User manual DFPUG VISUAL EXTENDED 9.5

The extensive Application Development Framework that makes Microsoft Visual FoxPro Development easy! VISUAL EXTEND 9.5 English User Manual dFPUG c/o ISYS GmbH Uwe Habermann, Venelina Jordanova Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 2 Copyright Visual Extend is a product from dFPUG c/o ISYS GmbH. Any reuse of VFX related material needs the written permission of dFPUG c/o ISYS GmbH; also VFX related publications must have the copyright notice of dFPUG c/o ISYS GmbH. Note This user manual has identical content as the user manual for Visual Extend 9.0. All differences between the versions VFX 9.0 and VFX 9.5 as well as new features of VFX 9.5 are described in the document VFX95WhatIsNew. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 3 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 7 1.1. 1.2. 1.3. BASED ON VISUAL FOXPRO 9.0................................................................................................ 7 THE COMBINATION THAT MAKES IT: ALL IN ONE...................................................................... 7 EVEN MORE PRODUCTIVE WITH NEW BUILDERS IN VISUAL EXTEND 9.5 !.................................... 8 2. QUICK OVERVIEW................................................................................................................ 10 2.1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 10 2.1.1. Installation................................................................................................................... 10 2.1.2. VFX Task Pane ............................................................................................................ 10 2.1.3. VFX - Application Wizard ............................................................................................ 11 2.2. FUNCTIONALITY OF THE NEW APPLICATION............................................................................ 12 2.2.1. Usage........................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.2. Standard toolbar .......................................................................................................... 12 2.2.3. Open-Dialog ................................................................................................................ 12 2.2.4. Forms .......................................................................................................................... 13 2.2.5. User's management ...................................................................................................... 13 2.2.6. Error tracking.............................................................................................................. 14 2.2.7. Database Tools ............................................................................................................ 14 2.2.8. About Dialog ............................................................................................................... 14 2.3. CREATING A FORM WITH THE VFX ­ FORM WIZARD .............................................................. 15 2.4. VFX ­ DATA ENVIRONMENT BUILDER................................................................................... 15 2.5. THE VFX - FORM BUILDER ................................................................................................... 16 2.6. THE VFX - CGRID BUILDER.................................................................................................. 16 2.7. TEST .................................................................................................................................... 16 3. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 17 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................... 17 SPECIFICS OF APPLICATIONS CREATED USING VISUAL EXTEND ................................................ 17 KEY FEATURES FOR DEVELOPERS........................................................................................... 18 4. INCLUDED TOOLS ................................................................................................................. 21 4.1. 4.2. 4.3. 4.4. 4.5. VFX ­ CLASS LIBRARIES...................................................................................................... 21 VFX ­ WIZARDS AND BUILDERS ........................................................................................... 21 VFX DEVELOPER PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS ............................................................................... 22 OTHER DEVELOPER TOOLS.................................................................................................... 22 VFX 9.5 TASK PANE............................................................................................................. 22 5. INSTALLATION ...................................................................................................................... 24 5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4. HARDWARE- AND SOFTWARE- REQUIREMENTS....................................................................... 24 THE VFX INSTALLATION ...................................................................................................... 24 REGISTRATION AND ACTIVATION OF VFX 9.5......................................................................... 25 SETUP THE VISUAL FOXPRO ENVIRONMENT FOR VFX ............................................................ 25 6. GENERATE A NEW APPLICATION USING THE VFX - APPLICATION WIZARD ....... 27 6.1. 6.2. 6.3. 6.4. OBJECTIVE ........................................................................................................................... 27 PREPARATION....................................................................................................................... 27 THE VFX - APPLICATION WIZARD......................................................................................... 27 GENERATE THE PROJECT ....................................................................................................... 31 7. DISCUSSION OF THE GENERATED VFX - APPLICATION ............................................. 32 7.1. OFFICE-COMPATIBLE USER INTERFACE.................................................................................. 32 7.1.1. File Menu .................................................................................................................... 32 7.1.2. Edit Menu .................................................................................................................... 33 7.1.3. View Menu ................................................................................................................... 