2015 xPress++ Dev Con

[sdenjupol148]

Hi All,

Just wanted to take a moment and say something about the 2015 Dev Con.
First of all, it was well worth the trip.
Roger presented new concepts and practical examples of CXP which will allow us to use the web in a robust and flexible way.
We learned how to use Web Sockets to create a web server.
Tom put together an impromptu session of owner drawing that was fantastic.
He gave everyone who asked, sample code so that we can use the same techniques and Roger is thinking how to create a frame work that we can use over and over.
Roger presented many code examples and even did a beginner's guide to object oriented programming to demonstrate how easily it can be done.
There were lots of other topics and concepts as well and Roger answered every question we asked.

In addition, meeting new faces and seeing old ones was great because of the interaction.
We often sat around discussing concepts and comparing coding stories.
We all felt very comfortable asking each other questions as well.

I think it was a great learning experience and one that I would repeat.

All this thanks to Roger
And thanks to all who attended.

Bobby

[rdonnay]

Bobby put another of his many talents on display when he turned my apartment into a recording studio. I had recorded a short promotional message to be broadcasted via an endless loop podcast. I asked him to record a small message to add to mine. This is the result. http://bb.donnay-software.com/ds/ConferencePromo.mp3. You must listen to the end. It just gets better. This was done using my computer in my apartment where there were 4 people and a dog. After many retakes the result is phenomenal.

Tom Liehr showed his mastery of owner-drawing by first showing his amazing application and then by creating an elegant sample program which he promised to upload on this forum. He gave me many ideas which I hope to incorporate into eXpress++ in the near future.

Kurt Guseman handled the live podcast.

Steffen Pirsig joined us via Skype for a much-appreciated presentation and Q&A session.

It was gratifying to know that all attendees felt that this was a good investment of their time and money. They want me to do this much more often.

I am already considering having another devcon in 2 years. We talked about much more than just eXpress++ at this one and I will continue to do so in the future. I believe that <CXP/> has much to offer and therefore I spent a half a day on this subject alone. I also plan to implement more styling into eXpress++, using both owner-drawing and XbpHtmlStyle().

Most of our attendees use ADSDBE, so we had some good discussions of SQL and how to use it in existing applications to great benefit with very little effort.

I think that there is new life and excitement in our community and that Xbase++ 2.0 is going to re-engergize it and expand it as the VFP programmers start joining us in the near future.

[rdonnay]

Many of the files and samples used at the devcon are now available for download by anyone.

ftp://donnay-software.com

User: Devcon
pwd: devcon

[skiman]

Hi Roger,

Do you also have a password for the ftp?

[Tom]

Just got up from a 14 hours sleep.

It was such a pleasure to see and meet you all, those three days were very inspiring. Thanks a lot, Roger, for providing this. I'll be back in Boise in two years, although travelling to the U.S. is not such a fun (three hours at the immigrations).

I will post the ownerdrawing sample within the next hours.

Edit: Roger, did you fly the Phantom already?

[RDalzell]

Roger presented many code examples and even did a beginner's guide to object oriented programming to demonstrate how easily it can be done.

Is this possible to have available for those who could not attend?

Thanks,
Rick

[rdonnay]

I added a password "devcon".
Apparently it is needed.
I was able to connect without a password.
Let's give this a try.

[rdonnay]

Edit: Roger, did you fly the Phantom already?

Not yet. I am still trying to catch up on my sleep.
I don't want to try to learn this until I am well rested.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that you have the exact same helicopter and that you would give me private flying lessons. Maybe when you come back in 2 years I will be a master, provided that I haven't crashed it into the pond first.

[rdonnay]

Roger presented many code examples and even did a beginner's guide to object oriented programming to demonstrate how easily it can be done.

Is this possible to have available for those who could not attend?

I captured that session on video.
I will put it on the FTP site after I export it to MP3.

This was an impromptu session.
I had not planned to do this, but that's what I like about this type of devcon format.
Bobby suggested this after talking to a lot of attendees at the bar the previous night.
I walked thru the process of converting existing code to object oriented and why you would want to do this.

I also demonstrated how to write an entire application object-oriented. The next eXpress++ build includes a new folder named ..\samples\snyffle. This is a Scrabble application I wrote a few years ago in eXpress++ that is also object-oriented. It uses a Snyffle server to serve up the games for multi-player capability over the internet. Currently, it uses Xb2.Net for internet communications but I plan to convert it to HttpEndPoint().

The FTP has a document named Internet.Pdf which is a white paper that was the format for my sessions on <CXP/> and HttpEndPoint().

[SvenVazan]

I found it an invaluable weekend for staying current in the language and emerging technologies, but most of all I'd like to thank everyone for being so welcoming to the community. The group has a really good, easygoing vibe.