Shedding Some Light

I really thought the month of July would be really slow at the Southwest Fox registration headquarters because the deadline for early-bird registrations ended, but they keep on coming and today we registered our 100th person to attend the conference. Doug will be updating the Who’s Coming list soon, which now stands at 116 people including the presenters. Note: not all the people are on the list because each person has to opt-in.

Most of my expectations have been exceeded, and we are well on our way to breaking all records for Southwest Fox attendance. Only 78 days until Southwest Fox!

I am looking forward to seeing you in Mesa!

Today I received my June/July 2007 issue of the Advisor Guide to Microsoft Visual FoxPro (AGTMSVFP) and they implemented the Journal format (similar to fading FoxTalk 2.0). I like the change for a couple of reasons:

1) It will be more profitable to Advisor Publications since they are not printing in many colors on glossy paper. A profitable Advisor will produce this publication longer, which benefits the Fox Community.

2) No smearing. The glossy magazines seem to smear in my hands. I am not sure if this is something that only happens to me, but I hate ink smears on my fingers.

3) Same great authors and content.

I received a notification from Visionpace this evening about their next VFP bootcamp coming up in August. I get inquiries from VFP developers looking for training, and I have Visionpace on the short list of vendors I recommend. Here are the details from Visionpace:

The next VFP Boot Camp will be in Kansas City, Missouri, August 20-22, 2007

Registration ends on August 1, 2007 for the highly-acclaimed VFP Boot Camp. This event delivers three jam-packed days of solid, hands-on learning. From the fundamentals of VFP development through the very latest VFP 9.0 features, this boot camp is designed to quickly get your VFP skills up to speed. Attendees will receive a 500 page manual in both print and electronic format.

For more information visit http://visionpace.com/developereducation.html or email info AT visionpace.com. To register call 888-904-7900.

I can only start this post out by saying THANKS!

I am overwhelmed by the response to Southwest Fox 2007 and the number of registrations we have taken for the conference. When I talked to Bob about taking over the conference he cautioned me to not be concerned if the registrations were not hot and heavy until a month before the conference. He said I probably would be worried when less than half would register for the early bird. This puts a lot of pressure on the organizer when planning the budget and determining where money can be spent on things like food for attendees, travel for the speakers, and things like meeting the number of room nights we have committed to before hitting financial penalties. He told me to stock up on Tums (and I do have a Costco membership so I can purchase in bulk {g}).

Southwest Fox is in terrific shape for 2007. We have 88 paid registrations so far, which is more than were at the conference last year, and are on a pace to break all attendance records for this conference. I guess it is even possible to sell-out the conference (something we really did not think about when putting this together).

The Who’s Going page is going to be generated and posted in the next few days.

So thanks from the bottom of my heart for the great response and making the planning much easier. For those who still plan on registering, no need to wait until the last minute. Only 98 days before we meet in Mesa!

Today I used a new VFP 9 feature for the first time in a real world scenario – the new ability to query data from a buffered cursor using the new WITH (BUFFERING = .T.) clause/syntax.

I know there are VFP developers and database administrators who will say using this syntax is absolutely wrong because the data still has a chance to be reverted and thus the query result is not reproducible. The information could be used incorrectly to make business decisions and this is not smart, and is not a professional approach. These individuals are absolutely correct when you need to have checks and balances in the database, integrity of the data in the database, and integrity in reporting and analysis.

I on the other hand needed to use this new functionality to check the validity of the data before it was committed to the database. Here is my scenario:

1. I have data to import from an outside source.
2. I have data to import from an internal source, but is exported from a different application.
3. There is a good chance there is duplication from the two data sources.
4. All data is imported to tabled buffered cursors.
5. I have to commit the import of the data across three different tables all at once, or not at all. Two of the tables are related.

I begin the transaction and import the data from the internal source, then import the data from the external source checking for the duplicates. I want to review it before I committed the transaction. In the review process I query the various tables to make sure there are no duplicate people, no duplicate vendors, and need to verify all the registrations get set for the appropriate year.

Here is my query to count the number of people with multiple registrations:

SELECT cLastName, cFirstName, COUNT(*) as nCount ;  FROM people WITH (BUFFERING = .T.) ;    JOIN registration WITH (BUFFERING = .T.) ;      ON people.cPeople_PK = registration.cPeople_FK  ;  GROUP BY cLastName, cFirstName ;  HAVING nCount > 1 ;  INTO CURSOR curMultiYearRegistrations

I counted the test data records in advance of the import to make my comparisons. This slicing and dicing of the buffered data saved me a lot of aggravation of removing the imported data when I found errors. I could have blown the database away and restored a backup, but that would have taken more time. I could have imported to a holding area, but that would have made twice the work. I was able to suspend the import process and do some ad hoc queries to verify all is well during each step of the import.

I have another idea where this new syntax will help in HackCX Professional. I anticipate adding a report or summary screen in the next version so you can see all the buffered changes you have made in the class library you are hacking. Sure I can do this without the SQL Select syntax, but I think writing a simple SQL Select is faster and less code than scanning through the whole table to determine what records have changed.

Have you used this new syntax? If so, what for?

I am pleased to announce ProLib Software GmbH is the newest Bronze sponsor for Southwest Fox.

ProLib is located in Germany and has a terrific product called Active FoxPro Pages (offered in the USA by F1 Technologies) helping you put VFP Web applications on the Internet. ProLib has provided two licenses to Active FoxPro Pages to give-away during the conference to some lucky attendees. Thanks wOOdy!

We’ve been inundated with registrations this past week and I haven’t had a chance to process them all. So, we’ve decided to extend the early-bird registration until midnight (EDT) Friday, July 6th so you won’t miss your chance to take advantages of the early-bird savings just because of us.

Honestly, I have been overwhelmed by the number of registrations and they have exceeded my wildest expectations. A big thank you to everyone who has registered and to those who plan to register this week and beyond. Friday and Saturday my daughters were giggling every time the fax line rang because they knew I was getting way behind on the processing.

So keep them coming. Heck, as I am writing this blog entry I got a call from a company in Arizona who wants to send four people to the conference. Sweet.

I am so psyched by how great Southwest Fox 2007 is going to be, and cannot wait to start planning Southwest Fox 2008.

I am very excited to announce Sybase iAnywhere is now a Gold sponsor of Southwest Fox 2007!

I was curious why a company like Sybase would like to sponsor our small and humble conference, but the folks at Sybase are very excited about coming and showing what they have to offer Visual FoxPro developers. They are expecting to make some big announcements at the conference. Cool.

You can check out the complete list of sponsors on the Southwest Fox 2007 sponsors page. Please help us show appreciation for all their support of the conference and Fox Community by visiting their pages, and checking out their offerings.

Two more days to get in on the early-bird registration, and 111 days until we meet in Mesa.