33 7.1.4. Favorites Menu............................................................................................................ 34 7.1.5. Tools Menu .................................................................................................................. 34 Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 4 7.1.6. Windows Menu............................................................................................................. 34 7.1.7. Help Menu ................................................................................................................... 35 7.1.8. Standard Office-Like Toolbar....................................................................................... 35 7.1.9. Final words about Office - Compatibility ..................................................................... 36 7.2. DATABASE TOOLS................................................................................................................. 37 7.3. USER LIST ............................................................................................................................ 37 7.3.1. Currently logged users................................................................................................. 39 7.4. USER GROUPS....................................................................................................................... 39 7.5. ERROR TRACKING ................................................................................................................. 42 7.6. ERROR HANDLING................................................................................................................. 42 7.7. SYSTEM LOCKS..................................................................................................................... 42 7.8. OPTIONS............................................................................................................................... 43 7.9. ABOUT DIALOG .................................................................................................................... 44 8. THE VFX BUILDERS .............................................................................................................. 45 8.1. VFX - APPLICATION BUILDER ............................................................................................... 45 8.2. VFX FORM WIZARD ............................................................................................................. 54 8.3. VFX - FORM BUILDER........................................................................................................... 54 8.4. VFX - DATAENVIRONMENT BUILDER..................................................................................... 54 8.5. VFX - CDATAFORMPAGE BUILDER ....................................................................................... 56 8.5.1. Edit Pages.................................................................................................................... 57 8.5.2. Grid Page .................................................................................................................... 60 8.5.3. Form Options............................................................................................................... 61 8.5.4. View Parameters .......................................................................................................... 63 8.5.5. Linked Tables............................................................................................................... 64 8.5.6. Required Fields............................................................................................................ 65 8.5.7. Report.......................................................................................................................... 66 8.6. VFX ­ CTABLEFORM BUILDER ............................................................................................. 68 8.7. VFX ­ CONETOMANY BUILDER ........................................................................................... 69 8.8. VFX ­ CONETOMANYPAGEFRAME BUILDER ........................................................................ 74 8.9. VFX ­ CTREEVIEWFORM BUILDER ....................................................................................... 75 8.9.1. Databinding of the TreeView control............................................................................ 76 8.9.2. Layout settings of the TreeView Control....................................................................... 77 8.10. VFX ­ CTREEVIEWONETOMANY BUILDER ....................................................................... 77 8.10.1. Databinding of the TreeView control........................................................................ 78 8.10.2. Layout-Settings of the TreeView Control .................................................................. 78 8.11. ENHANCEMENTS IN ONETOMANY-FORMS.......................................................................... 79 8.12. VFX ­ CGRID BUILDER..................................................................................................... 79 8.13. VFX ­ CCHILDGRID BUILDER........................................................................................... 80 8.14. VFX - CPICKFIELD BUILDER ............................................................................................. 82 8.15. VFX ­ CPICKALTERNATE BUILDER ................................................................................... 86 8.16. VFX ­ CPICKTEXTBOX BUILDER ...................................................................................... 88 8.17. VFX ­ COMBO PICK LIST BUILDER .................................................................................... 89 8.17.1. Pick list maintenance form ....................................................................................... 91 8.17.2. The class CComboPicklist ........................................................................................ 91 8.18. VFX - PARENT/CHILD BUILDER......................................................................................... 92 8.18.1. Preparing the Parent-Form ...................................................................................... 92 8.18.2. Preparing the Child-Form........................................................................................ 93 8.18.3. Settings in VFX - Parent/Child Builder..................................................................... 95 8.19. VFX ­ DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT BUILDER....................................................................... 