Cool Tool: Remind Me Attachments

I am sure this only happens to me, but it happened a couple of times this week and is one of those things that quite frankly is embarrassing: forgetting to attach a file to an email.

Email: Please see the attached file for your review and comments.

Response: Uh Rick, nothing attached.

Me: Doh!

So today one of my colleagues was kind enough to point me toward Remind Me Attachments. She said she recently started using it and it helps. I checked it out and the developer only charges US$5 and is compatible with Outlook 2007. Cool. I will try out almost any software that saves me time or frustration for less than $50.

It was a slight pain in the neck to get installed and working, but the short FAQ was helpful. There is no documentation, and I actually tripped over the settings dialog while I was looking for the add-ins dialog in Outlook. Once you have it installed (simple Setup.EXE) you need to go into the Outlook Options dialog. A new tab is added for the Remind Me Attachments. This new page has a checkbox to turn the feature on and five text boxes for keywords to be recognized. I added:

1. Attached
2. Attachment

No sooner did I get it installed I found myself testing it out purely by accident. It already has saved me once. A dialog is displayed if you don't have a file attached and one of your keywords is found in the message body. You still can send the message after the warning without attaching a file.

So far I have not run into any compatibility issues. I don't know if it is compatible with Outlook versions prior to 2007. But so far it saved me from one embarrassing moment, which completely makes it worth the US$5!

Southwest Fox 2009: Registration Opens

Months of preparation come to a climax today as we announce our speakers and sessions, and get rolling on the registration for Southwest Fox 2009. Even though this is our third year doing this, it is still exciting and still fun. We also added some new wrinkles into the event.

1. Sleep in a little more in the morning - 8:30 start times instead of 8:00.
2. "Green option" for registration to skip the conference binder, but still get materials in PDF before the conference.
3. New registration application to electronically send in the registration.
4. Super-saver, early-bird, and regular registration levels and times.
5. New "Technology" track looks at tools and technologies to make life as a developer easier or more productive, including such things as virtual machines and source control.
   

There still may be a few surprises to come too.

We also worked very hard with the budget to ensure people had the opportunity to register for the same price as last year. We are doing the best we can to continue to make Southwest Fox fit into your budget this year. The conference center hotel rooms are the same price as last year, and the conference fee is the same price as last year if you register before September 1st.

Topping the first five Southwest Fox Conferences is not an easy task. Coming up with new ideas while retaining the best of the past is a challenge each year. Still, I think we have put together the foundation to make this year the best ever.

One of the other new things is our first ever Ceil Silver Ambassador. Cesar Chalom is coming to represent the Fox Community from Brazil and South America. We made this announcement a couple of weeks ago. Since the announcement I have heard from a lot of people who are really excitied to meet Cesar in person. I know I am one of his fans and look forward to seeing him in Mesa.

Over the last six months or so we have been working very hard to encourage some new people to share their knowledge with the Fox Community. This has been a goal of the organizers since day one. Over the last couple of years we had a few speakers who have not spoken in a while return to the speaker circuit and have introduced a couple of new people, but not to the level we initially hoped for. This year is completely different though and I am really excited that we have what I am refering to as the fab five freshmen (Steve Ellenoff, Walt Krzystek, Jody L. Meyer, Paul C. Mrozowski, and Jim Nelson) speaking for the first time at Southwest Fox. Jim and Walt took part in the "Show Us Your Apps" session last year, Steve spoke at Fox Forward a couple of years ago, and Paul and Jody deliver regular presentations at their local Fox user groups so they are not really rookies. I think this is super important moving forward to grow the speaker community and this is a huge step in the right direction.

Naturally we are also bringing back some seasoned favorites too. Menachem Bazian, Rick Borup, Craig Boyd, Mike Feltman, Toni M. Feltman, Tamar E. Granor, Doug Hennig, Cathy Pountney, Rick Schummer, Alan Stevens, and Christof Wollenhaupt. A terrific line up.

Some of the great things you already expect from Southwest Fox:

1. Terrific selection of sessions from great presenters.
2. 28 regular conference topics, 4 simultaneous sessions, 4 pre-conference sessions, and a keynote will pack your days with learning opportunities and inspiration.
3. White papers from every session (mandated by the organizers) so you can read about sessions you can't fit into your schedule, or review material you saw at the conference when you return home.
4. Lunch Thursday if you register for two pre-conference sessions
5. Lunch Friday and Saturday for all attendees
6. Dinner Friday night

I hope you take some time to review the sessions when you have a chance. I also hope you will consider joining us in Mesa this October.

All the details are posted on the Southwest Fox Web site. Watch for more news on our conference blog and follow us on Twitter too.

VFP 9 - Reporting Bugs

Microsoft moved all bug reporting for VFP to their Connect system years ago. The FoxPro Community followed the Microsoft direction with some kicking and screaming. One of the drawbacks of this was the VFP reports went through the Visual Studio group and we never got the feeling of being a first class citizen in the process.

