Buenas Noches Tom: It is hard to say, it depends to a great extent in the complexity of your reports/forms. What I ended up doing with reports is doing the conversion, updating the field formats and finally relocating/realigning the columns. Many of my reports are similar with differences in the headers and footers (totals) so, I converted and corrected the more complex report and then copied it and modified the headers/footers (added/deleted). In many cases it saved me quite a bit of time. With forms I did the conversion and then deleted all the boxes that the conversion creates (where you has color in the DOS form) as well as most text, then, I reformatted and relocated the fields, added the necessary text and then added the "frills" i.e. boxes, buttons, drop boxes, shadows, etc. Having all the fields already there helps quite a bit. A "quick and dirty" way to estimate time would be to take one or two reports and forms of average complexity/size and keep track of the time it takes to convert. One thing that you need to consider is rethinking the design of your forms; DOS forms where design with keyboard data entry in mind, Windows forms are by nature designed for extensive use of the mouse. For example, in DOS you would used the <SHIFT><F3> key to pop a menu, in Windows you just double click, In DOS you use the Function Keys extensively, in Windows you place buttons to execute these actions such Next Row, Previous Row, etc. Also, I no longer use the application express, all my applications are run from forms with button, all the menus are stored in the data base and displayed using the CHOOSE ...WHERE command. There are some good examples in the sample application included with Rbase, although I am not too crazy about the sample forms as the y look too much like DOS, my clients want forms that are "Windows-like", I have come up with some design that are pretty decent, 7.0 is supposed to give us more tools to make the forms even more "windows-like." Again, when you switch to Windows, you have to change the way you think (as compared to DOS) in a manner of speaking, not only for forms and reports but for the way your application flows as well. Overall, I would say that the conversion is worth it, I am looking forward to 7.0 as it will address many of the shortcomings of 6.5++.
Javier Valencia, PE President Valencia Technology Group, L.L.C. 14315 S. Twilight Ln., Suite #14 Olathe, KS 66062-4571 (913)829-0888 (913)649-2904 FAX -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Tom Grimshaw Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2002 7:27 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: convert from dos to win 6.5++ G'day Javier, In hindsight, is it possible to estimate how much time it saved converting rather than rebuilding from scratch? As a guide, and only on average, how long did it take per form and report? I only ask as a DOS client may wish to upgrade and some estimate based on your experience would be better than none. At 17:54 08/10/02 -0500, you wrote: >I found that when I converted from DOS to Windows many of the fields in the >report translated with the wrong justification, i.e. text would translate >right justified, currency left justified, etc. Also, many times the text >fields would translate with a border where the original report did not have >one. I have tried every setting to no avail. I submitted to RDCC as a bug >and the status is "verified/no plans to include." If your DOS report uses >the compressed and landscape text option where you can fit app. 160+ columns >in a regular size page it will translate spread over app. 16 in. (regardless >of what is your default font size in Windows reports), and you will have to >relocate the columns. So be ready to manually correct the location, >justification as well as other display properties. I hope that you do not >have too many reports to convert, I had to convert over 80 reports and it >took a lot of time. Warmest regards, Tom Grimshaw coy: Just For You Software tel: 612 9552 3311 fax: 612 9566 2164 mobile: 0414 675 903 post: PO Box 470 Glebe NSW 2037 Australia street: 3/66 Wentworth Park Rd Glebe NSW 2037 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: www.just4usoftware.com.au "... the control of impulse -- is the first principle of civilization."-- Will Durant, Pulitzer Prize winning philosopher, writer and historian the most needed product in the world can be found at www.thewaytohappiness.org This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential to the intended recipient and may be privileged. If you have received this email inadvertently or you are not the intended recipient, you may not disseminate, distribute, copy or in any way rely on it. Further, you should notify the sender immediately and delete the email from your computer. Whilst we have taken precautions to alert us to the presence of computer viruses, we cannot guarantee that this email and any files transmitted with it are free from such viruses. ================================================ TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l ================================================ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l ================================================ TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/ ================================================ TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l ================================================ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l ================================================ TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/
