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I am working with a client to revive his old software which was developed around 14 years ago using Foxpro2.6. My problem is that client just have the source code (in the form of .prg files)and database files with him but there is neither any documentation nor comments in source code to guide me what does what...even the database files are not correctly named. My only option in this scenario seems to go through the .prg files and understand which command updates which database record and how....but there are around 300 .prg files and I don't know Fox Pro at all (I mean I was in 9th standard when this thing became obsolete!!).

Any suggestion or idea to make this work easy, perhaps a .prg to C converter which can help me a lot.

Please help....it is becoming a nightmare

PS : I dont have problem with the database conversion but the front end and functional source code which too is written in the FoxPro2.6 and saved as .prg extension is the problem as I dont know the language and there is no documentation.

Sudh
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  • FoxPro 2.6 may be obsolete but Visual FoxPro is still supported until 2014. So there are lots of people out there with skills, and a lot of them also have skills in migrating to newer platforms. It depends what you mean by 'revive' - are you just interested in getting it running, or do you want to migrate it to something else? Note that C or C++ are probably not good options for database-centric desktop applications. – Alan B Jul 12 '11 at 16:10
  • http://www.dfpug.de/loseblattsammlung%5Cmigration%5Cwhitepapers/Convertvfp3.htm – darlinton Jul 12 '11 at 21:56

3 Answers3

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In reality, you will need to rewrite the application from scratch.

The first thing I would advise to do is to convert a copy of the project to the last version of Visual FoxPro (9 SP2), then at least you have an IDE to work in and some basic tools like search / replace, and reformatting source code to make it more readable.

See http://www.alvechurchdata.co.uk/foxconvert.htm for basic details on conversion. Note that if the original program used third-party or custom libraries (e.g. .fll files) then you won't be able to run the converted program.

FoxPro 2.6 is a straightforward enough procedural language: unfortunately it is (almost) inevitable that the program logic will be mixed in with the window (screen) definitions and behaviour, and as SQL is built into the language then the data access will all be mixed in there as well.

If contracting someone with more experience to do the conversion is no option, then you might as well just dive in - there are still plenty of people who know FoxPro2.6 to help out when you get stuck: start from the main program and see where it goes from there.

stuartd
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  • OK...Good point about converting it to Visual Fox Pro.....and yes you are write code is a mixture of database calls, GUI and functional programming...thnax for the response – Sudh Jul 12 '11 at 11:40
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As Stuart mentioned, conversions and such... I actually do Foxpro / Visual Foxpro and work with another individual who would be able to contract with you to help jump-start and wrap your head around the conversion and quick analysis of what's really going on.

Yes, old .prg files are somewhat simple, but even back in the old FoxBase, FoxPlus, Foxpro Windows days, there were a lot of ugly coders out there. If you are interested, let me know. I've been doing Fox since before Microsoft bought it...

DRapp
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  • GLAD TO HEAR THAT....mail me at nautiyal.sudhanshu@gmail.com, not sure but may be we ll call you for contract...(I am not the only one who makes decisions here..:).... – Sudh Jul 14 '11 at 12:52
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There's an foxdoc.exe in FP2.6, when run, you will have full documentation which prg it calls and which dbf it uses. Hope this helps

OBB
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