VFP 8.0 Beta Public Release 1

[rgbean]

Posted by Ken Levy to the ProFox list:
--------
The VFP OLEDB provider update beta will be available on or before Monday 11/4. Stay tuned for a posting here and on

http://foxcentral.net

when it is live online for download.

In addition, I have some good news for everyone. Based on the demand for the VFP 8.0 beta and also the importance of making the beta available to MSDN Subscription customers well, I was able to have the entire VFP 8.0 beta be made available on the Microsoft MSDN web site as a world wide free public beta for anyone (not just VFP developers) to download and use until we release VFP 8.0 the first quarter of next year.

The updated VFP OLE DB provider will be slightly updated over the version included in the VFP 8.0 beta, so downloading both will be recommended. The VFP 8.0 beta will be available online early next week for anyone in the world to freely download and use. When it is available live, a news item will be posted at

http://foxcentral.net

with a link.

I hope everyone agrees this is great for VFP 8.0. This is the first time any version of FoxPro has been made a public beta for anyone to freely obtain.

Ken Levy
Visual FoxPro Product Manager
Microsoft

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro

http://foxcentral.net

 

[Mike Gagnon]

Rick

Thanks! Great news for everyone! Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first

 

[rgbean]

Just so you aren't disappointed with all the "unstated" parts of this announcement - especially for those who have never worked with a VFP Beta:

1) The Developer's install is only designed for Win2000 SP2+ and WinXP - no Win9x or NT! (Don't bother downloading it if you don't have the hardware or software to support it.)

2) The VFP 8.0 runtimes will run on all 32-bit Windows EXCEPT Win95.

3) This code will expire - I haven't seen an official date yet, but I'd guess sometime early next year.

4) While you won't be able to submit "problems" (and there are a few) to the Beta team directly, you will be able to submit them to the normal VFP "Bug Reporting" page -

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/Support/vfoxpro/report/report.asp.

5) While the 8.0 Beta runs fine with any other versions of VFP you may have installed (as long as it's in a different directory and you don't try to share resource files), note that it will grab all the default behaviours for the VFP file extensions, and change many of these "icons" in explorer.

6) Remember it is a BETA - somethings don't work, or work right, or may act differently when the real product comes out. The Help file is incomplete and has some bad links. It may run slower - especially in areas where they have left debug code in/on.

7) Finally, make sure you have good backups of any projects you try to run under VFP 8.0, depending on the features you try, you may find some components (menus and DBCs come to mind) that won't be able to be used by earlier versions after they've been "upgraded"!

Rick

P.S. I've probably forgotten a few things, but I hope you get the idea that this isn't simply a free copy of VFP 8.0.

 

[Mike Gagnon]

Rick

2) The VFP 8.0 runtimes will run on all 32-bit Windows EXCEPT Win95.

Do you know if that will apply to the final version released?
Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first

 

[rgbean]

Mike,
What the final specs are, only MS will know WHEN they actually release it! It is likely that the VFP 8.0 runtime will support all but Win95, however some of the features will not work in many of the platforms. e.g. XP Theme support.

It's been stated that one reason for the more limited Developer Environment support, is that it requires the latest GDIPLUS.DLL, which I believe only works in W2K SP2/3 and XP.

It's interesting to note that while the VFP 8.0 (beta) was the first to start limiting the supported platforms, it's not the last - (Office 11 beta)

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-963777.html?tag=fd_lede1_hed.

Rick

 

[culleoka]

'The VFP 8.0 runtimes will run on all 32-bit Windows EXCEPT Win95.'

I am still developing in VFP 5.0.
I hate to show my ignorance, but...
When you say 'runtime', does this mean an application's compiled .exe program?
If so, what about VFP 7.0? Will app's developed in it run on Win95 machines?
The company I work for is thinking about upgrading the VFP I am developing in. By the same token, we have a number of Win95 machines still out there.
So, it boils down to, if we upgrade VFP, will we also need to upgrade the OS a number of machines also?
Thanks in advance for the info.
Pat

 

[Mike Gagnon]

If so, what about VFP 7.0? Will app's developed in it run on Win95 machines?

