 
Visual FoxPro Jump Start
Visual FoxPro Jump Start is a special one day
seminar is aimed at developers new to Visual FoxPro looking to get the down
low on the fundamentals of VFP from two of the best. Visual FoxPro Jump
Start will be taught by Rick Schummer and Steve Sawyer of Geeks
and Gurus. One of them is a geek, the other is a guru. We'll leave it up
to you to decide which one is which.
Your Instructors
Rick Schummer
Rick Schummer is a partner at Geeks and
Gurus, Inc. in Detroit MI, USA. Geeks and Gurus aims to be a one-stop shop
for small to medium size organizations that need help with databases, custom
and shrink wrapped software, networks, VFP mentoring, and web-related
services. He enjoys working with top-notch developers and has a passion for
developing software using best practices and for surpassing customer
expectations, not just meeting them. After hours he writes developer tools
that improve the staff productivity and occasionally pens articles for
FoxTalk, FoxPro Advisor, and several user group newsletters. Rick is a
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (VFP), and a Microsoft Certified
Professional by passing both the VFP Desktop and Distributed exams. Rick is
a co-author of MegaFox: 1002 Things You Always Wanted to Know About
Extending Visual FoxPro and the popular 1001 Things You Always Wanted to
Know About Visual FoxPro from Hentzenwerke. He is founding member and
Secretary of the Detroit Area Fox User Group (DAFUG) and is a regular
presenter for this organization, other user groups, and at GLGDW 2000, 2001,
and EssentialFox 2002 conferences. You can reach Rick at raschummer@geeksandgurus.com
and http://rickschummer.com.
Steve Sawyer
Steve has been developing business
applications for PC's since 1986, and CP/M micros before that. A Microsoft
Certified Professional since 1995 and MVP since 1997, he is co-author (with
Jim Booth) of Effective Techniques for Application Development with Visual
FoxPro. Steve is an Advisor Publications Contributing Editor, and former
"Tips, Tricks and Traps" column editor. He is a partner with Geeks
and Gurus, Inc., a custom database application and IT services company in
Detroit, Michigan. Steve is a founding member and president of the Detroit
Area Fox User Group.
VFP Jump Start Outline
1.
Configuration
a.
Options Dialog (demo and discuss each of the pages and some important
features/settings on each)
b.
CONFIG.FPW (what and why)
c.
VFP’s “dash” parameters
d.
Field Mapping dialogs (and some techniques to avoid this all
together)
2.
IDE Tour
a.
Command Window usage
i.
IntelliSense, Most Recently Used (MRU) lists
b.
Datasession Window, Property Sheet, Macros, Docking windows
c.
Project Manager
i.
Project Info, Builds, Version Information
ii.
Exclude/Include
d.
_screen and using the
Property Sheet
e.
Wizards (what to exploit and what to avoid)
3.
VFP Data
a.
Database Designer Tour (Database Designer)
i.
Properties, Events, Stored Procedures, making relations
ii.
Quick tour of various objects (tables, views, relations, connections)
b.
Table Designer Tour (Table Designer)
i.
Create a table, show off the different datatypes
ii.
Long field names
iii.
Field Properties
iv.
Field Level Rules
v.
Generate Primary, Candidate, and Regular Indexes
vi.
Table Level Rules and Comments
vii.
Triggers
viii.
Stored Procedures
c.
Views (View Designer)
i.
Quick usage of the View Designer and techniques to avoid it and why
ii.
GenDBC example of a database to see all the settings via DBSETPROP()
d.Other DBC Advantages
i.
Persistent Relations and Referential Integrity
ii.
Database Events
iii.
Table buffering and TABLEUPDATE()
example, with failure (AERROR())
iv.
Transaction example (commit and rollback)
4.
Programming Language
a.
Code Review of a program with various VFP Language constructs and
types showing that you literally can mix and match the different
sub-languages of VFP.
i.
Procedural (flow of control)
ii.
Data manipulation
iii.
Structured Query Language (SQL)
iv.
Object Oriented Programming (OOP)
b.High level overview of commands,
operators, expressions, program flow, looping, and branching logic.
