new features?

[Jose Lerebours]

Kroboth, Joe wrote:

[ snip ]
> 
>> As for a different screen sizing, you might want to look at the Reface
>> program from Sound Ideas.
> 
>> http://www.soundideas.com/pages/reface.html
> 
> 
> The Soundideas thing seems neat.  Very useful if you're trying to make an 
 > application look modern.  But for our in-house system just a larger
 > screen with color would be a good start to make a good case not to 
ditch filePro.
> 
> The power in filePro for me is the rapid development. If I need to add 
 > layers to development (i.e. web interface for more info on screen)
 > It might be beneficial to migrate to a more web friendly database.
> 

The more PHP I develop the more I realized that speed of development is 
not really unique to filePro.  In fact, giving that your PHP based 
applications are (a) cross-platform, (b) ODBC Compliant, (c) Multi-DB 
Engine Compatible, (c) fast development, (d) fast deployment, (e) low 
cost, (f) huge community base, (g) global market, etc, etc, etc.  gives 
me ground to argue that in the end, PHP is a faster and more cost 
effective development tool than filePro.

I have developed many PHP applications to integrate with filePro.  Some 
of them include: Graph/Charting, Cargo Release, Search/Query Page, 
Warehousing, Trucking, Billing, Check writing interface, etc.

Those for whom I've written these applications are very happy.  Using 
PHP + XHTML + AJAX has enabled me to write very jazzy applications.  I 
would say that they do not dump filePro maily because they have too much 
invested and fear a new start.

> While I'm complaining... Do you know if there is an ODBC in the works for nix filePro? 
> IMHO this is the only thing that can make filePro a smart decision for continued development. 

You might as well get packing and moving in a new direction now.  By the 
time they develop anything for this, there will be some other short 
coming thus leaving you behind one way or the other.

>Of course my laziness has been fighting my smart decision making for several years 
 >now.
> 
I think it is more like cost factored into what you already have.  I 
have a full blown accounting application written in filePro.  This 
application includes Sales, Purchase, Inventory, Job Costing, AR, AP, 
GL, Payroll, etc.  It is fully integrated and it has tons of reports and 
features I have never seen in any filePro application.

I decided to write something similar in PHP and I learned that had I 
gotten started months ago when I first thought about it, I would be 
finished by now.  I am working on it like a couple of hours a week and 
even then, I have made a lot of progress.

Anyway, just meant to say if you can develop in anything else like JAVA, 
PHP, PERL, PYTHON, .NET, etc. - go ahead and get started a little at a 
time; you'll be surprised how much work you get done when you get 
enthusiastic.


--
Jose Lerebours