Shedding Some Light

I like traditions. I have one with respect to the last day of a conference that has developed over the years. Some may say it came together by accident, but I know better. The tradition is I present during the first session of the last day of the conference. I asked Whil years ago when I started to recognize the “trend” and he confirmed he scheduled me because I don’t drink, and he knew I was reliable to not have a hangover. Smart plan if you are conference organizer.

So I asked Craig today if this was planned and he claims to know nothing of this tradition. So know I have to believe there is some sort of supernatural intervention going on when Whil, Russ, Bob, Mike and Toni, Rainer, Christa, and now Craig put together their schedules. The good thing is I never mind and I have always been amazed when people show up for the session. At this point in the conference you are exhausted, physically, mentally, and maybe even spiritually. I am always appreciative of everyone who hangs out.

Today is packed with seven more grey-matter expanding sessions:

• Rick Schummer – “Using and Extending VFP’s Data Explorer”
• Lisa Slater Nicholls – “Getting the Most Out of Reporting in VFP“
• Alain Legrand – “Using a data driven approach to application customization”
• Doug Hennig – Stonefield Query (during lunch)
• Rick Schummer – “Professional Developer’s Toolkit”
• Lisa Slater Nicholls – “Migrations: Many stops on a tour”
• Doug Hennig – “Best Practices for Vertical Application Development”

I definitely got something out of each session. When I first read the title of Lisa’s second session I thought it was “Migraines”. I think we all have gotten headaches when developing {g}. This session showed how VFP apps can extend 2.6 apps and even do cool interop using XML and other techniques. I was particularly interested in this session because I am doing a lot of 2.6 to VFP migrations.

Alain’s session was very interesting as he talked about his application architecture to localizing his CRM package. It was not traditional localizing though. When you think of localization you normally think of changing strings from one language to another. Alain’s app does do this, but his application often interacts with other systems. Not only does the app change strings, but it goes to the level of changing the names of the fields to be in the native language. Initially I thought this was strange because most presentation of the data is handled with metadata so users won’t care what the columns are named. Alain’s app is accessed externally so the localization of the data elements helps the local software developers who access the structures. Once this was understood the whole thing made perfect sense. The bonus was how cool his app looks and works. Nice job.

There was lots of good discussion in my “Professional Developer Toolkit” session. I actually finished this session early which is the first time this has happened. I really appreciated Andrew Coates‘ participation. He is the local Microsoft evangelist and seemed to throw Team System into the discussion for nearly every category. This shows how wide this product is and how it addresses the various aspects of software development. Great discussion.

The last session of the conference was “Best Practices for Vertical Application Development”. I listened to this session in Milwaukee last year, but again as it happens so often for me, hearing it the second time still reminded me of things important to some projects I have on the horizon.

Craig wrapped up the conference after Doug’s session with some thank yous and really cool speaker gifts. More good news – sounds like there will be another OzFox next February.

This conference was fantastic! I really enjoyed talking with the developers about Fox, the real world problems they face, the real world solutions they are developing, and the successes they are achieving down-under. Craig and the Talman team were very hospitable. My head hurts because of the lack of sleep, but mostly because of the amount of information I digested over the last two and a half days. You have my highest recommendation to attend OzFox 2008.

The second day of the conference started with a review of “Get More Productive with VFP” session at 5:00am in the morning. I have been waking up around 4:30am to 5:00am each day no matter how tired I am. For a while this morning I tried to understand the rules of Rugby which seems to be on most TV stations here in Sydney. I learned that there are four different versions of the sport played, which solved much of my confusion. I also tried to understand Cricket, but have no clue how this game is played. It is nice that the American morning shows are played between 5:00am and 7:00am so I can catch up on the news from home. Some American shows are played in the evening, but they seem to be a season behind in some cases.

It has been raining the last couple of days. This is unusual from what I have been told and the Aussies have been very apologetic (like they control the weather {g}). Our sightseeing was not interrupted with bad weather and since we sit in the conference all day the rain has not affected any activity. Perfect timing. Therese has not been very sympathetic since Sterling Heights was hit by an ice storm and I am in very warm temperatures.

