Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!xenitec!timk
From: timk@xenitec.on.ca (Tim Kuehn)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Moving to the Unix environment from Clipper and MS-DOeSn't.
Summary: Foxbase/+ under SCO Xenix/Unix
Message-ID: <1989Oct16.171303.25642@xenitec.on.ca>
Date: 16 Oct 89 17:13:03 GMT
References: <5809@decvax.dec.com> <5796@tank.uchicago.edu> <226@labii.UUCP>
Reply-To: timk@xenitec.UUCP (Tim Kuehn)
Organization: TDK Consulting Services
Lines: 88

In article <226@labii.UUCP> shevett@labii.UUCP (Dave Shevett) writes:
>>f0057@uafhp.uucp (James Everett Ward) writes:
>>
>>We are looking into projects that recquire multiuser ability and multitasking
>>would just be a boon.  I desire to move into the Unix world.  What would be
>>the easiest transition for a team of Clipper programmers (dBASE III+) ...
>
>I think you should seriously look at Foxbase under [X|U]nix.  

I belive this is only available with the SCO product. It *may* be ported to 
other unix's too, but one should check first....

>If you're
>already familiar with the dBase III structure, Foxbase will serve you fine,
>and you can port your application to the Unix system with NO mods (save
>possibly reindexing your files).  I developed a big Foxbase application
>under DOS, including file and record locking, and it ported to Unix and ran
>ON THE FIRST TRY.  

I can second that. I help beta-test f-base just before it first came out. 
Outside of a couple trivila beta bugs here and there I had the same experience
with a production tracking system I'd developed for a local steel mill.
Just copy the code and the databases over, recompile and reindex, and you're
off to the races! 

>If I wanted to run another task in the background that didn't need
>interactive I/O, you could push it into the background and return to the
>application via a !function & command.  (gee, I wonder how that would work?
>Isn't & a comment in Foxbase?  Has anyone done this?)

No - the && is the end-of-line comment in Foxbase. If the first character
is a "*" then the whole line is a comment. The "&" is a prefix for a 
macro substitution. Some examples:

* This line is a comment
i = chr(34) + "?hello world"+chr(34)		&& This is a macro command
&i						&& This will execute the 
						&& command ?"hello world"

Running the above little program from the '.' prompt or as a .prg will give:

Hello world

on your screen. 

Macro substituion is a the standard f-base way to pass arrays as arguments
to procedures and functions, to wit:

dimension array1(10)
array1 = 1				&& Store array1 with all '1's
i = summ_all("array1")			&& Call proc to summ array elements
?i

************************************************
procedure summ_all			&& F-base uses procedures as opposed
parameters arr_name			&& to clipper's function/procedure 
private summ				&& Statements.
summ = 0
i =1
do while i <= 10
	summ = summ + &arr_name(i)	&& Total up the array elements
	i = i + 1
enddo
return(summ)

>I'll admit I'm biased, but I haven't found a major need to dish out 
>bucks x 10^XXX for a large dbms when Foxbase has everything I need...

Ditto!

There are some differences between f-base and clipper (f-base has no dbedit()
and memoedit() calls, nor some of the other nice f{read/open/write/close}
calls clipper has, but they can be worked around. (The dbedit function can 
be emulated too by writing your own code or (dare I suggest this?) buying 
a f-base clone of the function which I'm almost done writing)

>/--------------------+ 'The shortest distance +------------------\
>|    Dave Shevett    |  between two puns is a | Labyrinth II BBS |
>| shevett@labii.UUCP |  straight line...'     |  W. Trenton, NJ  |
>\--------------------+       - Doc Webster    +------------------/

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|Timothy D. Kuehn	       			       timk@xenitec.on.ca     |
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