Andrew MacNeill - AKSEL Solutions

If you are like me and didn't manage to get down to Southwest Fox, you can still follow what's going on. While it's sad that no one is live blogging, they are "tweeting". Check the link here: swfox - Twitter Search You can also watch the keynote on uStream here .

Jim Nelson has just posted a new update to his super popular Property/Event/Method editor on VFPX . There are way too many features to count on this - but you can be sure that Cathy Pountney will be covering them in her SW Fox Session . That said, some super-useful features that make this not even just an editor but a whole IDE enhancer: a) Go To Definition b) Extract to Method - the very easy way to refactor highlighted code c) BeautifyX d) Object comparison e) Design Time event handlers (auto-resizing for one) If you haven't tried it, there are some videos available but I'll also be doing some for an upcoming post. Note: I spoke with Jim on a recent FoxShow interview before this release came out. VFPX FoxPro VFP

Doug recently linked to Kevin Ragsdale's post about why people should attend Southwest Fox. If you've been listening to the FoxShow recently, we've been interviewing speakers and there are more interviews to come in the next few weeks. AKSEL is also proud to announce that we are offering two subscriptions to MSDN Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate for attendees. If you don't already have MSDN, this is effectively your way of getting every piece of business/developer related software from Microsoft. Rick, Doug and Tamar will be drawing for the lucky attendee at this year's conference - so you have to be there to win it. As a note, if you DO already have MSDN, Pay it forward and be sure to throw the subscription back into the hat for others who may not be getting it to get the chance to work with the latest development tools from Microsoft. Note: this subscription also includes great designer tools like Expression with Sketchflow which I love for prototyping applica...

Note: This is a feature that's been in VFP for years - but I've often found that useful features often remain hidden until someone points them out. So I'm taking to finding my little VFP tips as I come across them and re-posting them here. I work in a variety of environments but one thing I always keep with me on my USB drive is VFP. Regardless of the data I have to work with, I always find that a task comes up that is infinitely easier in VFP. The funny thing is that other colleagues on a team who haven't been exposed to VFP are usually amazed at how quickly stuff can be done. Today, I was working with a SQL Server table and SSMS only lets you edit the first 200 rows on their own - otherwise you have to script it (or use another tool). For most of these systems, I typically create a VFP Database Container and then create remote views as necessary. Oftentimes, the problem is that when VFP comes across a varchar field that is longer than 254 characters, it immedi...

Microsoft announced a brand new tool for business users yesterday called "Lightswitch", which (according to the announcement) makes it easier to build business applications for the desktop or the cloud. Beth Massi sounds super excited by it, describing it as a tool that makes it easier to build data-centric applications, something that FoxPro developers know a little about. Mary Jo Foley discussed Lightswitch as a tool similar to FoxPro: " The idea, my sources say, is to bring the Fox/Access style of programming to .Net". I don't buy that or maybe more to the point, I wouldn't put FoxPro and Access in the same boat to begin with. This sounds more like an "Access" version of InfoPath which lets you "build advanced forms for line of business applications". If you walk through the screen shots shown on Jason Zander's intro page, it looks more like an application Setup Wizard or a "template-driven" application builde...

I received an email last night from Rick Schummer, announcing a fairly big change for Southwest Fox 2010 - it's no longer in Mesa, Arizona - it's in Gilbert. Previously made reservations at the Arizona Golf Resort have been cancelled - instead, the conference will be at the Legado Hotel and SanTan Elegante Conference and Reception Center in nearby Gilbert. The new location looks amazing. Use the code "SWFox" when registering. Southwest Fox is the annual gathering of FoxPro developers with great sessions on development tools, techniques and practices.

I was planning a trip and looked up some directions in Google. Unfortunately, Google Maps went the wrong way and figured I wanted to go to China. That wasn't a big problem until I read the directions. Check it out below: I had to double-check my settings. I was looking for car directions (not walking) but still, instead of flying or taking a cruise 2700 miles, Google thought I could travel best by kayak across the Pacific Ocean. Priceless.