96 8.20. VFX ­ MESSAGEBOX BUILDER .......................................................................................... 96 8.21. VFX ­ MESSAGE EDITOR .................................................................................................. 98 8.22. VFX ­ CLASS SWITCHER................................................................................................... 99 8.23. VFX ­ PROJECT PROPERTIES ............................................................................................. 99 8.24. VFX ­ HELP WIZARD...................................................................................................... 101 8.25. VFX - PROJECT UPDATE WIZARD .................................................................................... 101 8.26. PDM ­ PROJECT DOCUMENTING...................................................................................... 102 Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 5 9. 10. THE VFX ­ MENU DESIGNER ............................................................................................ 103 FEATURES OF THE CREATED FORM .......................................................................... 106 CDATAFORMPAGE FORM USER INTERFACE...................................................................... 106 THE VFX POWER GRID ................................................................................................... 107 FORM BASED ON THE CLASS CTABLEFORM ....................................................................... 108 FORM BASED ON THE CLASS CONETOMANYFORM ............................................................ 109 PRINTING........................................................................................................................ 109 SENDING E-MAIL............................................................................................................ 111 SENDING FAX ................................................................................................................. 112 FILTERING ...................................................................................................................... 114 LAYOUT ......................................................................................................................... 115 DOCKABLE FORMS .......................................................................................................... 116 VFP TOOLBOX FOR END-USERS........................................................................................ 116 TREEVIEW ...................................................................................................................... 117 DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT WITH THE CLASS CDOCUMENTMANAGEMENT........................... 118 ABOUT DIALOG .............................................................................................................. 118 FURTHER END-USER FEATURES IN VFX 9.5....................................................................... 119 10.1. 10.2. 10.3. 10.4. 10.5. 10.6. 10.7. 10.8. 10.9. 10.10. 10.11. 10.12. 10.13. 10.14. 10.15. 11. DATA HANDLING ............................................................................................................. 120 11.1. DATA HANDLING CONCEPTION ........................................................................................ 120 11.2. CONCEPT OF NEW APPLICATIONS...................................................................................... 120 11.3. VFX - CURSORADAPTER WIZARD.................................................................................... 121 11.3.1. Choosing the Datasource ....................................................................................... 121 11.3.2. Choosing the underlying class and class library..................................................... 121 11.3.3. Choosing Tables..................................................................................................... 123 11.4. DATA ACCESS WITH CURSORADAPTER ............................................................................. 123 11.4.1. The class CBaseDataAccess ................................................................................... 124 11.5. MANAGING DATA ACCESS USING THE FILE CONFIG.VFX ..................................................... 124 11.6. SWITCHING BETWEEN DBC AND SQL SERVER.................................................................. 126 11.7. FORMS BASED ON VIEWS .................................................................................................. 126 11.8. MULTI-CLIENT-SUPPORT................................................................................................. 127 11.9. UPDATING THE USER'S DATABASE .................................................................................... 128 11.9.1. VFP-Databases usage ............................................................................................ 128 11.9.2. SQL Server-Database usage ................................................................................... 128 11.10. INDEX FILES .................................................................................................................... 129 12. APPLICATION PROTECTION USING ACTIVATION KEY......................................... 130 LIST OF USED TERMS........................................................................................................ 130 HOW IT WORKS ............................................................................................................... 130 DEFINING ACTIVATION RULES ......................................................................................... 132 GENERATING AN ACTIVATION KEY................................................................................... 135 CVFXACTIVATION CLASS PROPERTIES ............................................................................. 137 12.1. 12.2. 12.3. 12.4. 12.5. 13. CREATING MULTILINGUAL APPLICATIONS USING VFX ...................................... 138 LOCALIZING AT DESIGN TIME ........................................................................................... 138 RUN-TIME LOCALIZATION ............................................................................................... 139 VFX ­ LANGSETUP BUILDER........................................................................................... 139 13.1. 13.2. 13.3. 14. VFX.FLL.............................................................................................................................. 142 PRODUCT ACTIVATION .................................................................................................... 