How to Simulate Client-Server Apps w/Apple Events & FoxPro Mac

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Macintosh, version 3.0b
• Microsoft FoxPro for Macintosh, version 2.6a

SUMMARY

This article gives a method you can use to simulate client-server applications by using Apple Events and FoxPro for Macintosh. With Visual FoxPro for Macintosh, you can also use this method to communicate to a Visual FoxPro Executable (.EXE.)

MORE INFORMATION

FoxPro's ability to run AppleScripts permits developers to build a client-server application using FoxPro on both sides. Though FoxPro was not designed to act as a server, and therefore will not behave as a true client- server system would, it may be acceptable under certain circumstances such as with a small network that has few users logged in simultaneously.

1. Users of the application will have to be able to link to programs running on the computer that will run the server portion of the application. This can be achieved in one of the following two ways:

       - Users connecting to the Macintosh with FoxPro have to be listed in
         the "Users & Groups" control panel and have File Sharing and Program
         Linking enabled.
   

   -or-

       - Users can connect as "Guest". In this case, the <Guest> account in
         the "Users & Groups" control panel has to have File Sharing and
         Program Linking enabled.
   

   NOTE: File Sharing and Program Linking have to be enabled in the Sharing Setup control panel for guests or registered users to be able to connect, regardless of the settings in the Users & Groups control panel. Also, the FoxPro folder and any other appropriate folders must be marked as shared by choosing the Sharing... command from the File menu.

2. The server portion of the application will be Microsoft FoxPro and must run on the server Macintosh. If it is not running, the following message is displayed:

   Microsoft FoxPro isn't running or program linking isn't enabled.

                <Stop>
   
   

3. The client portion of the application will run on each workstation. It can run from a shared network folder to save disk space. The client portion runs scripts, created with Apple Script, that use this syntax:

   tell application "Microsoft FoxPro" of machine "server" of zone "<zone>"

         do script "<script commands>"
   

   end tell

   For example, use the following syntax to open a Browse window with the customer table (.DBF file). Then perform a join SQL-Select query from customer and invoices on the TEST server from the Zone1 zone:

   tell application "Microsoft FoxPro" of machine "TEST" of zone "ZONE1"

         open "customer.dbf"
         do script "select * from customer, invoices where
            customer.cno==invoices.cno into table results.dbf"
      end tell
   
      To create Apple Scripts, use Script Editor, which is located by
      default in the "HD:Apple Extras:AppleScript" folder.
   
      NOTE: Apple Script and Script Editor are manufactured by Apple, a vendor
      independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise,
      regarding these products' performance or reliability.
   
      For more information on using AppleScript and Script Editor, see your
      Macintosh documentation.
   
   

4. The first time the connection is established, the application user is prompted to log in to the server computer by a dialog similar to this:

   Connect to the file server "<server>" as:

   ( ) Guest (o) Registered User

   Name: Password:

           <Cancel>     <OK>
   
      The user should make the appropriate selection based on the
      configuration chosen in step 1.
   
   

REFERENCES

For more information on using AppleScript, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   FoxPro and applescript and run