Visual FoxPro Support : FoxPro Maintenance

Extending the Life of Your Visual FoxPro Applications with InterSoft Associates

Maintaining legacy systems can be a daunting challenge for any organization, especially when those systems are as integral as Visual FoxPro (VFP) applications. Since its introduction in the 1990s, VFP has been a powerful tool for developing data-centric business applications, offering robust functionality and flexibility. However, with Microsoft discontinuing official support for VFP in 2015, many companies now face the complex task of keeping these essential applications running smoothly in an increasingly modern and interconnected IT landscape. At InterSoft Associates, we specialize in helping organizations overcome these challenges by providing comprehensive support, strategic maintenance, and innovative solutions to extend the life and functionality of their Visual FoxPro systems.

Our expertise ensures that your VFP applications remain reliable, secure, and relevant, allowing your business to thrive even as technology evolves.

If at some point you decide that you really need a FoxPro replacement, InterSoft Associate have the answers and insights you need. We can assess your current systems, identify necessary upgrades or updates, and facilitate a migration process that improves the overall efficiency and performance of your business operations.

Visual FoxPro, introduced by Microsoft in 1995 as an extension of the earlier FoxPro database management system, quickly gained recognition for its robust data-driven capabilities. Its integrated development environment (IDE) offered a seamless interface for building, testing, and deploying applications, making it a favorite among developers for creating enterprise-level business solutions. From customer relationship management (CRM) systems to custom data analysis tools, VFP’s flexibility allowed it to cater to a wide range of business needs.

However, as technology has advanced, so too have the challenges associated with maintaining these legacy applications. Compatibility issues with modern operating systems, the lack of official support since 2015, and a shrinking pool of skilled VFP developers are just a few of the hurdles that organizations face today. Overcoming these challenges requires a comprehensive and strategic approach to VFP support and maintenance, ensuring the continued viability and reliability of critical business applications.

Visual FoxPro has reached a critical juncture in its lifecycle. Microsoft’s discontinuation of the platform in 2007, followed by the end of extended support in 2015, marked the official end of active development. However, a security update was released in March 2021 due to a vulnerability in Windows’ common controls, not because of renewed interest in supporting VFP.

Despite this, a small but persistent user base continues to rely on VFP, largely due to its reliability and the critical role it plays in their operations.

The cessation of official support has left many users facing significant challenges, including compatibility issues with modern operating systems, increased security risks due to the lack of updates, and difficulties in integrating VFP with contemporary technologies and cloud services.

Furthermore, the scarcity of qualified VFP programmers complicates efforts to maintain and enhance existing applications. Although it should be crucial to invest in training programs and documentation to transfer knowledge from experienced developers to newer team members, this is not always happening within companies that are still using VFP.

For organizations still dependent on Visual FoxPro, these challenges underscore the importance of a proactive approach to support and maintenance. By addressing compatibility issues, ensuring security, and finding or training skilled developers, businesses can extend the life of their VFP applications, safeguarding their investments and maintaining operational continuity.

At InterSoft Associates, we specialize in helping businesses extend the life of their Visual FoxPro applications through comprehensive support and maintenance strategies. Our approach is designed to address the unique challenges of maintaining legacy systems, ensuring that your business continues to operate smoothly and efficiently.

• Regular System Audits: We conduct regular audits to monitor the performance and health of your VFP applications, identifying and resolving potential issues before they escalate. This proactive approach helps prevent disruptions and ensures your system remains reliable.
• Code Review and Refactoring: Periodic code reviews are essential to maintain the adaptability and efficiency of your VFP applications. Our team will help refactor your code to improve its structure, readability, and performance without the need for a complete overhaul.
• Enhanced Security Measures: Protecting your applications from vulnerabilities is crucial. We implement regular security updates and review potential risks to ensure your VFP applications adhere to best practices for data protection and access control.
• Data Integrity Checks: Maintaining data integrity is vital for business continuity. We implement robust audit log systems to track changes in your database, ensuring accuracy and accountability.
• Technical Support and Troubleshooting: Our dedicated support team is here to assist with any issues that arise, providing quick and effective troubleshooting to minimize downtime and keep your operations running smoothly.
• Integration with Modern Technologies: We help extend the functionality of your VFP applications by integrating them with modern systems, such as web services and APIs, to enhance data exchange and overall performance.
• Developing New Features: Beyond maintenance, we work with you to identify and implement new features that meet your evolving business needs, ensuring that your VFP applications continue to provide value.
• Leveraging Community Resources: We stay connected with the VFP community to access the latest patches, updates, and expert insights, ensuring your applications benefit from the collective knowledge of a dedicated user base.

In addition to maintaining your existing VFP applications, we offer solutions to modernize and extend their functionality. Whether you need to integrate with web services, enable mobile access, or migrate to the cloud, InterSoft Associates has the expertise to guide you through the process.

