Visual FoxPro Goes Big-Time - dFPUG-Portal

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Issue Date: FoxTalk May 1996
Visual FoxPro Goes Big-Time
Bob Grommes
Bob's FoxPro interview with Ron Horwitz ("A Clipperhead Switches to
Visual FoxPro," December 1995) proved so popular that we've
decided to have another go at it. This time, Bob interviews Jack
Gallagher, president of MaxTech, to discover how Visual FoxPro
holds up in demanding, large-scale, real-world settings.
For most of us, the transition to object-oriented programming in Visual FoxPro has been quite a "sea change." For some, it
has been downright intimidating. This atmosphere has been complicated by what many consider to be Microsoft's weak
marketing efforts (and their handling of the 2.6 to 3.0 transition). These things have detracted from Visual FoxPro's technical
excellence. Thus, rumors and "flame wars" abound. Is Visual FoxPro truly worthy of our technical confidence? Is its
performance and stability up to the demands of a truly "large scale" application deployment? Is its future certain enough to
place your bets on?
The best way to find out is to talk to someone who's been there. I did that with Jack Gallagher, president of MaxTech Inc. I met
Jack in November 1995 at the Great Lakes Great Database Workshop, a Visual FoxPro-only conference that attracted several
hundred FoxPro developers who were eager to get up to speed with Visual FoxPro and figure out how to fit the new product
into their strategies.
MaxTech, which describes itself as a "Multi-Faceted Technical Service Corporation," is a Washington, DC-based company
that is probably best known to our readers for the FoxPro training it offers. Many of our readers will recognize MaxTech's
technical partner, Drew Speedie, and FoxTalk's own "Dr. FoxPro," John Petersen, who until recently was MaxTech's director
of FoxPro Development. Other major players include Jim Rafferty, vice president, and Tom DeMay, senior application
developer.
MaxTech has clients all over the United States and Europe and just happens to be deploying a WAN-based Visual FoxPro
application that will eventually service more than 200 locations worldwide. They also have ongoing FoxPro 2.x projects, as
well as projects in Visual Basic and Access. As a company, they've had more time and opportunity to evaluate Visual FoxPro
against the alternatives than many of us will. I hope you'll find my talk with Jack as enjoyable and illuminating as I did.
Bob Grommes: We've all heard the hype, but now I'm sitting in front of someone who claims to have tested it on a big scale.
Tell me about your "killer app."
Jack Gallagher: It's a distribution management system for a group of worldwide shipping companies. It uses Visual FoxPro
over a WAN to handle about 100,000 transactions per month for each of about 200 of the clients' ports of call and will be
upgraded to Client/Server in 1996. We're pleased to report that not only has Visual FoxPro proved fast enough for this task, it
has proven to be even faster than we expected. We developed and tested the application on a LAN and were delighted with
how well it "scales up" to the eventual working environment.
Bob Grommes: That's quite an accomplishment. This application is now in actual day-to-day use?
Jack Gallagher: That's right. It went through acceptance testing in January and February, and the client is very pleased. The
client is even marketing the software to its own customers so that they can tie into the same database.
Bob Grommes: What was the most difficult challenge you encountered in the development of this application?
Jack Gallagher: The complex data structure that was driven by the business process requirements of maintaining and
operating with location-specific data. It was almost akin to data replication. The primary key for all of the tables couldn't be a
single field, but a combination of several fields was necessary.
Bob Grommes: What was the most important thing you learned while developing this application?
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Jack Gallagher: Don't create your classes ahead of time (before you develop your first application). Write them as you go. It
really is the only way you can make sure they work in the real world.
Bob Grommes: The kind of success you've enjoyed on this project doesn't just "happen." How does MaxTech organize its
projects for success?
Jack Gallagher: For each client, we identify what we call a business or corporate "champion." This is someone in the
organization who has the authority, responsibility, and power to be a single point of client contact for us. It's crucial to ensure
that you're working with a decision-maker and not merely a technology enthusiast who's being given enough rope by
management to hang himself.
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Next, we assign a "project lead" to the project. This team leader is an analyst-level individual who can engineer the application
design and communicate it to the lead developer. Depending on project size, the lead developer may in turn work with one or
more application developers. The lead developers all use our methodology. It doesn't hurt that our application engineer is
Drew Speedie, either.
Bob Grommes: Obviously, you have to make a choice early on as to what product or products you're going to develop the
application with. By what criteria do you make this selection, and in particular, when do you recommend FoxPro 2.x vs. Visual
FoxPro?
Jack Gallagher: I always sit down with the client and draw a matrix. The columns show the product options that we offer:
FoxPro 2.6, Visual FoxPro, Visual Basic, and Access. The rows show the major feature areas, such as hardware
requirements, client/server support, performance, and so forth. I then discuss the pros and cons of each platform relative to
the application under discussion.
User expectations are really important when dealing with VFP. You can't be wishy washy about it. Their machines need at
least 16M of RAM to operate at a level of performance that will suit everyone. Right from the start, on all our VFP projects, we
are very clear about this requirement.