5.
OOP
a.
No specific demo, but a discussion of fundamentals
i.
Inheritance
ii.
Encapsulation
iii.
Polymorphism
iv.
Delegation
6.
SQL Commands
a.
SQL-Select, SQL- Update, SQL- Delete
b.
RushmoreTM Optimization
7.
Forms Fundamentals (Form Designer)
a.
Introduction to the VFP baseclasses
b.Construct a form from scratch using
some canned classes and field mapping
c.
Use forms with the DataEnvironment, showing properties of the
cursors, BufferModeOverride.
d.Discuss class containership vs.
object hierarchy
e.
Discuss Modeless vs. Modal.
f.
Top-Level forms
g.
Utilize some Fox Foundation Classes
8.
Class Fundamentals (Class Designer)
a.
CREATE CLASS command
b.Adding Properties and Methods
c.
Include Files
d.Create a simple base textbox class,
add some methods and properties, subclass it (directory picker textbox), add
some additional properties and methods, override methods and demonstrate DODEFAULT(), NODEFAULT
e.
Access/Assign methods and uses
f.
Classes that must be created in code and how to do this
i.
Page
ii.
Option button
iii.
Session
iv.
DataEnvironment
v.
Cursor
vi.
Grid Column
vii.
Grid Header
9.
Report Fundamentals (Report Designer)
a.
Controls
b.Bands (Detail, Title/Summary, Groups,
Header and Footer)
c.
Use a pre-canned report object to demonstrate how to keep a report in
a private datasession without using the native datasession feature of the
Report Designer
d.Show off what you can do with the
various bands
e.
EOF() band trick
f.
Report variables
g.
The Untitled.frx trick
h.
Why you might want to consider Crystal Reports
10.
Menu Fundamentals (Menu Designer)
a.
Pads, Bars, Prompts, and Submenus
b.Quick Menu, demonstrate adding a
couple of VFP bars, generate a submenu, add code to fire off a form and a
report
c.
Generate?
d.Preview
e.
General and Menu Options
f.
Shortcut Menu and how to hook to a form object, or _screen object
g.
Top-Level Menus
11.
Application Architecture
a.
READ EVENTS
b.Application Objects
c.
Splash Screen with SCREEN
= OFF in CONFIG.FPW (included in the EXE)
d.ON SHUTDOWN so no “Cannot Quit FoxPro”
message
e.
Framework discussion (Build vs. Buy)
12.
VFP Developer Tools
a.
Class Browser
b.
Component Gallery
c.
IntelliSense Manager
d.
TaskList Manager
e.
Object Browser
13.
Debugger
a.
Execute a pre-canned program that hits a SET
STEP ON, and walk through the code showing the various features
of the Debugger.
b.Trace, Watch, Locals, Stack, and
Output
c.
Using DEBUGOUT
d.Breakpoints
e.
Event Logging demonstration
f.
Coverage Profiler
14.
Accessing non-VFP data
a.
Remote Views
b.
SQL-Passthrough
i.
SQLCONNECT() / SQLDISCONNECT() /
SQLSTRINGCONNECT()
ii.
SQLEXEC() / SQLPREPARE() /
SQLMORERESULTS() / SQLCANCEL()
iii.
SQLCOMMIT() / SQLROLLBACK()
iv.
SQLGETPROP() / SQLSETPROP()
v.
SQLTABLES() / SQLCOLUMNS()
15.
OLE DB
a.
Accessing Visual FoxPro data from outside of Visual FoxPro
16.
Advanced Project Manager
a.
ProjectHooks
b.
Project Object
c.
Files Object
17.
Extending IntelliSense
a.
Macros
b.
Scripting
18.
Deploying a Visual FoxPro Application
a.
What files do you need to ship?
b.
InstallShield Express for VFP (why not)
c.
InstallShield Express (why upgrade)
d.
Wise
19.
Visual SourceSafe Integration
a.
Why use version control software
b.
Configuring VSS/VFP
c.
Project Manager Integration
d.
The “A” files
e.
Non-Project Manager Strategies
20.
Productivity Tips
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