Convert Visual FoxPro to .NET

ERW Custom Programming, Inc. was established in 1981. With 40 years experience, we have many tools to speed up your conversion process. We have 5 star references and our programmers have excellent credentials. We have experts both in FoxPro and .NET — It is important to know both languages. Call us today at (248) 683-4182

Visual FoxPro: End-of-Life?

Microsoft ended all support of Visual FoxPro in January 2015. This is 2021. That is 6 years now without any upgrades, any updated security measures and the increased loss of qualified VFP programmers for support. Visual FoxPro is classified as “End-of-Life.” It is legacy software and there really is not a one-size-fits-all VFP solution. It’s dependent on your specific circumstances. You will need to consider many factors, both practical and financial.

This doesn’t mean that your VFP is going to stop working immediately. However, over time, there is more chance that necessary updates to Windows could prevent the VFP from working. There is no guarantee that new versions of Windows will even will run a FoxPro application. At the very least, it would be more likely that some aspects may not run properly without at least some modifications.

Here are some important factors to consider when deciding to convert your Visual FoxPro to #C.net:

• Support and maintenance of FoxPro applications is becoming more and more expensive. This is due to the ever decreasing availability of skilled FoxPro developers. No new developers are learning the language, so the pool of people who have appropriate skills and knowledge is rapidly diminishing. Most have moved on to new languages, retired or even passed on.

• Security Issues: FoxPro is a file-based database system. There are limits to how well the data can be secured. It is impossible to introduce higher levels of security without compromising on functionality.

• Visual FoxPro is a 32-bit application. The world of computing is moving toward a more advanced 64-bit. While there are 32-bit compatibility layers, these will no longer be maintained and VFP won’t be able to run on a 64-bit only operating system.

• By nature, Visual FoxPro doesn’t work on the web. There are ways to web-enable VFP, but they are not very effective. There is no platform for developing mobile applications (iPhone/Android). More and more business services are going online and there is a point where it isn’t cost-effective.

• The most important factor in the cost of converting is the way in which the program was written. The programmer must manually create txtCode in the new language and give it the same properties as the Visual FoxPro screen. This takes time – lots of time. They also must not make any errors. When they do, it takes more time to fix. We have programs that convert all of the labels, text boxes, buttons, etc. instantly. In a large project, this can save hundreds of hours.

The larger and more complex your program, the sooner you should get started. You will have time to carefully add new functionality such as mobile apps. You can carefully plan the transition; and you will have more skilled programmers to choose from, keeping the costs down. We recommend that you convert to C#.NET with a SQL database. And SQL database is one of the most secure databases available and is owned and supported by Microsoft.