Microsoft has fixed this. Well, sort of fixed this. {g}

About a month ago Gianni Turri posted a message on the ProFox list server noting a bug report he posted was rejected with the following message:

Thank you for submitting this Connect Issue. Visual FoxPro is no longer supported though Connect. Please use the Visual FoxPro Support Center (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vfoxpro/bb190294.aspx) or the Visual FoxPro Discussion Forum on MSDN (http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=60&SiteID=1) for more information or suggestions. You can also contact Microsoft Help and Support (http://support.microsoft.com ) for further assistance. For additional information please visit the Community Resources page on Visual FoxPro MSDN site (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vfoxpro/bb190227.aspx) as well as the VFPX project on CodePlex (http://www.codeplex.com/VFPX). Thank you, Visual Studio Product Team.

[Editorial note: interesting plug for VFPX - yeah!]

I confirmed this with Milind Lele. He told me Microsoft Connect is great for products in continuous development and allows better management of the reports to flow into the next release. All Visual FoxPro bug reports need to go through Product Support Services.

To get to Product Support Services you go here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vfoxpro/bb190294.aspx

Near the bottom of the page you will find "Get Help from Microsoft". Click on Assisted Support. Scroll through the list of products to find Visual FoxPro 9.0 (or 8.0) and click on the link. Or you can go to this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?Gprid=7992

You will see three options:

1. Email Support (24 hour response time, two free incidents, US$99 for support)
2. Online Request to be called (US$259 per incident, response time based on severity)
3. Request by phone (US$259 per incident during business hours, US$515 after hours)

Other options for contracts are available.

So I asked about "paying" to report a bug. You do initially have to pay if you are past your two free support emails. But if the support people determine it is a product bug (their definition of being out of spec, not your perception of what you might consider a bug), your payment will be credited. Exact words from Milind:

Actually for a valid bug, the charges get reverted. The quickest way to get a fix is to have a hotfix issued. And the fastest and surest way to do that is to create that request from support.

The good news: you will be routed to the folks that know VFP best and in my opinion, some of the sharpest folks supporting software anywhere. Plus the reports are going directly to them, not through a system that treated our favorite product as less than first class.

My recommendation: if you think you have run across some "buggy feeling feature" in Visual FoxPro, post the issue on one of the forums. Let the Fox Community help you flush out any issues to see if it is indeed a bug. Then report it though the Product Support Service channel.

VFP 9 SP2 Hotfix Update

I just downloaded the latest update to the VFP 9 SP2 Hotfix this evening. This latest file includes the missing VFP9T.DLL (Multi-threaded runtime) file.

Same place, same bat channel...

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/KB968409

I have been told the other hotfixes are no longer password protected too, but I have not had time to test because of a limited bandwidth while on vacation.

VFP 9 SP2 Hotfix Minor Glitch

Earlier today in the comments section on my post about the release of the new VFP 9 SP2 hotfix, Sergey Berezniker and Emerson Santon Reed noted the VFP9T.DLL runtime file is not included in the post. It is something I noticed the day of the release but was tainted by the fact the Report Designer is not valid in the runtime. What I forgot is about the rollup of the previous hotfixes and how they should be included. The multi-threaded runtime is in the included Merge Module so you can get it by building an installer and installing the file. But it would be much simpler to get the file in the hotfix download.

The other issue is the previous two VFP 9 SP2 hotfixes (not the latest) just posted on Code Gallery still have the download files password protected. Annoying for sure, but not super critical because the new hotfix has these two rolled up. The business case for the old hotfix might be valid for some developers.

I contacted the Fox Team at Microsoft this morning and they jumped on the issue. This evening I got word that the fixes are in the final stages of getting prepared for release and should be ready in the next few days.

So the choice is yours. You can pull the hotfix and start testing the changes and how they impact your application. If you want the multi-threaded runtime and don't want to build an install to get it, just hold still for a few more days. Things are getting fixed in all three downloads.

VFP 9 SP2 Hotfix Released!

10, 9, 8, 7, 6 (main engine start), 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…. Liftoff!

I bet you think I am talking about a launch of NASA's Space Shuttle. If you know me this is a good guess, but this time you are wrong. I have better news!

Microsoft has released a hotfix to the most serious Report Designer bug in VFP 9 SP2. This is the Data Group bug Cathy Pountney first blogged about here: Gotcha: Serious report bug with Data Groups introduced in VFP 9 SP2.

You can read about the fix in the Microsoft KnowledgeBase article #968409, titled “FIX: The group header of a data grouping is not printed at the top of each page as expected after you install Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2”

This fix is considered by many to be the most serious bug introduced in VFP 9 SP2, and has often been referred to as the main stumbling block to the adoption of VFP 9 SP2. I am hopeful with this news that you will consider downloading the new hotfix and giving it a try to see if it works well for your apps. Only you can make the determination on what is best for your customers. Yes, there are more bugs to squash, but a high percentage of them have decent workarounds where this particular bug did not.