· Integration with Web Services

We can assist your Visual FoxPro developers extend their applications’ functionality by integrating with web services. While the SOAP Toolkit has been discontinued, it remains a common tool for FoxPro web service interactions. However, it has limitations when dealing with complex types and extended Web service protocols.

To overcome these challenges, we will work with your developers to leverage .NET’s powerful Web service features through COM Interop. This approach allows FoxPro applications to interact with modern web services, including those built on Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) . By creating a .NET wrapper class, developers can call web services from FoxPro via COM Interop, enabling access to a wider range of functionality.

· Mobile Access Solutions

Tools like TSPlus and FoxInCloud allow us to transform your VFP applications into web-accessible platforms, enabling access from any device, anywhere.

TSPlus operates by creating a virtual environment where VFP applications can be hosted and accessed remotely. It effectively transforms VFP desktop applications into web-accessible applications, which users can interact with through a browser. TSPlus handles all the complexities of delivering the application to the user, including managing sessions, handling security, and ensuring that the application behaves as it would on a local desktop.

The application itself remains unchanged, running on the server where TSPlus is installed. This means that your organization can continue using their VFP applications as they are, without needing to modify the code to adapt to modern requirements. The virtualization layer provided by TSPlus ensures that these applications can be used on any device, anywhere, providing flexibility and continuity.

This approach is particularly valuable for organizations that rely on legacy VFP applications but need to adapt them to contemporary IT environments without extensive redevelopment.

FoxInCloud is another solution designed to extend the functionality of Visual FoxPro (VFP) by enabling VFP applications to run on the web. It addresses one of the key challenges organizations face when maintaining legacy VFP applications: the need to integrate with modern web technologies and deliver applications over the internet. FoxInCloud operates by translating the VFP application’s user interface (UI) and business logic into web-compatible formats. It uses an intermediary layer that processes VFP commands and outputs them as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which are then rendered in a web browser. This process ensures that the core functionality of the VFP application is preserved while adapting it for the web.

· Cloud Migration Strategies

We have found that migrating Visual FoxPro (VFP) applications to the cloud is an increasingly popular strategy for organizations looking to extend the functionality, accessibility, and longevity of their legacy systems. As VFP applications age and become harder to support on modern infrastructure, cloud migration offers a way to modernize these systems while preserving their core functionalities. This approach not only enhances the performance and scalability of VFP applications but also integrates them with contemporary technologies that are critical for business growth.

InterSoft Associates will help you carefully select the right migration strategy for your organization, whether it is lift-and-shift (rehosting), refactoring (re-architecting), replatforming, transitioning to modern platforms like .NET, or rebuilding. Organizations can balance the need for modernization with their available resources and long-term business goals. Cloud migration not only enhances the performance, security, and scalability of VFP applications but also opens
 

Lift-and-Shift Migration (Rehosting)

The lift-and-shift approach involves moving VFP applications from on-premises servers to a cloud environment without making significant changes to the underlying code. This strategy is one of the simplest forms of cloud migration and is often used to quickly achieve the benefits of cloud infrastructure, such as improved scalability, availability, and disaster recovery capabilities.
 

Refactoring (Re-architecting)

Refactoring involves modifying the VFP application code to better suit the cloud environment. This could include changes to improve scalability, security, and performance, as well as to integrate cloud-native features like auto-scaling, load balancing, and advanced security protocols.
 

Replatforming

Replatforming is a middle-ground approach between lift-and-shift and full refactoring. It involves making minimal changes to the VFP application to optimize it for the cloud. This might include updating the database or operating system to cloud-compatible versions or modifying the application to work with cloud services like managed databases.
 

Rebuilding

Rebuilding involves redeveloping the application from scratch using modern cloud-native technologies. While this is the most resource-intensive option, it offers the greatest flexibility and potential for future growth.

While this process is significant, it’s becoming increasingly necessary for organizations relying on the obsolete VFP platform. If you choose to migrate VFP applications to the cloud, we will help implement a successful migration by working with your organization, helping you to:

      – Align around a shared vision
      – Adhere to proven principles
      – Field a skilled team
 

Partner with InterSoft Associates

By partnering with InterSoft Associates, you can ensure the continued viability and reliability of your Visual FoxPro applications.

We understand the critical role that Visual FoxPro (VFP) plays in your organization’s operations. While VFP’s legacy status presents unique challenges, our team is committed to helping you navigate these complexities and maintain the value of your existing systems. By offering tailored strategies for system audits, code refactoring, security enhancements, and cloud migration, we ensure that your VFP applications remain robust, secure, and capable of meeting modern demands. Whether it’s integrating new technologies, extending functionality to the web or mobile platforms, or guiding you through a cloud migration, InterSoft Associates provides the expertise and support needed to keep your VFP applications running smoothly. Our goal is to help you safeguard your investments, maintain business continuity, and position your organization for future success.

Let us help you extend the life of your VFP applications and keep your business running smoothly.