When it comes to FoxPro 2.x vs. Visual FoxPro, it's often a question of whether or not the client's hardware base is adequate
to run Visual FoxPro. Given Visual FoxPro's strengths, it's my experience that Visual FoxPro is usually worth the cost of
hardware upgrades that might be required to deploy it. In general, software is more costly than hardware. Hardware costs
could still be a bigger factor for a large company with many users to upgrade, but not usually. In any event, if the client needs
features unique to Visual FoxPro, such as its much better client/server support, then 2.x isn't an option.
We also factor the cost of maintenance into the decision. We believe that Visual FoxPro applications will require less
maintenance labor in the long run because of the benefits of code reuse and encapsulation.
Bob Grommes: It's becoming clear to me, though, that the key to actually realizing the benefits you mention is having a solid
framework to build your application on.
Jack Gallagher: Oh, yes, absolutely. There's no getting around the need to invest considerable time and effort into
developing an application framework, unless you purchase someone else's. Our own framework represents a considerable
investment, and it's constantly evolving.
As a matter of fact, we market our framework as a separate product. Clients who contract with us to do a Visual FoxPro
product pay a flat price for the framework on the first VFP project we do for them. We explain to them that the framework
contains the fundamental abstractions that all applications are based on, and it will allow us to get started quickly on their
project.
There is a danger here, though. With a framework in place, you can put together an application menu and some screens and
reports and have a prototype working so quickly that it can create the illusion that the project is trivial, or even that it's nearly
finished. This is where the communication between the business champion and the project lead is so crucial. The client must
be trained to understand how the development process works, and must be informed as to the true current status at all times.
Bob Grommes: Do you also sell your framework to individual developers?
Jack Gallagher: Indirectly at the present time. You get a copy of the current version if you take one of our Visual FoxPro
courses, or if you call us in to consult with and train or mentor your development team. We call the latter program "VFP Project
Rx." It's a sort of "jump start" process where you're being trained as you develop your first VFP project.
We've actually been considering selling our application framework and class libraries to the development community. This is
based on many conversations that Drew and I've had with the developers out there who have expressed a need to have a
simple VFP application framework to get started with on their first VFP project. In fact, we've just been asked to provide the
application framework, class libraries, and training for a government contractor who has a very impressive staff of FoxPro 2.6
for Windows developers but doesn't want to sink a significant amount of time and effort into developing their own framework.
They want to get going, now.
Bob Grommes: Many developers have expressed concern about whether demand has actually materialized for Visual
FoxPro applications. Have would you respond to this concern?
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Jack Gallagher: We're living proof that Visual FoxPro is alive, well, and in high demand. Our projects are running four to one
in favor of Visual FoxPro over FoxPro 2.6 for Windows. The training we're being asked to provide is almost exclusively Visual
FoxPro.
Bob Grommes: What advice do you have for the small shops -- independent developers and small IS departments -- who
face the VFP learning curve? You have, relatively speaking, a lot of resources at MaxTech in which you can spread out this
cost. How does the one, two, or three-person shop pull this off?
Jack Gallagher: The small shop simply won't have all the time it needs to dedicate to the VFP learning curve without getting
some help. The first thing I recommend to our clients and other developers is that they purchase Microsoft's Mastering Visual
FoxPro CD. This may seem like a basic first step, but that's exactly the intent. We've found that a relatively economical way to
get going in the VFP learning process is by working with this CD.
The next step is to determine whether you can realistically develop your own application framework and class libraries or
implement someone else's. It is my recommendation that the small shop incorporate a tried and true application framework,
class libraries, and methodology provided by a third-party company.
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A word of warning is necessary here. There are frameworks and then there are frameworks. Make sure you use one that has
actually been used in the development of a delivered application. Check client references to see if they're happy with what
they received. This can be a tedious process, but you've heard the old saying "pay me now or pay me later." Ensure that
you're able to receive documentation or workbooks of some sort to learn the framework on your own.
Ultimately, if you have a little time and money I'd recommend you go to a training class specifically designed for the use of the
application framework, class libraries, and methodology. I'm not talking about the kind of training where the product is
demonstrated during the course of a week's time. I'm talking about hands-on application development training using the tool
you've selected.
Bob Grommes: Since Info Week broke the story in February about Microsoft's plans to eventually roll Visual FoxPro in under
the Developer's Studio umbrella along with Visual Basic and Visual C++, there's been a lot of renewed fear and loathing
among some FoxPro developers about Visual FoxPro's future. What is your assessment of the situation, and how is MaxTech
responding to it?
Jack Gallagher: I'm going to answer this question first in a philosophical vein and then describe what we at MaxTech are
doing in response to the news.
First, this industry is constantly changing. Just look at where FoxPro has traveled over the last five years alone! The economic
benefits we glean from being VFP developers and trainers is based on the fact that the product has changed and has kept up
with the advances that other products have made. So whatever Microsoft does with VFP, it's clear that time isn't going to stand
still for us. The planned rolling of VFP into the Developer's Studio may be an eventuality.
I don't believe that FoxPro is dead. In fact, I don't believe Microsoft is going to abandon FoxPro. I really don't think we should
fear the future because change has always brought opportunity for us.
At MaxTech, the news has just validated an approach that we recently initiated. This approach is cross training our
development staff. Our VFP developers are either going to Visual Basic, SQL Server, Lotus Notes, Internet, or Access
classes. The idea is that no individual should be proficient in one language and one language only. We're also looking at our
training for VFP in the next six months to determine the impact the news has had on the public's desire to take VFP classes.
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