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Microsoft Releases Visual FoxPro 8.0
February 1, 2003: The Visual FoxPro Team at
Microsoft is very excited to announce that Visual FoxPro 8.0 was completed and
released to manufacturing (RTM) on January 31st, 2003. The Visual FoxPro team
was hoping to release Visual FoxPro 8.0 in early January, but we needed the
extra time to ensure we released the most stable version of Visual FoxPro yet,
even more solid than Visual FoxPro 7.0 with Service Pack 1. Visual FoxPro 8.0
is the most feature rich release of Visual FoxPro since version 3.0. I'd like
to include some details about Visual FoxPro 8.0, related announcements, and
upcoming activities around the release.
Visual FoxPro 8.0 is fully compatible with
previous versions of Visual FoxPro and includes everything needed to write,
build, and test great data-centric applications. Product highlights in Visual
FoxPro 8.0 include structured error handling, CursorAdapter class for
universal data access, new auto-increment support for data tables, Windows XP
Themes support, new base classes and controls, new GDI+ image support, new
event binding for objects, full hierarchical support, new XML Web services
features, updated OLE DB provider, improved development productivity, and new
and improved compatibility with Visual Studio .NET and SQL Server 2000.
Visual FoxPro 8.0 Product Highlights:
- Structured error handling - Control and encapsulate error handling in code using TRY...CATCH...FINALLY structure, escalate exceptions using THROW, and manage using Exception objects. - Universal data access - Use the CursorAdapter class for unified data access to native Visual FoxPro tables, XML, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, and ODBC or OLE DB data sources. - View Designer - Build SQL SELECT statement queries using two-way editing between the Query/View designer and source code output. - Auto-increment support - Create auto-increment counter fields for primary key fields in Visual FoxPro data tables. - Windows XP Themes support - Apply Microsoft Windows XP Themes to Visual FoxPro applications, including controls at the form and container level. - Advanced controls - Build smart client desktop forms using rich features such as orienting tabs on page frames, locking and automatically resizing columns, highlighting grid rows, changing background color and positioning images on command buttons. - GDI+ image support - Display and rotate images on forms with support for file formats such as .bmp, .jpeg, .gif, animated .gif, .wmf, .emf, .tiff, and more. - Event binding - Bind native and custom events and methods to other Visual FoxPro objects. - XML data import and export - Import and export hierarchical XML using support for XML DiffGrams between Visual FoxPro data cursors and ADO.NET DataSets. - XML Web services - Publish and consume SOAP-based XML Web services compatible with .NET technology over HTTP using the Microsoft SOAP Toolkit 3.0 (included). - OLE DB Provider - Provide access to Visual FoxPro data from other clients such as Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and Office XP. - Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE) - Build desktop and shared solutions compatible with Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and migrate them to SQL Server 2000 directly without modifying code. - Deployment tools - Create setup programs for your applications using an exclusively developed version of InstallShield® Express for Visual FoxPro. - Powerful base classes - Subclass member classes such as pages in page frames and headers and columns in grids. Subclass the DataEnvironment class and use the DataEnvironment and CursorAdapter builders. You can manage application objects using the new Collection class. - Development productivity - Use the Task Pane to manage development tasks and access Visual FoxPro Help, XML Web services, and community news. The new Toolbox provides easy access to frequently used items such as classes, controls, and code snippets. You can search for and replace symbol and text references throughout projects and files using the Code References tool.
Visual FoxPro 8.0 System Requirements:
Hardware: Processor: PC with a Pentium-class processor or higher RAM: 64 MB; 128 MB or higher recommended Hard disk space required to install: 300 MB Hard disk space required: 165 MB Video: 800x600, 256 colors Software: Design-time: Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2, Windows XP Professional or later Run-time: Windows 98/Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP or later
The release date for Visual FoxPro 8.0 (January
31, 2003) just happened to be same date as the last day before expiration of
the public Visual FoxPro 8.0 beta, by coincidence. Developers using the
current public beta of Visual FoxPro 8.0 (build 2021) can change the system
date on their computer to use it until obtaining the released version via MSDN
Subscriptions or stand-alone product box.
