Video for VFPX New Property/Method Dialog Replacement

The native New Property and New Method dialogs in VFP have many shortcomings, including being modal, non-resizable, and not supporting MemberData so the case you type for the member isn't preserved. Fortunately, VFP 9 makes it possible to replace native dialogs with our own. VFPX has a project, New and Edit PropertyMethod Replacement Dialogs, that replaces these dialogs with versions that work much better.

I created a 4-minute video showing the features and benefits of these replacement dialogs. Once you start using them, you won't go back.

.Me Domain Available

GoDaddy is offering .Me domains for $19.99 a year. Unfortunately, all the good ones, like Bite.Me, Eat.Me, and several other unmentionables are already taken.

Interview with Canadian Developer Connection

I was interviewed last week by Canadian Developer Connection: http://blogs.msdn.com/cdndevs/archive/2008/07/17/mvp-insider-q-a-with-doug-hennig.aspx

Creating Explorer Interfaces in Visual FoxPro

One of the sessions I'm doing at Southwest Fox 2008 is titled "Creating Explorer Interfaces in Visual FoxPro". Explorer interfaces appear everywhere these days: Windows Explorer, Outlook, iTunes, Stonefield Query, and so on. These interfaces have one thing in common: a list of items at the left, usually shown in a TreeView control, and information about the selected item at the right.

I'm really jazzed about this session. I'm having so much fun creating the samples for it because I get to play with some very cool user interface controls available from VFPX. In addition, I've created some classes that make it very easy to create your own explorer interfaces with minimal code. No more worrying about how TreeViews work, how to get drag and drop working, how to link a TreeView node with a properties pane, and so on.

To whet your appetite for this session and hopefully entice you to attend, I've created a short video (about 9.5 minutes) showing a sample form using an explorer interface and how easy it is to add a new panel to the form. Anyone attending Southwest Fox will get full source code for everything and a white paper describing how it works and how to use it.

(And in case you're wondering, yes, you can expect some of this eye candy to show up in Stonefield Query in a future release.)

Free Advantage Database Server Training

J.D. Mullin blogged about the free two-day Advantage Technical Summit being held September 10-11, 2008. Sounds like a great deal: the hotel is inexpensive, the content sounds very interesting (they even have a VFP-specific sessions), and they provide meals.

Southwest Fox 2008 Early Bird Deadline Extended

The deadline for the "early bird" discount for Southwest Fox 2008, to be held October 16-19, 2008 in Mesa, AZ, has been extended to July 7th. See the conference blog to learn why. Visit the conference site to learn about the conference, speakers and topics, and to register.