What's New in Visual FoxPro 8.0

Microsoft Visual FoxPro 8.0 is an extremely powerful tool for quickly building database applications and components. Its data-centric, object-oriented language offers developers a robust tool set for building database applications -- for the desktop, as a client/server solution, or on the Web by using components and XML Web services. Visual FoxPro 8.0 is a database application development product. It can be used to develop desktop database apps, front ends for databases such as SQL Server, and middle tier COM components for nTier applications. Here are some of the many great new features:

Development Productivity

Ø Try..Catch..Finally – structured exception handling

Ø Code References – search for symbol and other text references throughout your projects

Ø Collections – native support for collections of objects

Ø Event Binding – raise and bind events for native VFP objects

Ø Toolbox – customizable tool for all your favorite classes, controls and XML Web services

Ø Task Pane – assistance with common developer tasks at your finger tips

Data Enhancements

Ø Auto Increment – new table data type that acts like a counter for each new record

Ø CursorAdapter – improve connectivity to remote data with new extended cursor class

Ø Data Environment – ability to subclass and reuse a DE in a class form

Ø View Designer – new two-way support and improved handling for complex queries

Ø Delayed Data Binding – easily handle when controls on a form are bound to data

Ø DBC Field Expressions – you can now specify an expression for a field caption

Smart Client

Ø Windows XP Themes – give your apps the latest UI look and feel of Windows XP

Ø GDI+ Imaging – adds support for a number of new image formats including animated GIFs

Ø Pageframes – change orientation of your page tabs

Ø Grids – set selected row highlight color, autosize columns, listbox-like selector support, header image and freeze columns

Ø Buttons – control position of image on a button and set backcolor

Ø Member Classes – ability to subclass page, optionbutton, column, and header classes.

Misc Language and Other Enhancements

Ø XMLAdapter – new class with support for hierarchical XML and diffgram consumption

Ø SCATTER NAME ADDITIVE, INSERT FROM NAME – improved use of objects for record inserts and updates

Ø DOCK WINDOW, ADOCKSTATE() – control docking of IDE windows and toolbars

Ø ADDPROPERTY(), REMOVEPROPERTY() – add and remove properties from any object

Ø XML Web Services classes – publish and consume XML Web services as easily as VFP data

Ø Reporting – ability to chain reports, print page x of y, and suppress saving of printer environment settings

Ø View Parent Code – quickly view code from parent classes in the method editor

Ø Menus – easily move existing menu pads and bars around in designer

Ø Improved support for COM arrays – specify parameter and return types as arrays for COM interop