What is FoxPro?

[TOTCOM11]

Can anyone tell me what FoxPro is and how it compares with Microsoft Access. One of our sister companies uses FoxPro for their Human Resources system and I really do not know anything about it. I was only told it is a database system of some sort, but does not run on the Jet engine like Access does. Could anyone give me a rundown on what FoxPro is and any disadvantages and advantages it may have.

Thanks!

 

[dhookom]

There is a FoxPro forum that could probably better answer your question. FoxPro is a database programming language that had its beginnings well before Access was around. It was built around the "xBase" languages like dBase and Clipper. There have been many accounting packages and other robust manufacturing and other applications written in FoxPro. Microsoft purchased FoxPro many years ago and its current versions are Visual FoxPro.

Duane
MS Access MVP
Find out how to get great answers faq219-2884.

 

[BNPMike]

Foxpro is perfectly OK. It is a database with application programming as is Access. There is no point in comparing one with the other. Your strategy will be driven by what your employer wants to do. If you have to support it then there may be a case for getting rid of either Foxpro or Access depending on available skill-sets. If it is outsourced to India, that might not apply. Or maybe you need the data all moved to a corporate MS SQL Server environment. It's these sorts of issues that drive IT decisions.

You should be able to migrate data easily from Foxpro (with utilities) or possibly connect to the Foxpro tables from Access.

Access is mainly Visual Basic and SQL. This fits in with the current general Microsoft World. Foxpro by contrast is yesterday's product. Foxpro incidentally hails from the line of databases known as 'tabular' - before people had developed coding strategies to implement relational databases, at least on pcs.