Visual FoxPro 8.0 is included in all levels of
MSDN Subscriptions (Universal, Enterprise, and Professional). Also included
in those levels of MSDN Subscriptions are Visual FoxPro 8.0,
Visual FoxPro 7.0, Visual Studio 6.0,
Visual Studio .NET, upcoming Visual Studio .NET 2003, development
versions of Windows, and more. Refer to
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/prodinfo/levels.asp
for product information of MSDN Subscription levels. MSDN Subscription
members will be first to obtain the released version of Visual FoxPro 8.0
(within a few business days of RTM, first week of February). Pricing
information for MSDN Subscriptions can be found at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/prodinfo/pricing.asp
(upgrade pricing of MSDN Subscriptions available for licensed users of Visual
FoxPro 5.0 or later).
Visual FoxPro 8.0 will be available separate
from MSDN subscriptions via stand-alone full product or upgrade purchases 6 to
8 weeks from the RTM date (around mid March). U.S retail prices for the
stand-alone versions of Visual FoxPro 8.0 include: full product $649, upgrade
$349, and academic $75. For a limited time, a $50 rebate will be offered with
Visual FoxPro 8.0 (for upgrade version only, in U.S. and Canada only) for
owners of Visual FoxPro 7.0 (proof of purchase required with mail-in rebate
coupon).
Visual FoxPro 8.0 will be covered in depth at
many upcoming Visual FoxPro conferences including EssentialFox, DevTeach, and
Advisor FoxPro DevCon. The April issue of FoxPro Advisor magazine will be
dedicated to Visual FoxPro 8.0 topics. There will be a special edition of
CoDe magazine, independent of regular issues, dedicated completely to Visual
FoxPro 8.0 with all of the articles to be placed online for free public access
and linking. This special issue of CoDe magazine by publishers EPS Software
will be released and sent out near the
end of March with the issue title of CoDe Focus: Visual FoxPro 8.0.
There is now a Visual FoxPro 8.0 Case Study
Template available for download (Word document format) at the Microsoft
GotDotNet.com developer community Web site on the Visual FoxPro with Visual
Studio .NET page at
http://gotdotnet.com/team/vfp.
This case study template is designed to be used for submissions to Microsoft
for possible microsoft.com product showcasing for applications using or in the
process of upgrading to Visual FoxPro 8.0. This case study template is also
intended to be used independent of Microsoft by Visual FoxPro developers to
create case studies to be posted on Visual FoxPro community Web sites. Also
available on the GotDotNet site on the Visual FoxPro page is a 2.5 minute
video download of Eric Rudder (Sr. VP Developer & Platform Evangelism
Division, Microsoft) discussing Visual FoxPro 8.0.
Microsoft currently has no plans to create a
service pack (SP) for Visual FoxPro 8.0, and we will evaluate the need for one
to be created in the future if required. The Visual FoxPro team has already
started working working on the next version of Visual FoxPro (code named
Europa) and we are now taking feedback and suggestions for features via the
Wish List on the UniversalThread (http://www.universalthread.com)
as well as other Visual FoxPro community sites online. There will be an MSDN
Chat with myself and several members
the Visual FoxPro team at Microsoft sometime in March. Refer to
http://msdn.microsoft.com/chats for
announcements and dates/times for this upcoming chat and others. The main
calls to action for Visual FoxPro community members is to upgrade to Visual
FoxPro 8.0, convince others also upgrade, and educate others about the great
new features in this new version.
Additional information about Visual FoxPro 8.0
will be found at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro
in early March. Included in the new MSDN Web
site content to be added to the Visual FoxPro Web site on MSDN
next month will be a detailed Visual
FoxPro Evaluation Guide as well as
new technical whitepapers. Also to be
posted will be new Visual FoxPro 8.0 code samples and utilities for
free download (which will displayed in the new Visual FoxPro 8.0 TaskPane when
refreshed). The MSDN
Visual FoxPro product download section will
also soon include a download of the Visual FoxPro OLE DB Provider,
same as the version included in Visual FoxPro 8.0 but
separate free independent download for anyone to use. Stay tuned to
further announcements on the Visual FoxPro community news site
http://foxcentral.net.
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