Visual FoxPro is a data-centric, object-oriented, procedural, programming language produced
by Microsoft.
It is derived from FoxPro which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984.
Fox Technologies merged with Microsoft in 1992, after which the software acquired further
features and the prefix "Visual".
The last version of FoxPro worked under Mac OS, DOS, Windows, and Unix: Visual FoxPro
3.0, the first "Visual" version, reduced platform support to only Mac and Windows, and later
versions were Windows-only.
The current version of Visual FoxPro is COM-based and Microsoft has stated that they do not
intend to create a Microsoft .NET version.
Version 9.0, released in 2004 and updated in 2007, is the final version of the product.
History FoxPro originated as a member of the class
of languages commonly referred to as "xBase" languages, which have syntax based on the
dBase programming language.
Other members of the xBase language family include Clipper and Recital.
Visual FoxPro, commonly abbreviated as VFP, is tightly integrated with its own relational
database engine, which extends FoxPro's xBase capabilities to support SQL query and data
manipulation.
Unlike most database management systems, Visual FoxPro is a full-featured, dynamic programming
language that does not require the use of an additional general-purpose programming
environment.
It can be used to write not just traditional "fat client" applications, but also middleware
and web applications.
In late 2002, it was demonstrated that Visual FoxPro can run on Linux under the Wine Windows
compatibility suite.
In 2003, this led to complaints by Microsoft: it was claimed that the deployment of runtime
FoxPro code on non-Windows machines violates the End User License Agreement.
Visual FoxPro had a rapid rise and fall in popularity as measured by the TIOBE Programming
Community Index.
In December 2005, VFP broke into the top 20 for the first time.
In June 2006 it peaked at position 12, making it a "B" language.
By September 2010, FoxPro and its variants had fallen out of the top 50, where it has
remained ever since.
In March 2007, Microsoft announced that there will be no VFP 10, thus making VFP9 the last
commercial VFP release from Microsoft.
The support of Version 9 is ongoing with service packs that were released December 8, 2005
and October 11, 2007.
At the time of the end of life announcement, work on the next release codenamed Sedna which
was built on top of the VFP9 codebase had already begun.
"Sedna" is a set of add-ons to VFP 9.0 of xBase components to support a number of interoperability
scenarios with various Microsoft technologies including SQL Server 2005, .NET Framework,
Windows Vista, Office 2007, Windows Search and Team Foundation Server.
Microsoft released Sedna under the Shared source license on the CodePlex site.
Microsoft has clarified that the VFP core will still remain closed source.
Sedna was released on January 25, 2008.
As of March 2008, all xBase components of the VFP 9 SP2 were available for community-development
on CodePlex.
In late March 2007 a grassroots campaign was started by the Spanish-speaking FoxPro community
at MasFoxPro to sign a petition to Microsoft to continue updating Visual FoxPro or release
it to the community as Open Source.
On April 3, 2007 the movement was noted by the technical press.
Also on April 3, 2007 Microsoft responded to the petitioner's requests with this statement
from Alan Griver:
"We're very aware of the FoxPro community and that played a large part in what we announced
on March 13th.
It's never an easy decision to announce that we're not going to release another version
of a product and it's one that we consider very carefully.
"We're not announcing the end of FoxPro: Obviously, FoxPro applications will continue to work.
By some of our internal estimates, there are more applications running in FoxPro 2.6 than
there are in VFP and FoxPro 2.6 hasn't been supported in many years.
Visual FoxPro 9 will be supported by Microsoft through 2015.
"For Microsoft to continue to evolve the FoxPro base, we would need to look at creating a
64-bit development environment and that would involve an almost complete rewrite of the
core product.
We've also invested in creating a scalable database with SQL Server, including the freely
available SQL Server Express Edition.
As far as forming a partnership with a third-party is concerned, we've heard from a number of
large FoxPro customers that this would make it impossible for them to continue to use
FoxPro since it would no longer be from an approved vendor.
We felt that putting the environment into open source on CodePlex, which balances the
needs of both the community and the large customers, was the best path forward."
Code samples The FoxPro language contains commands quite
similar to other programming languages such as Basic.
Loops include do, if, while, for, else commands in a usage easily understood by anyone familiar
with other programming languages.
Commands take the form of "command" and "endcommand" Some basic syntax samples:
Hello World example:
Object
Data handling The language also has extensive database manipulation
and indexing commands.
The "help" index of commands in VFP 9 has several hundred commands and functions described.
The examples below show how to code the creation and indexing of tables, however VFP has table
and database builder screens which create the tables and indexes without making you
write code.
ODBC access using SQL passthrough
References
External links Microsoft pages
Main Visual FoxPro Microsoft page MSDN FoxPro support board
VFP's online help Visual FoxPro Downloads page
Other pages Visual FoxPro Wiki A repository of FoxPro
information A site devoted to the history of FoxPro
VFPx A Visual FoxPro Community effort to create open source add-ons for VFP 9.0
PortalFox A Hispanoamerican Community Portal for VFP developers