CODEWITHSUNDEEP
dataflex
Steven A. Lowe
Steven A. Lowe

Reputation: 61242

Tips/Tricks for DataFlex

Is anyone out there still using DataFlex? If so, what are you favorite tips and tricks for this venerable 4GL?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3862

Answers (7)

Mike Peat
Mike Peat

Reputation: 485

long time no see!

Yes, DataFlex is still alive and well and being used by lots of people and organisations.

The current version is the "Visual" form (i.e. Widows GUI): Visual DataFlex (VDF) 14.1, although v15.0 is just about to release (I've been using alphas, betas and RCs for development for a few months now).

The character mode product (now v3.2) is still around as well, for DOS, Unix and Linux.

VDF now has good support for Web Applications, web services (since about v10), an Ajax library (which will come "in the box" with 15.0), CodeJock controls for nicer UI design, a development environment (VDF Studio) that has for some time (since v12.0) been so complete that I rarely step outside it any more (I even code my JavaScript in it, when doing that for VDF projects). It also comes with a free CMS called Electos (now itself in v4.0 with VDF 15.0).

It has connectivity kits in the box for Pervasive, MS SQL Server, DB2 and ODBC databases, with Oracle, MySQL and other drivers provided by Mertech Data Systems (Riaz Merchant's company: www.mertechdata.com).

You can download a free "Personal" edition (for non-commercial use) from here - it is a fully-featured product, but if you make money from it you are required to buy a kosher licence. Give it a whirl! ;-)

Good to hear from you again!

Mike
(Still fighting with the b4stard descendants of your thrice-damned DataSets!!! ;-) )

Upvotes: 3

fredrik
fredrik

Reputation: 13550

The new Data Access World Wide forums!

http://support.dataaccess.com/forums/

Upvotes: 4

seanyboy
seanyboy

Reputation: 5693

It all depends on the version of DF you're using, but here's a couple:

  1. Do not use "While" when traversing record sets. Always use repeat. (see example at bottom)
  2. The dataflex newsgroups (news.dataaccess.com) is the best place to ask questions.
  3. Other useful sites include http://sture.dk/wasp and http://www.vdf-guidance.com
  4. Use entering_scope instead of activating to initialise values on forms.
  5. With deferred modal objects, use a container object above the deferred object to pass in parameters.

I've got loads more. But I'm just going to have to go and lie down. I can't believe someone asked a dataflex question. 

clear orders
move const.complete to orders.status
find ge orders by index.2
repeat
    if orders.status ne const.complete indicate finderr true
    if (not(finderr)) begin
        send doYourStuffHere
        find gt orders by index.2
    end
until (finderr)

Upvotes: 4

wila
wila

Reputation:

The vdfguidance URL has a typo, it is http://www.vdf-guidance.com

Upvotes: 2

Dennis
Dennis

Reputation: 501

Another good new site for VDF/DF tips is VDF Wiki.

Upvotes: 2

Ola Eldøy
Ola Eldøy

Reputation: 5936

My "working language" (i.e. what I am working on as an employed developer) is Visual Dataflex, currently on version 14.0. It's not the best language/environment available, but it certainly isn't the worst either.

My number 1 tip would be, to quote Steve McConnell's Code Complete: "Program into your language, not in it. Don't limit your programming thinking only to the concepts that are supported automatically by your language. The best programmers think of what they want to do, and then they assess how to accomplish their objectives with the programming tools at their disposal."

Upvotes: 2

Steven A. Lowe
Steven A. Lowe

Reputation: 61242

mixin inheritance was an excellent feature - the methods of any other class could be reused in your class; as long as you provided the properties that they needed to work, everything was fine = multiple inheritance (MI) without the 'diamond problem', name conflicts, and other MI issues

Upvotes: 0

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