 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "FoxPro" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
FoxPro is atext-basedprocedurally orientedprogramming language anddatabase management system (DBMS), and it is also anobject-oriented programming language, originally published by Fox Software and later byMicrosoft, forMS-DOS,Windows,Macintosh, andUNIX. The final published release of FoxPro was 2.6. Development continued under theVisual FoxPro label, which in turn was discontinued in 2007.
FoxPro was derived from FoxBase (Fox Software, Perrysburg, Ohio), which was in turn derived fromdBase III (Ashton-Tate) and dBase II.
FoxPro is both a DBMS and arelational database management system (RDBMS), since it extensively supports multiple relationships between multiple.dbf files (tables). However, it lacks support fortransactional processing.
FoxPro was sold and supported by Microsoft after they acquired Fox Software in its entirety in 1992. At that time there was an active worldwide community of FoxPro users and programmers. FoxPro 2.6 for UNIX (FPU26) has been successfully installed onLinux andFreeBSD using the Intel Binary Compatibility Standard (ibcs2) support library.
Tom Campbell ofCompute! in 1993 praised FoxPro'srapid application development: "You can create a complete database browser with a mousing, menuing interface in well under 100 lines--including a custom data entry screen with error checking". He concluded that the $1000 price for FoxPro andruntime library was "without a doubt" worthwhile, as it "could mean that you'll make that $1,000 back--on your first job".[1] Richard O'Reilly of theLos Angeles Times also approved of theno-code development. He said that FoxPro 2.5 was preferable toMicrosoft Access for most, being both faster and easy to learn, and also faster thanBorland Paradox.[2]
A 1990American Institute of Certified Public Accountants member survey found that 2% of respondents used FoxBase as their database.[3]
dBASE creatorWayne Ratliff in 2007 praised FoxPro: "FoxPro is more rigorous in its data approach than dBASE II was. It's—maybe user-friendly isn't the right word—it's just friendly. It's easy to do stuff".[4]
Chuck Hinkle reviewed the Mac version in The Apple Barrel and complained that it wasn't more object-based and that the add-ins that simplify its programming on the PC don't exist on the Mac and require more work than usingFileMaker orHelix (database). His final assessment was: "I would stick with FileMaker for simple databases and stick with Helix Express and 4th Dimension for sophisticated database applications for the Macintosh." However, he recommended it for Mac users who have to program for PC users or who need to run dBASE programs.[5]
| Version | FP 2.0 | FP 2.5 | FP 2.6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS-DOS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows 3.1 to7 Ultimate sp1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Macintosh | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SCO UNIX | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Linux andFreeBSD | Yes | Yes | Yes[6] |
| Windows 2000 | No | No | Yes |
| Windows7,8,10 32 bit | No | No | Yes |
FoxPro 2 includes the "Rushmore" optimizing engine, which uses indices to accelerate data retrieval and updating. Rushmore technology examines every data-related statement and looks for filter expressions. If one is used, it looks for an index matching the same expression.
FoxPro 2 was originally built onWatcom C/C++, which used theDOS/4GW memory extender to accessexpanded andextended memory. It could also use almost all available RAM even if noHIMEM.SYS was loaded.
| Version | Returned by VERSION() | File Size | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| FPW 2.6a | FoxPro 2.6a for Windows | 2.44 Mb | September 28, 1994 |
| FPM 2.6a | FoxPro 2.6a for Macintosh | Unknown | August 1994 |
| FPD 2.6a | FoxPro 2.6a for DOS | 1.79 Mb | August 1994 |
| FPW 2.6 | FoxPro 2.6 for Windows | 2.52 Mb | March 9, 1994 |
| FPM 2.6 | FoxPro 2.6 for Macintosh | Unknown | 1993 |
| FPD 2.6 | FoxPro 2.6 for DOS | 1.83 Mb | March 1994 |
| FPU 2.6 | FoxPro 2.6 for Unix | 2.3 Mb | 1993 |
| FPW 2.5 | FoxPro 2.5 for Windows | 1.63 Mb | January 1993 |
| FPD 2.5 | FoxPro 2.5 for DOS | 509.0 Kb | February 1993 |
| FPD 2.0 | FoxPro 2.0 for DOS | 488.7 Kb | July 1992 |
| FPD 1.0 | FoxPro 1.0 for DOS | 343.2 Kb | November 1991 |