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Polarfox Firstlook

This is a preliminary document and may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release of the software described herein. The information contained in this document represents the current view of Alaska Software f on the h iissues discussed d as of the h date d of f publication. Alaska Software wants to become for Visual FoxPro and FoxPro developers what we are for Clipper l d developers: l the h natural l successor! with the next generation Visual FoxPro development platform.

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Wilson Palomo
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282 views14 pages

Polarfox Firstlook

This is a preliminary document and may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release of the software described herein. The information contained in this document represents the current view of Alaska Software f on the h iissues discussed d as of the h date d of f publication. Alaska Software wants to become for Visual FoxPro and FoxPro developers what we are for Clipper l d developers: l the h natural l successor! with the next generation Visual FoxPro development platform.

Uploaded by

Wilson Palomo
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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US Headquarter: Alaska Software, Inc.

1133 Broadway Suite 706 New York, NY 10010, USA Voice: +1 (646) 218-1280 Fax: +1 (646) 218-1281

European Headquarter: Alaska Software Inc., Germany Hauptstrasse 223 65760 Eschborn-Niederhoechst G Germany Tel.: +49/6196/779 999-51 Fax: +49/6196/779 999-23

This is a preliminary document and may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release of the software described herein. The information contained in this document represents the current view of Al k S Alaska Software f on the h iissues di discussed d as of f the h date d of f publication. bli i As Alaska Software is required to respond to changing market conditions, this information provided should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Alaska Software. Alaska Software cannot guarantee the accuracy g y of any y information p presented after the date of publication. This material is for informational purposes only. Revision 1.3, October 2010 Copyright 2010 Alaska Software Inc. All rights reserved Xbase++, Visual Xbase++, Xbase++ Xbase++ Universal-SQL are trademarks or registered trademarks of Alaska Software. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Mission Statement
Alaska Software wants to become for Visual FoxPro and FoxPro developers what we are for Clipper l d developers: l the h natural l successor!

With the next generation Visual FoxPro development platform. platform Project: PolarFox, PolarFox *) Product: Visual Xbase++ 3.0
No, PolarFox is based on Xbase++ 2.0, hence we need to look at Xbase++ first... first
*) Product name is subject to change Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

The

Foundation on which we build


15 years of experience Alaska Software is in business for more than 15 years Pioneered multithreading Xbase++ applications use multithreading since 1997. Automatic & intelligent freedom of execution path for better usability and n-tier application server architectures. We know how to do it We successfully have taken over the Clipper market with today more than 25.000 customers of the development tool Xbase++, leading to more than 1.000.000 end users working with Xbase++ solutions on a daily basis. Complete Product Compiler, Linker, Designer, Profiler, Debugger., 350+ Samples, 4500+ pages Documentation Technical Driven by Innovation not by Hype Our tool is designed and used to make money and not to jump on every bandwaggon out there! Our mission is to protect our customers investments Full backward compatiblity has always been a major focus. New technologies integrate with and do not substitute existing concepts.

Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

Why is Xbase++ successful


We follow the idea of Clipper! Delivered via consequent q modernization of the language and featurset by following the original idea of abstraction, forgiveness and tolerance without breaking with existing concepts. We set absolut principles! Delivered by: y - No Limits - Favour design/architecture before quick fixes - Innovate but do not disrupt

Xbase++

Protection of existing customer investments Delivered via 100% Clipper 5.x compatibility. ReCompile & Link thats it!

Do not follow, jump and lead! Delivered by adding technologies for tomorrow such as automated and intelligent Multithreading and Object-Persistence in 1995

Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

PolarFox (core features/attributes)


We follow the idea of Visual FoxPro! Consequent modernization of the language and featursets by following the original idea of openness, interactivity and completeness We set absolut principles! - No No-Limits Limits - Favour design/architecture before quick fixes - Innovate, but do not disrupt

PolarFox FoxPro

Protection of existing customer investments Is 100% compatibility required? Is it the ultimate goal? Would it really help?

Dont follow, jump and lead! Technologies for tomorrow such as managedextensions, unicode, transactional memory, MUX UI...

Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

Open, Interactive and Complete


Open p Written in Xbase++ Designer source code included Anybody can develop extension packages g can be Anything automated using Xbase++ PolarFox db designer
Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

Interactive Command Prompt Roll Your Own Roll-Your-Own commands Try-And-See debugging and development

Complete p Compiler/Linker Build Mgmt. P fil /D b Profiler/Debugger Designers/Editors Reporting

PolarFox command prompt

PolarFox Question #1
(source code, project files such as pjx, scx, vcx, mnx...)

100% compatiblity

Pro Easy migration, no-brainer Nothing new to learn Very fast results Support for future Windows platforms for free

Contra The Xbase++ language becomes ambiguous and more complex than required q Historical burden such as SCX VCX files are not VCS-able Solution/Code quality stays at current level and is not increased The concept of APP and FLL files does not conform with current platforms

We decided W d id d against i 100% 100 compatibility. ibili Instead PolarFox transforms existing VFP projects into PolarFox projects projects.
Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

What will change (project-level)


Visual FoxPro *.APP *.FLL * FLL *.PJX PRG *.PRG *.VCX *.SCX *.MNX *.FRX *.LBX *.DBC *.DBF/*.CDX/*.FPT/*.IDX
Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

PolarFox *.EXE *.DLL * DLL *.XPJ *.PRG PRG *.PRG (*.LIB or *.DLL) / *.PRG/*.XFF *.PRG/*.XFF 100% compatible 100% compatible 100% compatible 100% compatible

Benefits
Windows platform conforming assemblies

Project and Form/UI defintions can be managed by VCS.

UI definitions are in XML file format. Runtime can use PRG (static) or XML (dynamic) to create form your choice.

No decompilation possible, easier i installation, i t ll ti copydeployment

What will change (code-level)


Visual FoxPro source code
The Visual FoxPro PRG code is transformed by a transpiler into Xbase++ PRG code.

PolarFox transpile il

VFP specific commands are added to the Xbase++ language

PolarFox compile and run

Proprietary P i VFP f functions i conflicting fli i with existing Xbase++ runtime functions are isolated in a VFP namespace.

PolarFox source code


Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

PolarFox Milestones (v30-sub-project)


Design Architecture Prototypes 2008/2009
M5 Classes M6 Tastrade & VFPX Q3/Q4-2011

100%

?%

PolarFox scx load


M1 Syntaxtical correctness M4 Functions & Commands Case-Studies Q4-2011

100%

62%

M2 Semantical correctness

M3 Load and Transform

Public Preview

Release

10%
Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

25%

A tiny but important detail!


Editor/Designer
(producer)

Viewer

(consumer)

In-Memory SQL Database IDM


Tool Project File Target Entity Form

FileFormatReader
MNX SCX XPJ VCX XFF PJX PRG

FileFormatWriter
XPJ PRG XFF

*) Data Model for illustrational purpose only


Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

Summary
PolarFox can load existing Visual FoxPro projects and migrate them smoothly into the new environment. PolarFox is as open, p , interactive and complete p like Visual FoxPro is. Visual FoxPro applications modernized via PolarFox are
32Bit/64Bit native ti applications li ti Conform with current and future Windows platforms Have no limits, are multithreaded Can have a console, a graphical (Windows) or a web user interface Have lower error rates and a multiple times better performance Support flat-file flat file and client/server, client/server navigational and SQL dbms Are not Microsoft centric, support for Apache and IIS Are royalty-free

Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

Southwest Fox 2010, (c) Alaska Software Inc.

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