CLOSE DATA       && Do not close open libraries etc* Display ordered data using xBase-style commandsUSE randData SET ORDER TO iData LOCATE&& In place of GO TOP. Enforces use of index to find TOP  LIST NEXT 10     && First 10GO BOTTOM SKIP -10 LIST REST        && Last 10CLOSE DATA * Browse ordered data using SQL DML commandsSELECT * ;FROM randData ;ORDER BY iData DESCENDING 

ODBC access using SQL passthrough

PRIVATE cAuthorID, cAuthorName      && Private variables supplant any previous global or private variable of the same nameLOCAL nHnd, nResult                 && Local variables are visible only here* Connect to an ODBC data sourcenHnd = SQLCONNECT ("ODBCDSN", "user", "pwd") * Enter a loop so we can exit to the close connection code if there's an errorDO WHILE .T.* Execute a SQL commandnResult = SQLEXEC (nHnd, "USE master") IF nResult < 0 MESSAGEBOX ("MASTER database does not exist!") EXIT&& To close the connectionENDIF* Retrieve data from the remote server and stores it in a local data cursornResult = SQLEXEC (nHnd, "SELECT * FROM authors", "QAUTHORS") IF nResult < 0 MESSAGEBOX ("Unable to execute remote SQL SELECT command!") EXIT&& To close the connectionENDIF* Update a record in a remote table using parameterscAuthorID     = "1001"cAuthorName   = "New name"nResult       = SQLEXEC (nHnd, "UPDATE authors SET auth_name = ?cAuthorName WHERE auth_id = ?cAuthorID") IF nResult < 0 MESSAGEBOX ("Unable to execute remote SQL UPDATE command!") EXIT&& To close the connectionENDIF* If we get here, we have retrieved everything successfullyEXIT&& Exit unconditionallyENDDO* Close the connectionSQLDISCONNECT(nHnd) 

See also

• Visual Objects
• Xbase++
• Harbour

References

1. "Visual FoxPro 9.0 Updates". Visual FoxPro Developer Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
2. "Download Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2.0". Download Center. Microsoft. October 16, 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
3. "System Requirements". Visual FoxPro Developer Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
4. "Frequently Asked Questions". Visual FoxPro Developer Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
5. Pollack, Andrew (25 March 1992). "Microsoft to Try New Market By Acquiring Fox Software". The New York Times. p. D1.
6. Microsoft Visual FoxPro 3.0 for Power Macintosh Now Available, July 25, 1996, news.microsoft.com
7. "Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0". learn.microsoft.com.
8. Visual FoxPro for Linux: A Violation of the EULA?, May 13, 2003, By Ed Leafe, Linux Journal
9. Tiobe Index History for FoxPro
10. "Index | TIOBE - the Software Quality Company".
11. A Message to the Community
12. Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2.0
13. Microsoft SEDNA download
14. Mas FoxPro - Visual FoxPro Wiki
15. Developers petition Microsoft to reconsider FoxPro phase out Posted by Mary Jo Foley (April 3rd, 2007) - All about Microsoft - ZDNet.com
16. The History of FoxPro
17. "Visual FoxPro Development Productivity Tools". Microsoft. Retrieved 20 December 2014.

External links

Microsoft pages

• Main Visual FoxPro Microsoft page
• MSDN FoxPro support board
• VFP's online help

Other pages

• A site devoted to the history of FoxPro
• VFPx A Visual FoxPro Community effort to create open source add-ons for VFP 9.0
• Fox In Cloud online clone homepage