Additionally, there is some terrific news on how you can get the hotfix. Previous to this release Microsoft only made Visual FoxPro hotfixes available by calling Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS), report the bug in the hotfix, and then Microsoft would make it available to you. Hotfixes are easier for the team to release because there is less overhead, but getting it to the Fox Community is a pain in the neck because of the PSS bottleneck. So the “Fox Team” came up with releasing this important hotfix through MSDN Code Gallery so any Visual FoxPro developer can download and apply the patch without calling PSS. I think this is a real positive move for the Fox Community.

The hotfix can be downloaded on the download page of Code Gallery for the KB article.

Both the other hotfixes released for VFP 9 SP2 are rolled up into this release so if you have patched SP2 for the following fixes they are included in the new build:

1. FIX: The toolbar on an SDI form is disabled in Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2 (build 6303, 12-Apr-2008, KB 948528)
2. FIX: Records from another user session that violate the criteria for a parent table are displayed in the browse window for a child table in a Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2 multiuser environment (build 6602, 03-Jun-2008, KB 952548)

Update: Milind Lele tells me the previous hotfixes for VFP 9 SP2 are also available on MSDN Code Gallery (just in case you are not interested in the Group Header fix. {g})

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/kb948528
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/KB952548

Just in case you have not heard, in addition to the core EXE and runtime hotfixes we have a new VFP 9 SP2 Help file available on VFPX.

I am very excited about this news. I want to thank the “Fox Team” for their hard work and personal efforts to make the hotfix happen. I also want to thank those in the Fox Community who have reported VFP 9 SP2 bugs, those who have documented the workarounds, those who researched when some of the alleged SP2 bugs really surfaced, and those who tested out the hotfix to ensure it is the best possible fix for the reports at this time.

Hopefully this is just the third in a string of hotfixes we will see from Microsoft as they support the product we all love. Today is a very good day. This is one small step for VFP, one giant leap for VFP developers. Please spread the word!

Update: Read more about this release on Cathy Pountney's blog!

SWFox: Session Proposals Due Today

Today is the day the session proposals from potential speakers are due. If you sent topics in for consideration and did not get a response from Tamar, please resend them to speakers AT swfox DOT net. You can also copy to info AT swfox DOT net if you want to have a backup submission.

Making Migration Choices

One of the hallmarks of FoxPro and Visual FoxPro is the level of backwards compatibility the Fox Team was committed to during the decades it was created and enhanced. The compatibility was not just from FoxPro to FoxPro versions, but often was extended to other XBase flavors such as dBASE and Clipper. One of the side-effects of this decision by Fox Software and Microsoft is that developers can easily port code forward, even when there might be easier or better ways to accomplish the same thing.

Over the last week I have helped another developer migrate some Clipper DOS code to Visual FoxPro. The decision to do a direct port of the code was made way before I was asked to help. Because of the deep commitment of the Fox Team this port was working except for three areas where the developer requested my help. The one aspect that caused me the most grief was colors - requirements are to match the colors exactly as the old system.

I figured the color issue would be a snap because the color settings were done through procedures, not on individual @SAY,@GET lines. Each procedure had SET COLOR TO commands. What I did not realize was the color pairings in Clipper were done in numbers instead of letters (apparently Clipper supports both). Visual FoxPro seems to run the code, but the colors were not matching. Took me a while to figure this out,but VFP is more accurate with color pairings as letters. Once I understood this trap I was able to get the colors going in the right direction.

One issue with the colors though was the background color was not set correctly on many of the screens. The @SAY and @GET code displayed correctly. What I learned is that VFP is setting the screen backcolor to the backcolor of the first @SAY done after a CLEAR. Unfortunately that took me a long time to figure out. Once I understood how it works I developed some code that handles it. Oh, and don't think you can just set _SCREEN.BackColor, it does not work well with @SAY or @GET code.

I guess the Fox Team did not sufficiently test scenarios with @SAY and @GET compatibility (tongue firmly planted in cheek).

Why am I posting this? Is it because I believe many people are running Clipper or FoxBase/FoxPro code in Visual FoxPro these days? No. Just as a reminder to those developers who are faced with the choice of migrating old code to Visual FoxPro and some of the headaches you might face if you select to go the route of running the "compatible" code in Visual FoxPro. The backwards compatibility with old style user interface elements might not be as compatible as you would like. I believe the developer I am working with made the right call for his customer's situation, and the customer's requirements and budget, but the cost is going to be many hair pulling moments. Unfortunately in my case I was working with a fixed price budget, and I blew the hours by three times the allotted amount of time. So much for my weekend being fun.

Another lesson re-learned at the school of hard knocks.