142 DATA BACKUP AND ARCHIVING ........................................................................................ 142 SQL SERVER .................................................................................................................. 144 INTERNET, E-MAIL AND SUPPORT FUNCTIONS .................................................................. 144 14.1. 14.2. 14.3. 14.4. 15. VFX ­ AFP WIZARD.......................................................................................................... 147 VFXAFPMETA.DBF DESCRIPTION....................................................................................... 148 15.1. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 6 16. ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT TECHNIQUES............................................................... 150 16.1. ADDING A FORM IN THE OPEN-DIALOG............................................................................. 150 16.2. SYSTEM SETTINGS IN OPTIONS DIALOG ............................................................................ 151 16.3. ACTIVE DESKTOP............................................................................................................ 151 16.4. MORE FUNCTIONS........................................................................................................... 152 16.5. MOVER-DIALOG ............................................................................................................. 152 16.6. OLE-CLASSES ................................................................................................................ 153 16.7. DEBUG-MODE ................................................................................................................ 153 16.8. DELAYED INSTANTIATION ............................................................................................... 153 16.9. IMPORTANT VFX ­ METHODS ......................................................................................... 154 16.9.1. Form methods ........................................................................................................ 154 16.9.2. Methods of the Application object .......................................................................... 155 16.10. VFX PRIMARY KEY GENERATION ..................................................................................... 155 16.11. DATA MANIPULATION TRACKING...................................................................................... 156 16.12. ASKFORM ....................................................................................................................... 156 16.13. PROGRESS BAR................................................................................................................ 157 16.14. DATE SELECTION ............................................................................................................ 157 16.14.1. cPickDate class...................................................................................................... 157 16.14.2. cDatetime class ...................................................................................................... 158 16.15. REPORT SELECTION ......................................................................................................... 158 16.16. THE MICROSOFT AGENTS................................................................................................ 158 16.17. THE VFX ­ RESOURCE TABLE.......................................................................................... 159 16.18. THE INCLUDE FILES......................................................................................................... 159 16.19. OLE DRAG & DROP ......................................................................................................... 160 16.20. HOOKS ........................................................................................................................... 160 16.21. BUSINESS GRAPH ............................................................................................................ 161 16.21.1. Example ................................................................................................................. 162 16.22. TOOLBARS...................................................................................................................... 163 16.22.1. Use the Main Toolbar you like ............................................................................... 163 16.22.2. Adding a toolbar to a Form.................................................................................... 165 16.23. CWIZARD-LASS............................................................................................................ 166 16.24. CDOWNLOAD CLASS ....................................................................................................... 166 16.24.1. Macro language commands.................................................................................... 167 16.24.2. Example ................................................................................................................. 168 16.25. CCREATEPDF CLASS....................................................................................................... 168 16.26. CEMAIL CLASS................................................................................................................ 169 16.27. CARCHIVE CLASS............................................................................................................ 170 16.28. APPLICATION UPDATE ..................................................................................................... 171 16.29. VFP TOOLBOX FOR DEVELOPERS ..................................................................................... 172 16.30. FURTHER DEVELOPMENT WITH VFP................................................................................. 172 16.31. ERROR HANDLING ........................................................................................................... 172 16.32. TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE.............................................................................................. 172 16.33. FURTHER ENHANCEMENTS FOR DEVELOPERS..................................................................... 173 17. REMOTE SUPPORT .......................................................................................................... 175 HOW DOES THE REMOTE CONTROL WORK? ................................................................... 