Course Contents

Developing client-server applications

• Introduction to client-server concepts and terminology.
• Using ODBC to connect to back-end databases.
• Remote views vs. SQL pass-through.
• Design issues; optimizing data access.
• The development process: prototyping with local views.

Extending VFP with the Windows API

• Overview of API functions, calling sequences and data types.
• Using API calls to extend your application's functionality.
• Getting information about the Windows environment.
• Accessing and updating the Windows Registry.

Integrating and communicating with other applications

• Understanding ActiveX Automation, COM and DCOM.
• Using ActiveX Automation to integrate with Microsoft Office: the Office object model.
• Sharing documents with Word; using Word for spell-checking and mail-merge.
• Passing data to and from Excel; calling Excel's workbook functions.
• Working with registered document types; using ShellExecute().
• Working with Outlook folders.
• Exploiting the Windows Scripting Host.
• Calling VFP functions from other applications and languages.

Exploiting ActiveX controls

• Overview of available controls.
• How to acquire, deploy and register controls; dealing with common problems.
• Some examples of ActiveX controls: date-picker, tree-view, list-view.

Internet-related features

• Adding a browser to the application.
• Publishing VFP data as static web pages.
• Sending and receiving e-mail from within the application.
• Using the Internet Transfer Control for FTP and HTTP transfers.
• Developing web-based VFP applications with FOXISAPI.

Going further with OOP

• Planning, designing and building a sound class library; communicating between classes.
• Using polymorphism to simplify class design.

Microsoft Certification

Between them, our Stage 2 and Stage 3 courses cover 80 percent of the requirements for Exam 70-156 (Visual Foxpro Desktop) and 70 percent of those for Exam 70-155 (Visual Foxpro Distributed). As a matter of policy, we do no not use official Microsoft course material. All courses are taught by a Microsoft Certified Professional, qualified in Visual Foxpro.