Busy conference day with six conference sessions, and two bonus sessions crammed in:

• Doug Hennig – “Installing Applications Using InnoSetup”
• Colin Nicholls – “Extending VFP 9.0 Xbase Reporting Components”
• Rick Schummer – “Get more productive with VFP”
• Bing Bao – “Security and the VFP Developer” (bonus session during lunch)
• Lisa Slater Nicholls – “Reporting in Sedna/SP2 – A Tour”
• Mark Crichton – “Getting a Visual FoxPro application to Market”
• Colin Nicholls – “Data Visualization in Reports with VFP 9.0 SP2″
• Andrew Coates – “Creating Office OpenXML Documents in VFP” (bonus session)

All the sessions were good. I missed most of Doug’s session because I saw it in Pheonix and wanted to catch up on some work I needed to do. The reporting sessions are causing lots of brain cramps with the large volume of information and exciting new functionality. Each of the sessions are building on the previous sessions. Extendibility is getting the doors blown off again.

Bing Bao (from Sydney) came in and tried to scare us all with some insecurities with applications and VFP data. It was a great way to spend lunch. Mark Crichton is also a local speaker and talked about some history of his app, business decisions he faces, the processes and tools he uses to get his vertical market application to market. Interesting ideas to consider if you are into this type of application.

Andrew wrapped up the day with an excellent session on the new MS Office file formats and showed us how we can create the files from VFP without any automation. It is all XML files and ZIP technology. This is the second time I have seen this topic only this time it had VFP used to create the files. I think this has lots of potential, but I also believe this is going to be very complex once you get past the fundamental and trivial examples. That said, I think it is great because you can build in scalability without worrying about Office being in the way, or licensing concerns, and the file formats are an open standard. This means other office vendors will be compatible in the future and the world just got a little smaller.

Excellent Thai food for dinner – finally (Doug and I have been looking since we arrived). We walked in the rain to a small little place down closer to the harbor. Conversation at dinner was more shop talk. The day was long and most of us have full skulls.

The first day of OzFox is on a Sunday and starts at 1:45pm. Doug and I went through the keynote which was similar to the one we did last year at Southwest Fox, but with new/updated material, but was a little lower energy level because Craig Boyd was busy digging out his car from a snow bank back in the USA.

The keynote was focused on the bright future of VFP and it went well. I talked about the new SP2 and Sedna CTP released last week just in time for the conference (I could not load them because of my no-new-software-before-conference-rule). I provided a high level overview of the changes in SP2, but no details because Colin and Lisa are doing five sessions on the topic. The future as we see it:

• VFP 9 Service Pack 2
• Sedna
• VFPX
• Other CodePlex projects

VFP 9 Service Pack 2 contains:

• Bug fixes (the list is lengthy)
• Vista compatibility
• Reporting enhancements

Sedna currently contains:

• Data Explorer enhancements
• NET4COM (.NET COM interface)
• DBi Technologies’ components
• My Namespace
• Upsizing Wizard enhancements
• Vista Toolkit
• Other components

I covered the Data Explorer, Net4Com, and discussed the generous DBi Technology controls (not in the CTP). Doug handled the My Namespace, Upsizing Wizard, and the Vista Toolkit (big thanks to Craig Boyd for setting us up with a great demo). We wrapped up the keynote talking about VFPX and other CodePlex projects, and made a call to action for the attendees (and the rest of the Fox Community):

• Download and start working with CTP
• Join VFPX and other projects
• Start your own blog
• Join (or start) a user group
• Tell the world about VFP

The rest of the day the attendees listened to Doug’s session “Extending VFP with VFP” and Colin’s session “VFP 9.0 Reporting Fundamentals.”

The conference has one track so all attendees attend the same session. I first experienced this style of conference at GLGDW 2006 and it works well when you have good sessions all the time or follow a specific theme. In the case of OzFox – it is jammed with great sessions. Even listening to sessions I have already seen (like Doug’s Extending VFP with VFP) has its benefits.

The last session of the day was called “Networking.” Craig Bailey (conference host) asked people in the room to introduce themselves and describe how they use FoxPro and a little about their business. This was an interesting session because it showed how diverse the projects are in Australia and New Zealand.

Afterwards we had dinner in the hotel restaurant (no Thai food yet {g}). Microsoft brought in XBox 360s like they did at the last OzFox conference. Spectacular graphics on large HD TVs. I am not into video games, but it was fun to watch a bunch of geeks race cars and play shoot’em up games. In particular the chain saw slaughters were humorous.

Last we left our humble hero, he was installing 100+ apps on his new ThinkPad and working on configuring many of them. The good news is I am mostly done and on my self-imposed pre-conference moratorium of not installing new applications with OzFox only 10 days away.