175 PREREQUISITIES .............................................................................................................. 175 SUBDOMAIN REGISTRATION ............................................................................................. 175 THE REMOTE SUPPORT APPLICATION RADMIN ................................................................... 176 THE REMOTE CONTROL FROM THE POINT SUPPORTERS ...................................................... 176 17.1. 17.2. 17.3. 17.4. 17.5. 18. DOCUMENTATION........................................................................................................... 178 SUPPORT......................................................................................................................... 178 18.1. 19. SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 179 YOUR FEEDBACK IS IMPORTANT FOR US!........................................................................... 179 19.1. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 7 1. Introduction Rainer Becker Welcome to the new version, 9.5, of Visual Extend, which we are particularly proud of! This one is the biggest update produced for this well-known framework so far. That marketing phrase of course begins to become a little boring with its repetitions both for Visual FoxPro and Visual Extend; but nevertheless the statement actually hits the nail on the head in many areas of both products! Let us start with Visual FoxPro 9.0: 1.1. Based on Visual FoxPro 9.0 Visual Extend 9.5 is based on Visual FoxPro 9.0. Both new versions are available for purchase since the beginning of 2005. Besides the fact that Visual Extend 9.5 needs Visual FoxPro 9.0 as a prerequisite, there are many more reasons to take a closer look at the newest version of Visual FoxPro, and to buy it. Among other features, Visual FoxPro 9.0 provides: · · · Substantial extensions in the area of the database engine, especially as regards SQL syntax and the fall of many of Visual FoxPro's limitations. A feature much demanded and yearned for in many years, particularly in countries of German language, has finally arrived: The totally new-built report designer and a fundamental reworking of the report execution, with convincing results. Diverse improvements to the user interface such as Docking/Anchoring for forms, enhanced support of graphics, Autotext, and many others ­ and Format Z is back, too. And a lot of details have been fixed, improved and extended in the new version. A nice addendum we find in a new little property for grids: Tip: Rushmore Optimization in Grids A new property 'optimize' is available for grids, for the first time providing the long-awaited Rushmore Optimization for the presentation of tables. Now the grid is not slower than a BROWSE command any more. PS: If you ever happened to be obliged to use a filtered table within a grid, set this new property to .T. (the default value is of course .F.). The actual list of improvements we naturally do not want to reproduce here fully in print, but you can believe the final version of Visual FoxPro 9.0 to be considerably different from the Public Beta that has been available for a long time, and it has become quite a bit larger! 1.2. The Combination that makes it: All in One As an object-oriented development environment and as a relational database system, Visual FoxPro 9.0 has become even more attractive for application development. Now the framework Visual Extend enriches Visual FoxPro's toolset by those components essential for the quick development of applications known as `RAD'. The first way this is being achieved consists in the supply of a large application frame with many important standard functions for your application like e.g. · · · · · · · Administration of users, groups, access rights Data backup and restore Database maintenance and repair Error log; locking, user, and changes log Favorites, Customize and Options, Info box Sorting and Searching in the grid, Filtering via dialogue Report output incl. output as PDF/Fax etc. PS: We underlined only the end user features new and for the first time available in Visual Extend 9.5. Everything else ­ and a lot more ­ has already been available in VFX for a long time. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 8 Read more about the numerous functions of the generated application which are prepared and ready to use for you in chapter 3.2. `Properties of applications generated with Visual Extend'. The second way consists in the supply of a comparatively small set of base classes, mainly in the areas of forms, grids, and lookups of various flavors. And the appropriate huge builders come with it, working together like the tools of a multi-function Swiss army knife, enabling the developer to configure these classes fast. Read more about the many classes prepared for you and about the related builders in chapter 3.3 'Features for developers'. The package is supplemented and rounded off by administrative functions for software developers and for small and medium sized software companies, for example · · · Database and application updating Activation key and version update for modules Support of remote administration (new) And then there is our new Web Service for your simplified registration of Visual Extend plus the requesting of replacement keys, and... but we will not treat the entire manual in the introduction. Let us only consider one subject of prominent importance to Visual Extend in a little more detail, the subject of Builders: 1.3. Even more productive with new Builders in Visual Extend 9.5 ! Provided you are already working with Visual Extend, you will find out in almost every item of the following list of functions how it will facilitate your daily work! If you are not yet using Visual Extend, you will at least realize how big the current update really is. Please read: · · · · · · · · · · · · · · All properties of the application object can be called on in the extended options of the Application Wizard ­ and later they can be changed as well in the Application Builder! In the Project Properties you can define the selectable classes for all Builders, and you can also define them as default and as AutoComplete in one go The Project Toolbox offers you all project-specific classes in an overview and for direct drag & drop or (see right mouse button) for direct instantiating The Project Documenting Wizard gives you an interface to a special VFX version of PDM for the documentation of your application The Project Update Wizard permits the semi-automatic instead of the manual updating of existing projects to new versions and to new builds of Visual Extend The Data Environment Builder (integrated