VFP + Contact Manager (ACT! or Goldmine?)

[JRB-Bldr]

I am looking to integrate one of the off-the-shelf contact managers (ACT!, Goldmine, or other) to a VFP application that is being developed.

However I have not found mention of doing so with the Keyword Search in this forum nor have I found ActiveX specifics for this on the web via Google.

Your suggestions, advice, and/or references would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
JRB-Bldr

 

[DSummZZZ]

I haven't heard of anything like that myself. Although I have heard other folks mention in passing they would like to do something like that.
I guess step one would be to determine what would be needed to communicate between the apps. Maybe there is some sort of SDK from one of those companies, where you could use the .DLLs, or even if you could determine the data files' structures, you could talk back and forth that way.


Dave S.

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.davesummers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[craigber]

Have you looked at Marketware (

http://www.mktware.com).

It's written in VFP.

Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual FoxPro MVP,

http://www.craigberntson.com

Author, CrysDev: A Developer's Guide to Integrating Crystal Reports"

 

[JRB-Bldr]

Craig - thanks for the recommendation.
I went to MarketWare's website and looked at it. It seemed to be its own Contact Manager instead of interfacing with existing off-the-shelf Contact Manager packages.

Both ACT! and Goldmine use a form of dBase databases, but I do not recognize some of the associated file extensions.

When I attempt to directly open Goldmine's tables into Foxpro for Windows I am required to change the Memo file into a Foxpro format -- implying that it is somehow different than a native Foxpro database/table with DBF, DBT, & MDX file extensions.

When I attempt to directly open ACT! tables into FPW some tables open and others do not. Plus it is hard to know which files are really tables since the file extensions include DBF,DDX,HK5,REL,HDB,BLB, and others. Yes, the extensions could be "dummies" and in reality be data tables, but who knows?

Dave - I too have heard "other folks mention in passing they would like to do something like that" Therefore I assume that other gurus have also encountered the request and, hopefully, come up with a solution.

Anyway, if someone has already used ActiveX, OCX, etc. to get a VFP application to work in concert with one of the off-the-shelf Contact Manager packages, I would certainly appreciate some advice.

Thanks,
JRB-Bldr

 

[craigber]

Why don't you shoot off an email to Bob Bartel at Marketware to see if he can help. I know he's had to interface with both Goldmine and Act!

Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual FoxPro MVP,

http://www.craigberntson.com

Author, CrysDev: A Developer's Guide to Integrating Crystal Reports"

 

[csr]

I am a VFP programmer and we user GOLDMINE for our company's contact manager. I am not sure of the level of interaction you are interested in achieving. However, I can tell you this. It is awkward at best.

To do any real interfacing you would need to utilize an ODBC connection and become familiar with that scene. If you are good at that sort of thing, you may be able to pull it off.



Don
dond@csrinc.com

 

[JRB-Bldr]

Craig - thanks for the suggestion. Email to Bob Bartel has been sent. Hopefully I will hear something back from him.

I the mean time if anyone else has any advice or suggestions I would welcome them.

Thanks,
JRB-Bldr

 

[MadTown]

Both Act! and Goldmine have SDKs available on there web sites you just have to search for them. Both Act! and GoldMine use DBFs they just use different extensions to confuse you. You can open them in VFP but they both contain encrypted fields which only they can update.

 

[StewartUK]

I see that Stonefield have also done soe work interfacing with Goldmine. You could try them at

http://www.stonefield.com/

Stewart

 

[JRB-Bldr]

Just an update....

So far ACT! looks promising. As mentioned above they have an SDK on their website that is free to download from

http://act.com/support/updates/index.cfm

after getting registered for site access. While its examples are VB and C++ (not VFP), their Object oriented interface examples approach looks very promising.

Additionally for Goldmine, there are API Interface documents (PDF's) on the

http://support.frontrange.com/opendeveloper/

website which, once you get registered as an Open Developer, are available to download. However, I could not find a 'true' SDK listed anywhere on their site. Look under 'Drivers and Downloads' and/or 'Online Manuals'.

Hopefully with the mentioned documentation I should be able to get one or both interfaces working within my VFP application.

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully it might be of value to others of you who might also be looking at creating this interface also.

Thanks again,
JRB-Bldr