I have come up against a little glitch I have never seen before with a new machine. It is not a show stopper by any stretch of the imagination, but one that is irritating me every day. In my Windows Quick Launch toolbar I have short cuts to different versions of VFP. The weird thing is the VFP icon is the VFP 7 icon, not the VFP 8/9 icon for the VFP 8 and VFP 9 shortcuts. Even the icons for the VFP8.EXE and VFP9.EXE files are the older foxhead in Windows Explorer. Why?

If I try to change the icons in the shortcut properties I see all the icons inside of the VFP executable and the old foxhead is there, not the new foxhead. It smells of a registry problem, but I am not sure where to even start.

Has anyone else experienced this? I know I can use my own icons, but it would be nice not to workaround the issue if possible.

I received an email this evening from Christa at Advisor letting me know I will be speaking at the Advisor Summit from May 6 – 10, 2007 in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Marriott Hotel. Looks like my schedule will be a busy one with four different sessions:

• Professional Developer’s Toolkit
• Visual FoxPro Debugging Essentials
• VFPX Tools and Components – Live
• SQL Server Toolkit for the VFP Developer

I am not sure who else is speaking, but I am sure the line up will include some great sessions.

Last month at the Detroit Area Fox User Group, my friend Paul Mrozowski demoed a number of tools and tips he uses every day in his VFP and .NET development. It was a great presentation and one where I learned a number of new things. One of these tips is to use the Consolas font from Microsoft.

The Consolas font is a non-proportional font like Courier New, but is better in many respects. The first is it is heavier or thicker than the Courier New font, but it is narrower too. In my opinion it is easier to read and provides more text in the same space. Other big differences are number zero (is it the letter O or the numeric zero?), the possible semi-colon vs. colon confusion, and the comma vs. period. Here is an image with both fonts set at 12 point, bold:

You can download the Consolas Font Pack for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 direct from Microsoft. It works with Visual FoxPro too .

I like to work with smaller fonts and work at a high resolution (1920×1200) on a 15.4 inch wide screen monitor running Clear Type. I believe the eye strain I experience working long hours is reduced.

Thanks Paul for this simple, but fantastic tip!

As Craig Bailey notes in his blog, this is a good news and bad new announcement.

Unfortunately Craig Boyd has to withdrawl from OzFox 2007 because of a family emergency. I really wish there were better circumstances, but after talking to Craig Boyd last week I was happy to hear while things are a little stressful, things are okay. Still, Therese and I will be keeping the Boyd’s in our prayers.

So when Craig Bailey asked me if I could help out and be a speaker at OzFox I did not hesitate and said yes! It is the least I can do and I am honored by the request. I know I am no Craig Boyd, but I will do my best to provide the OzFox attendees with some cool VFP sessions, and hopefully some inspiration in similar fashion to Craig.

One thing is for sure, I am really excited. I was hoping to go to OzFox 2007 as an attendee late last year. I heard OzFox is a great conference, but I decided to hire my son and had to buy him a laptop instead. It was a tough decision at the time, but the best decision I could make for my business. So now I get the best of both worlds.

I have always wanted to make a trip to Australia. What could be better than heading to Sydney in February (Summer) to hang out with VFP developers?

Doug and I will be doing the opening keynote, and I am presenting three regular sessions. Craig is finalizing the details over the next couple of days. If things go well I am hoping to blog live from the conference too.

Now is the time to get registered and save AUD$100 with the early bird registration through January 31st. I look forward to meeting everyone in a few weeks.

You may be wondering why my blog has been silent of late. There are numerous reasons and this is the week many of the reasons will be announced. The first is the CoDe Focus issue from the publishers of CoDe Magazine called “Sendna: Beyond VFP 9.0″.

I was asked to write two articles for this special issue of CoDe Magazine centered on the release of Sedna from Microsoft. Just in case you do not know what Sedna is: it is the next release of VFP currently available as a Community Technical Preview (CTP). I wrote the articles on the changes to the Data Explorer and the new Upsizing Wizard. There are a couple things to note about this issue:

• It is the inside story about the new and updated components in VFP
• It provides details about interoperability with the latest wave of Windows components and .NET
• …and much more

While the articles were fun to write, they time consuming and a lot of work. I am also excited because this is the first time White Light Computing is advertising in a magazine.

The exact schedule of the release has not been revealed yet, but it should be available soon. The issue is free after you sign up for it here. User groups can sign up to get a bulk delivery of issues too.