with the Form Wizard/Builder) makes the visual assembly of the data environment possible, including the integration of the CA Builder All the extended Form Builders have tabs for view parameters (including input fields and requery buttons), linked tables, required fields, and additional columns for the report display The Parent/Child Builder enables you to visually define all dependent child forms instead of the manual defining in the `onMore' method In the Language Setup Builder you can activate the localization/ translation of the user interface at runtime so that the users can choose of their own ... In The Customer list the developer may not only generate activation keys, but also administer all the related customer data In the Update management, define new versions and grant the customers the matching download permissions In the Configuration management you can now store as many definitions as you please, put all VFX tables onto the backend server, and add your own columns to the definition which are stored encrypted, too The CursorAdapter Wizard automatically generates cursor adaptor classes for all tables within a database container in a library you choose The AuditTrigger Wizard automatically generates all triggers for the audit trail for single tables or all tables of a database container for tracking and auditing purposes Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 9 · · · · · · In the System object you can define and manage the download scripts for Ghostscript, Acrobat Reader, OutlookYesNo, as well as Update, Backup, DUN and DynDNS via a definitions mask Place a DocumentManagement container on an empty tab and define the document linkage to the current record with the Document Management Builder ­ thus all document links are in one central table Place a cBusinessGraph container onto an empty tab, and... hold on, this Builder is regrettably just not finished yet . Place a cComboPicklist on your edit page and use the ComboPickList Builder to define and state the selectable values. And: Edit the values in the respective maintenance form, and use the definition in the next form again by choosing from the Combobox overview! Or use a cTextCalculator class, a cTexteMail, cTextHyperlink, cLinkTextbox, or a cTextTAPI class ­ you won't even need a Builder for this... We underlined ONLY the new or substantially extended builders and system functions from the VFX menu. Therefore we say: Visual Extend 9.5 ­ More productive than ever! And we suppose that you can agree with us on this statement straight away. Now, have fun with our manual of the newest version! Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 10 2. Quick Overview 2.1. Introduction For many years, Visual Extend belongs to the most efficient add-in products of Visual FoxPro. With Visual Extend (abbreviated in the following text with VFX), it is possible to create the skeleton for a fully functional Visual FoxPro application within a few minutes. When a database for the developed application is already available, it is easy within shortest time to create data manipulation forms with the builders of VFX. We will learn the most important features of VFX, which we will walk through during steps while creating an application. Visual Extend requires a Visual FoxPro version wit at least same version number as Visual Extend that you have. To use Visual Extend 9.5, you need Visual FoxPro 9.0. 2.1.1. Installation After the installation of VFX, it is helpful to integrate the VFX Menu into the standard Visual FoxPro Menu. For this purpose in Config.fpw file should be inserted a line: Command = DO \builder\vfxmnu.app 2.1.2. VFX Task Pane At first start of VFP after VFX 9.5 installation, VFX 9.5 Task Pane will be automatically integrated into Visual FoxPro Task Pane. In the VFX 8.0 Task Pane is placed a useful tool - the Application Manager. Information about all VFP projects is stored in a table. Through the VFX - Application Manager can be opened a project. The path is set automatically into the project folder. In addition through VFX - Application Manager can be performed "Rebuild all". By this, the project will be completely compiled. Changes in Include files are taken into account. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 11 2.1.3. VFX - Application Wizard A new application will be created with the VFX - Application Wizard. At first run of the wizard, as language for the created application by default will be suggested the language of the used Visual FoxPro version. On every subsequent run will be proposed the last used language. After the "Finish" ­ button is pressed, the files from the empty VFX Sample application will be copied into the newly created project folder and compiled afterwards. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 12 2.2. Functionality of the new Application The application created with the Application Wizard can be tested immediately. For this purpose the main program Vfxmain.prg can be started directly from the project manager. Alternatively also an App or an Exe file can be create and tested. However, usually this is not necessary during the development. The application starts with a Splashscreen. As picture for the Splashscreen is used a png-file, which can be easily edited or exchanged by the developer. It is possible to suppress the Splashscreen. After displaying the Splashscreen, the main window is created and login form is invoked. By default each user of a VFX application must be logged in with user name and password. It is possible to skip the login form and to log the user automatically using the Windows login name. 2.2.1. Usage After the login, the VFX application is used similarly like Office applications. Users, who are familiar with the usage of Word or Excel, can practically immediately work productively with a VFX application. 2.2.2. Standard toolbar Many of the buttons on the toolbar are identical in their function with those from MS Office products. 2.2.3. Open-Dialog By default, forms are started using the Open-Dialog. The Open-Dialog appears in Windows XP layout. The information about the forms that are shown in Open-Dialog is located in the table Vfxfopen.dbf. