FoxPro 2.6 code under VFP 8/9

Today I answered the following question for what seems like the thousandth time: Why do objects on my 2.6 screen not show when I run the code in Visual FoxPro 9?

The answer is to shut off Windows XP Themes. You can do this using the form Themes property, or globally using _screen.Themes = .F. OR SYS(2700, 0) in the start up code for the application. This is an issue with the 2.6 READ compatibility mode. It is a known issue and one we do not expect to be corrected any time soon. It is also easy for a developer to fix.

The good news is I sense more and more FoxPro 2.6 developers are looking to move their application to Visual FoxPro. The bad news is this little problem causes developers more headaches. It also shows developers are trying to take advantage of VFP's backwards compatibility. I just hope they are not expecting this to be a long term solution and they plan on rewriting the application using the full power of VFP OOP, a solid application framework, and best practices we have developed over the last 10 years of developing VFP applications.