Compiled VFP7.0 applications will run on win95.
Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first

 

[rgbean]

Pat,
Yes, I meant .APP or .EXE files created by VFP 8.0 when I refered to the "runtime". Please note that while this is the "official" MS statement, it's been suggested that many apps may run just fine on Win95 - just not any that have to do with COM / COM+, as WIN 95 doesn't support the current implementation. (MS has also said that they don't support the installation of VFP 8.0 on NT, but I know that some have it working just fine on NT 4.0 SP6a.)

On the other hand, Win95 machines are no longer supported by MS (as of 11/30/2001). Even Win98, 98 SE, and NT 4.0 are
scheduled for 'Non-support' as of June 30, 2003! (See

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle.mspx

- "Windows Desktop Product Life-Cycle Guidelines for Businesses" for details.)

Rick

 

[Scott24x7]

So, is this going to pass into urban myth, or what? Monday has nearly come and gone, and there is still no VFP 8.0 beta available on the site(s) listed above...

Best Regards,
Scott

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, and no simpler."

 

[rgbean]

Scott,
Even here in the midwest there are 7+ hours left. In MS territory, I believe that means at least 10+ hours. And of course it'll be Monday the 4th for at least 14+ hours some where! Don't be so pesimistic - MS web pages are usually updated at "night" anyway - check back in the morning!

Rick

 

[Mike Gagnon]

So, is this going to pass into urban myth, or what? Monday has nearly come and gone, and there is still no VFP 8.0 beta available on the site(s) listed above...

If you read Ken's statement 11/04 is not mentionned for VFP8.0 beta. The only date mentionned is for VFP OLEDB.

The VFP OLEDB provider update beta will be available on or before Monday 11/4. Stay tuned for a posting here and on

http://foxcentral.net

when it is live online for download.


Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first

 

[jjgraf]

to quote

"The VFP 8.0 beta will be available online early next week... "

so as of 5:21 EST they have till tuesday 11:59 pm to be considered early next week which is roughly 28 hours which on MS time is 31 hours

 

[Scott24x7]

Still looking for this stuff... anybody been able to get to it yet?
Best Regards,
Scott

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, and no simpler."

 

[rgbean]

Scott,
Nope! It looks like when Ken took off (on Sunday?) for the German DevCon, he forgot that he couldn't just go down the hall and get the web site updated. (A bit of tongue-in-cheek in this explanation.)

A post by the MSDN Subscriber Downloads, Program Manager about a related topic on the MS news server, pointed out that "it takes time to prepare/codesign/virus scan" files that are to be posted, so maybe he's just a little behind! (And that assumes that the VFP team members responsible for releasing the new OLEDB client actually got a signoff on the regression testing of the "gold" release.)

Like most people, I can wait a couple extra days, if it means that the code will actually work as advertised.

Rick

 

[jspellman]

To all,

The link is active.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=44987

273mb download

30 min over dsl

 

[rgbean]

Strange, have they changed it since this morning? My en_visualfoxpro8_beta.exe file is:
195 MB
199,689 KB
204,481,104 bytes (size)
204,488,704 bytes (Size on Disk)

Rick

 

[FoxEgg]

Given the VFP8 beta availability ... is it possible that conflicts / resource consumption might arise with earlier versions ?

If so... for neo-phytes such as I, should I down load this Beta and try OR <which I think is better> should I leave it to the professionals.... to give their opinion....then decide...

Cheers

John Fox
Dr J.

 

[Mike Gagnon]

FoxEgg

If so... for neo-phytes such as I, should I down load this Beta and try OR <which I think is better> should I leave it to the professionals.... to give their opinion....then decide...

You have XP (Or w2k)? I have FPW2.6,vfp3.0,vfp5,vfp6,vfp7 and now beta 8 since yesterday on the same machice, and I haven't noticed anything unusual expect that they changed the color of the Fox icon. And that if I open a table from Window's exporer now it will open in VFP8.0.



Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first

 

[rgbean]

John,
I agree with Mike, as long as you don't put the different versions in the same directory, or try to share resource files (FOXUSER.DBF), or open a project / database in VFP 8.0 (without backing it up) that you plan on using in an earlier version, you shouldn't have any trouble.

However, all betas can cause unexpected problems - make sure you have good system backups. Keeping the betas on a separate machine is always a good idea.

Rick

 

[FoxEgg]

10-4