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 13 2.2.4. Forms If for a form the property lAutoedit is set to true (that is the default value), all control members on the form are always active. The user can select an element with the mouse or the keyboard and can immediately start editing data. As soon as data are interactively changed, the form switches automatically into Edit mode. On the list Page in VFX forms is placed a Grid. By default in all columns of the Grid can be searched incremental. For this purpose, just set the focus into the desired column. With the first typed letter or digit, the sorting sequence will be changed on this column. If necessary, a temporary index is created automatically. The column header is marked by up or down arrow, similar to the Windows Explorer. By default the size of VFX forms can be changed by the user at run-time. Thereby the size of all controls changes proportionally. Within Grids the size of the control is not changed by default. When a form is increased, more lines and columns become visible in the Grid. All settings on forms will be saved on a per user basis. If the user opens the form again, the form will appear at the same position of the screen and with the same size, as it was last closed. In addition, the settings of the Grids (column width, column sequence and sort order) are saved. Usually VFX forms have a private data session and can be opened several times without problems. Through a property of the form (lMultiinstance) multiple instances can be disabled. 2.2.5. User's management In VFX is included a user administration. Here are placed a form for editing the user data, a form for defining the user rights, a management of user's groups as well as a login screen. After the successful login of the user, is created a global object named goUser. For all fields of the current user data record (from the table Vfxusr.dbf), corresponding to the currently logged user, are added properties of the object goUser. The name of the property correspondent to the field name in the table Vfxusr.dbf. It is possible in each place in the program to check the value of properties of this global object, in order to decide whether a user may perform a certain action. So can, for example, be restricted the selection of a menu option, which opens a form or disable the editing of a field on a data manipulation form. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 14 2.2.6. Error tracking When a run-time error is raised, the error is displayed in a Messagebox. In addition, the error is logged in a table. At this point are saved the name of the current user, date, time, and the status of all opened tables as well as the list of memory variables. Further application's behavior when a run-time error is raised can be set through the properties of the application object. 2.2.7. Database Tools Under the menu option Tools ­ Database... is invoked a form with a Mover Dialog. Here tables can be packed or reindexed. 2.2.8. About Dialog A standard About Dialog is included in all VFX applications. The displayed values come from an Include file, which was created when the project was generated. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 15 2.3. Creating a Form with the VFX ­ Form Wizard With the help of the VFX ­ Form Wizard a new form, based of a VFX Form class, can be created and included into the project. The most often used form class is the class CDataFormPage. 2.4. VFX ­ Data Environment Builder At next step, in every VFX ­ Form Builder is edited the data environment. The tables or views, used by the form are inserted into the dataenvironment. In dataenvironment can be added tables, views or existing CursorAdapter classes and can be created new CursorAdapter classes. By clicking on Add button you can add existing tables or views in the dataenvironment. The VFP Add Table or View dialog is open. When a cursor in the dataenvironment is based on a table, in the column Order can be chosen an index tag of the table. For a simple form for editing data from a table, it is enough to add this table into the dataenvironment. Afterwards, using VFX - Form Builder, to the form can be added controls. The VFX ­ Form Builder reads the data environment and allows controls generation, based on the fields of the tables. At run-time dataenvironment will be checked, to determine whether a Tableupdate and/or a Tablerevert must be performed for tables. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 16 2.5. The VFX - Form Builder With this builder are generated the necessary controls for the form. Thereby, can be selected base VFX class for each control as well as some properties can be set. Along with creation of a form, in the table Vfxfopen.dbf automatically will be inserted a row, so that the form can be started using the Open Dialog. The VFX ­ Form builder is fully reentrant. This means, that the builder can be arbitrarily often called, when the form's settings has to be changed. It is also possible the form is to be edited on by hand with VFP and afterwards to be edited again with the Form Builder, without losing or overriding the properties. 2.6. The VFX - CGrid Builder When it is needed changes to be made for the Grid only, it is not necessary to use the Form Builder. The properties of the Grids can be changed with the VFX - Grid Builder. As all VFX builders, the Grid Builder is reentrant too. 2.7. Test The form can be started and tested directly from the form designer or from the project manager. In the init method of all VFX forms it is checked whether the application object exists. In case when it is missing, the form was started directly from the project manager and VFX creates the environment independently, in order to let the form run fully functionally. Also the main toolbar is instantiated and can be used for the operation of the form. Of course, it is also possible the project to be started by the main program Vfxmain.prg. The form can be started then from the Open Dialog. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 17 3. Introduction 3.1. Overview Visual Extend requires a Visual FoxPro version wit at least same version number as Visual Extend that you have. To use Visual Extend 9.5, is needed Visual FoxPro 9.0. Visual Extend 9.5 holds out a comprehensive development environment for software developers working with Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0. Visual Extend includes Builders which assist the Software Developer in their daily work and dramatically speed up the software development process without scarifying any of the Visual FoxPro features. With Visual Extend, Visual FoxPro becomes a real Rapid Application Development Tool for both Desktop and Client Server Database Application Development. Visual FoxPro is an outstanding Software Development Environment. Thanks to its Object Orientation and OLE Capabilities, the Software Developer's dream of easy code reuse of either personally developed, or third party modules, becomes true. However, starting to develop your own Software Development Environment