Subject Re: The programs we make with dBASE
From Juan Pedro <noemail@no-dominio.es>
Date Sun, 16 Apr 2023 06:40:36 -0400
Newsgroups dbase.getting-started

Lee Grant Wrote:

> Juan,
 >
> Excellent response. I have a couple of questions though.
 >
> 1.) What version of dBASE are you using...now. I'm just curious, for
> completeness, if those programs and such that you have outlined have
> been ported to the current dBASE 2019, or an older version.
Most of the programs are compiled with dBASE 2.8 but we have more and more programs that use dBASE 2019, in fact all the improvements of the framework are made with dBASE 2019 in mind in the first place.

> 2.) We all know that the variables get changed, in the IDE when you
> designing the forms. Now I understand not wanting variables names
> changed, but I hope that's not a show stopper, as it only applies as far
> as I know, when using the Form Designer that then streams out those
> variables in the object areas capitalized.
Actually, the fact that the tab designer converts the variables to upper case matters little to us because all the programming logic goes in a class that inherits from the design tab and this is only used to place the objects. The problem with the editor resides, as you pointed out in your next message, in that it does not respect the lower case of the variables that we create.

> 3.) Scintilla is implemented in Notepad++, as well. For most things, the
> IDE Editor is fine for my needs as a longtime hobby coder, but recently,
> as requested by users here, I created the dBASE Plus User Defined
> Language package for Notepad++ that you could use, as an alternative to
> the dBASE Plus Editor, to avoid crashes in the IDE.  The package allows
> for code completion, autoComplete and gives calltips for the commands
> and functions as well as being able to use a Function List panel for
> navigation in your code files.  Recently, I discovered how to use the
> Project Panel to implement a way to add files to the panel for
> navigation and editing within, and I just recently ( a few minutes ago
> as a matter of fact) figured out how to replace the Notepad++ Hotkey for
> their "About" dialog and replace it with a run command to open the dBASE
> 2019 Help file. I only mention this as a possible alternative for the
> native editor if the crashing is a showstopper for you. It can of
> course, be called from the dBASE IDE as the alternate editor so you can
> use it instead and still be able to compile your programs in the IDE or
> develop forms.
 >
 We have the dBASE editor for desktop programs and a specific editor for PHP, Nuesphere on Windows and PHPStorm on linux, but it is also true that we use Notepad++ on Windows as a tool to edit various types of files and we like it because it can be used for everything. We will do a test with the UDL you say. Where can you get the latest version of the UDL? Thank you

> If these observations are invalid as things that can help you overcome
> the current issues you are having, please disregard.
 >
> Lee
 >
> On 4/15/2023 7:44 PM, Juan Pedro wrote:
 > > Paul has asked for input on programs written with dBASE. Here is ours, first of all apologies because the translation is from Google.
 > > Our company developed with Clipper in the DOS era
 > > When the first 16-bit Visual dBASE appeared, we chose it as the development tool for Windows 95, the version at the time when we started creating programs in Windows.
 > > Since then we have deployed more than 80 different desktop applications that cover the most diverse areas:
 > > General and sectoral Management and Billing Programs.
 > > Programs for patient management in the hospital environment and that publish reports on the hospital intranet.
 > > Desktop programs that interact seamlessly with Web Services developed in PHP and that cover many different aspects. From mobile data collection that receives and sends information to dBASE programs to online stores, powered by desktop programs, to which you send sales data, reservations...
 > > Programs whose capabilities can be extended or customized at runtime with a plugin system for which we develop, written in dBASE, a small source code interpreter with basic flow control structures and that the DEO system allows almost infinite development. .
 > > We have created an expert, written in dBASE and based on templates, which in just 10 minutes allows you to deploy a fully operational application, with our built-in framework, and ready for the incorporation of functionalities.
 > > The list, in almost 30 years of development on Windows, is very long.
 > > In the interconnected world, dBASE allows us to combine the power of the desktop with Internet connectivity.
 > > What we like about the language is that being simple, flexible and elegant allows really complex developments.
 > > Not everything will be good things and obviously there are some that we do not like.
 > > We do not like the lack of clarity and roadmap on the part of the company that owns dBASE. What's more, it seems to us a lack of respect towards all of us who develop with dBASE.
 > > We don't like that we are missing native pieces of the language, basic at the moment, like for example that for web services we have to use MSXML instead of having a native object or that we don't have native objects for reading xml.
 > > We don't like that the project manager is oriented to the type of file instead of a distribution of the project in folders.
 > > We have welcomed the implementation of Scintilla in the editor, which has made basic things possible, such as autocompletion, but which has several problems for us, among which we can highlight.
 > > It is responsible for many of the IDE crashes.
 > > It should respect the case of variable names. It is true that the language does not differentiate case in the names of the variables but if we wrote myVariable we would not have to try to change it to MYVARIABLE or myVARIABLE...
 > > It should be possible to include other folders in the projects so that the editor could index functions, classes and methods to offer them in the autocompletion.
 > > For those of us who have a basic framework, developed by us, the previous request is essential...
 > > Many BDE, UTF-8 issues remain pending... but with what has been said I think it has become clear that we are committed to dBASE as a development tool.
 > > Finally, a request. Please tell us about the future plans for dBASE that the company has, we are not children, we have the capacity to understand almost everything and knowing where we are going we can make more contributions and get more involved.
 >