Conversion Advice? 1

[dunc0029]

I've read through a lot of advice about converting from Fox 2.6 to VFP on this site, so sorry to cover old territory. I am an experienced VFP programmer, but came into the game after the Fox 2.6 glory days, so I haven't had any conversion experience. Any advice would be most appreciated!

Is it feasible to convert an app with roughly 170 reports, 186 screens, and an executable around 27MB? Can we quickly get a workable system or is it just as easy to rewrite and copy and paste business logic where necessary? Our system is in Fox Windows 2.6. We are unsure as to when/if we will be rewriting the system in another language (up to management), so it's not certain if a rewrite is worthwhile if we will be rewriting again in the foreseeable future.

The issues I am aware of are reports may get hacked (wraparound, etc.) and there may be issues with screens (colorsource, etc.), as well. If we have a lot of BROWSE windows in 2.6, will those be handled ok in the conversion? Also, the system was originally developed by consultants, before my time, and they are simulating pageframes using screen sets. I have a feeling that won't convert well. Are there any other issues we should be aware of? Any rough idea how big an effort it would be? How long would this take a lone programmer who knows VFP well but is not an expert 2.6 person?

Again, I would love to rewrite in VFP and take advantage of the OO features, but can we get a workable system up in the meantime?

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks a million!

Jason

 

[rgbean]

Jason,
The best idea is to forget converting, and just rewrite the application - in the long run it'll take less time AND you'll be happier with the end result. That being said, the most useful information I got on migrating, came from MicroEndeavours, Inc. They have a self study course VF610 "FoxPro 2.x to Visual FoxPro Migration Manual"

http://www.microendeavors.com/training/default.asp,

click on the "self-study offerings" link, then down near the bottom of the page.

This includes a number "why's" and "how to's", as well as some useful utilities to assist in the process. One of their techniques allows a gradual transition using a mixed model, but there are some downsides as you might expect. Also, one utility can create forms from the running code - you don't even have to have "screens" (.SCX files) to convert them. For the price - $249 that last time I checked - you can't get better advice. (I have no connection with them, other than being a satisfied customer.)

I've converted 4-5 apps using this technique, including one even bigger than what you are talking about - it still took a lot of work, but we ran it in a mixed environment (FPW 2.6a and VFP 5.0) for ~4 years at a number of sites.

Rick