in Visual FoxPro from scratch is a major undertaking. Not only because it's difficult to develop a solid Class Library as a Foundation Class for all Applications. It is also rather time consuming to use these Classes and manually fill in the right Properties and Methods in the Property Sheet while developing new Applications all over again. Visual Extend for Visual FoxPro fills exactly this gap by bringing a complete Application Development Framework to the Visual FoxPro Software Developer Community. Thanks to the thought-out, modular design of Visual Extend, every Software Developer can decide whether to use all of the Visual Extend Application Development Framework or to take only some parts of it for creating their own application. The Object Orientation of Visual Extend allows the Developers to subclass existing Visual Extend classes and to customize and enhance further the development environment according their specific needs. Visual Extend is not just a set of Foundation Class Library. It's much more. Visual Extend provides the Software Developer with a powerful Foundation Class Library with equally powerful Builders for a maximum of productivity gain. Visual Extend includes the following components: · Modular, Microsoft Compliant Visual Extend Foundation Class Library with extensive Application Development Support · Visual Extend Wizards and fully reentrant Builders for Application, Form, Grid, Childgrid, Picklist, PickTextbox and OneToMany Forms and much more other. · Other Visual Extend Developer Productivity Tools like the Developer Menu, VFX Task Pane, VFX ­ Base Class Switcher and Visual Object Name Picker 3.2. Specifics of Applications created using Visual Extend Applications which have been developed using Visual FoxPro together with the Application Development Framework Visual Extend will have the following characteristics: · · · · · · · · · · · · · Ready for Office Compatible Certification Standard Toolbar and including optional individual Toolbars for any Form Using XP-Themes in all controls. Hot Tracking for buttons in Toolbar. Icons in Menus. Navigation, Search, New, Copy, Edit, Delete optional on Form or on Main Toolbar. Multi-instance of Forms. Recently used form list in File Menu, actually open forms in Window Menu. Incremental Search including Autosort in all VFX Grids. Alternate Sort by Doubleclicking on any Column Header in any VFX Grid. Indicate actual sort in column header optionally using colors. Auto Save and Restore of Size and Position of any Form. Auto Save of all Grid Layout Changes including the Current Sort. Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 18 · Picklist Control with Auto-validation and optional Data Fetching. · Picklist Form with Incremental Search, Auto-sort, Alternate Sort by Doubleclicking on any Column Header as well as Maintenance and Insert features. · Auto-save and Restore of Size and Position of Picklist Forms including any Picklist Grid Layout Changes. · Powerful Picklist Object within Childgrid. · User Access Management including Password Encryption. · Auto use of Network Logon Names including Autologon Feature. · User Security including Form Level Security View, Edit, Insert and Delete restrictions. · Database Tools for Packing, Reindexing and Repairing of local Tables. · Complete run-time Error Tracking System. · About Dialog · User friendly Mover Dialogs for easy selection of multiple elements · Automatic Synchronization with Windows System colors · Favorites Menu · XP-Style open dialog. · Optional Active Desktop Single-Click User Interface. · Auto Report feature for automatic creation of printed reports based on data in a grid. · Report Selection and manipulation interface. · Multi Data support including run-time switch between different databases. · Automated Client Site Update for tables' structure updates for VFP- and SQL Server Databases. · Optional Audit Trail Feature for data manipulation tracking. · Optional Microsoft Agent assisted user interface. · Automatic Printscreen feature. · Possibility to create multilingual Applications. 3.3. Key Features for developers Software Developers using Visual Extend will appreciate the following features: · Application Wizard for the automatic generation of new Applications in the language of your choice. After just a few seconds, your distribution-ready Visual FoxPro Application is prepared! · Fully reentrance of all VFX Builders (Form Builder, OneToMany Form Builder, Table Form Builder, Grid Builder, Child Grid Builder, and PickTextbox Builder) which makes it easy to make changes on already created forms using the VFX Builders! · Use the Visual FoxPro Environment whenever you want without loosing the reentrance feature of the VFX Builders as long as you add/remove all controls using the VFX builders! · Builders for Standard Forms including Parent/Child Form technique (Calling and Called By). · Builder for Power Grids. · Builder for all your Picklist needs. · Builders for classical as well as advanced OneToMany Forms including Pageframe for the Parent and another Pageframe for multiple Childs tables all on one Form. · All Builders get the Field Descriptions and other properties automatically from the Dataenvironment. · Form Builders will automatically size any Textbox Controls according underlying Field Length. · Use the VFX ­ Form Builders with own VFX based form and control classes. · Run forms directly from form designer. · Toolbar Navigation or Navigation Buttons on form as well as Buttonbar into a Form. · Messagebox Builder. · Task Pane Applications Manager. · Easy subclassing of the application class and setup of the environment class. · Easy setup of application specific main toolbars. · Linked Parent/Child forms techniques. · The complete Application Development Framework covers already all user interface elements in Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, Finnish, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Start a new Application in the language of your choice without need of translating a single word of the Visual Extend Application Development Framework Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 19 German Spanish English Bulgarian French Greek Visual Extend 9.0 User Manual More productive than ever before! Page 20 Italian Czech Russian Dutch Portuguese Finnish VFX helps you to create your Visual FoxPro Applications in a higher quality in much less time and therefore dramatically increases your development productivity. And all this without loosing any of the Visual FoxPro Features you like and use. Be more productive than ever before with Visual Extend for Visual FoxPro!