Exhibitor Sessions

Title: Expanding Access to your Data
Friday, October 19, 2:00-3:15
Saturday, October 20, 2:00-3:15

In today’s world people want to access their information anywhere at any time. The new Advantage Database Server 11 allows you to take your current data, with no conversion, and provide it to a variety of devices (including iPad/iPhone, Android, Macintosh, and more). By providing an Odata interface your data can now be consumed by virtually any device that can access the Internet. Advantage can also run in the cloud which allows you to rapidly deploy your solutions and provide access everywhere. Come and see how Advantage Database Server 11 can provide your data to your customers on their devices and from the cloud.

Friday, October 19, 11:30-12:45
Saturday, October 20, 11:30-12:45

The FoxInCloud session will show you how an existing, powerful VFP desktop app can smoothly upgrade to the latest web design standards.

You will see how the free FoxInCloud Adaptation Assistant guides you through manual code adaptations, and showcase some typical code adaptations.

You will also see how an existing VFP desktop application works within FoxInCloud Application Server, and how HTML/CSS/JS code is generated from it.

After attending the FoxInCloud session, you will know how your application can work on any device and OS: Mac, iPad, Linux, smart phones and more.
Please get an in-depth preview of FoxInCloud by watching this series of 6 videos: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE18E09A1068D8C82&feature=plcp

Friday, October 19, 5:15-6:30

The Foxfire! Report Writer v8+ product line is a family of data mining tools designed for regular business users. Developers can adapt it to almost any database and add any needed features on demand, in order to fit user needs like a glove. It is the only set of report writers for the VFP environment that can operate interchangeably on both platforms. Its new interactive drag-'n-drop design tool (released May 2007) has been praised by users and usability experts alike for simplicity without sacrificing power. Micromega Systems, its developer/publisher offers Foxfire! consulting, integration, and training services. Our growth strategy is partnering, and we are currently seeking other developers who want to partner to create custom or localized versions to address special market opportunities. Go to www.foxfirereporting.com to explore how we might work together.

Friday, October 19, 3:30-4:45
Saturday, October 20, 10:00-11:15

Servoy is the Next Generation development and deployment platform for FoxPro ISVs, corporate organizations and developers who are looking to develop Cloud, mobile, or on-premise software applications.

After Microsoft discontinued VFP, and ended support over a year ago, many businesses adopted Servoy to successfully enhance or migrate their VFP applications. The primary reasons for this are that Servoy has many similarities to VFP, it is easy to learn for FoxPro developers, and it is considered by many as the product into which VFP should have evolved. Servoy has been evolving as a powerful cross-platform development tool over the past 10 years and it offers training, consulting, and project management to assist customers with projects, and there is an excellent expanding Servoy community similar to that of FoxPro in the 90’s.

Stop by the Servoy booth and ask for a free USB stick with software, documentation, whitepapers, tutorials, and be sure to attend our special demo-centric vendor session.

Visit http://www.servoy.com/foxpro for more info.

Title: WPF/MVVM as a Business Opportunity for FoxPro Developers
Friday, October 19, 10:00-11:15
Saturday, October 20, 8:30-9:45

Les Pinter bought copy number 252 of FoxBASE, and used it to build his first app for his new client, LucasFilm. Within two years he had launched the Pinter FoxBASE Letter, which became the Pinter FoxPro Letter a year later. During the next nine years, Les wrote and published hundreds of articles about FoxPro. He also wrote the OpEd column, first for FoxTalk, then for Universal Thread Magazine.

Eventually the handwriting on the wall led us to rechristen the newsletter Les Pinter's Database Journal, and to include articles about Visual Basic, C#, and migration of FoxPro applications to .NET. A book followed: "Visual FoxPro to Visual Basic.NET", published by Sams Publishing. For the last 7 years, Pinter Consulting has specialized in converting FoxPro applications to .NET, sometimes in VB, but more recently in C#. We use Windows Presentation Foundation and the Model-View-ViewModel paradigm, which is a perfect fit for WPF.

WPF is the reason to rewrite a FoxPro application into C#. It permits a kind of User Experience that is just not possible with WinForms apps, so you can deliver, not just a C# translation of your app, but a new and more visually interesting product. And C# programmers are readily available, which is (unfortunately) something that can't always be said for our breed. Breathe new life into your app and give it a face lift. Your users will be impressed.

As for our competitive advantage, we have programmers in several countries who collaborate with us in our conversions. We do the on-site analysis and specification, and then farm the coding out to our experienced colleagues (some of them Microsoft MVPs) in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Russia. As a result, we are always able to underbid our competitors. Where our programmers live, a nice house in a nice neighborhood costs $50,000.

MVVM allows us to use unit testing with nUnit. We have three levels of Quality Control before we hand over code. We use a web-based code repository, so our customers get their hands on code within minutes after it's been through QC. Program exceptions are automatically reported to the responsible programmer. Users can click on a "Send a note to the developer" button on any screen during the development process, and their questions or comments are passed along to the responsible coder instantly. You couldn't get faster feedback if the users were sitting beside the programmers.

If you have a FoxPro application that needs to be converted to .NET, give us a call. We'll make you an offer you can't refuse. See Pinter.com for details.