FoxPro is a

text-based In computing, text-based user interfaces (TUI) (alternately terminal user interfaces, to reflect a dependence upon the properties of computer terminals and not just text), is a retronym describing a type of user interface (UI) common as an ear ...

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

and

database management system In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and an ...

(DBMS), and it is also an

object-oriented Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impleme ...

programming language, originally published by Fox Software and later by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

, for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

, and

UNIX Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

. The final published release of FoxPro was 2.6. Development continued under the

Visual FoxPro Visual FoxPro is a programming language that was developed by Microsoft. It is a data-centric and procedural programming language with object-oriented programming (OOP) features. It was derived from FoxPro (which was itself descended from FoxB ...

label, which in turn was discontinued in 2007.

Description

FoxPro was derived from FoxBase (Fox Software, Perrysburg, Ohio), which was in turn derived from

dBase dBase (also stylized dBASE) was one of the first database management systems for microcomputers and the most successful in its day. The dBase system included the core database engine, a query system, a Form (programming), forms engine, and a pr ...

III (

Ashton-Tate Ashton-Tate Corporation was a US-based software company best known for developing the popular dBASE database application and later acquiring Framework from the Forefront Corporation and MultiMate from Multimate International. It grew from ...

) and dBase II. FoxPro is both a DBMS and a

relational database management system A relational database (RDB) is a database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a type of database management system that stores data in a structured for ...

(RDBMS), since it extensively supports multiple relationships between multiple .dbf files (tables). However, it lacks support for transactional processing. FoxPro was sold and supported by Microsoft after they acquired Fox Software in its entirety in 1992. At that time there was an active worldwide community of FoxPro users and programmers. FoxPro 2.6 for UNIX (FPU26) has been successfully installed on

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

and

FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free-software Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). The first version was released in 1993 developed from 386BSD, one of the first fully functional and free Unix clones on affordable ...

using the Intel Binary Compatibility Standard ( ibcs2) support library.

Reception

Tom Campbell of ''

Compute! ''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', is an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET. ...

'' in 1993 praised FoxPro's

rapid application development Rapid application development (RAD), also called rapid application building (RAB), is both a general term for adaptive software development approaches, and the name for James Martin's method of rapid development. In general, RAD approaches to ...

: "You can create a complete database browser with a mousing, menuing interface in well under 100 lines--including a custom data entry screen with error checking". He concluded that the $1000 price for FoxPro and

runtime library A runtime library is a library that provides access to the runtime environment that is available to a computer program tailored to the host platform. A runtime environment implements the execution model as required for a development environme ...

was "without a doubt" worthwhile, as it "could mean that you'll make that $1,000 back--on your first job". Richard O'Reilly of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' also approved of the no-code development. He said that FoxPro 2.5 was preferable to

Microsoft Access Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the relational database, relational Access Database Engine (ACE) with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsof ...

for most, being both faster and easy to learn, and also faster than Borland Paradox. A 1990

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the national professional organization of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) in the United States, with more than 428,000 members in 130 countries. Founded in 1887 as the Americ ...

member survey found that 2% of respondents used FoxBase as their database. dBASE creator Wayne Ratliff in 2007 praised FoxPro: "FoxPro is more rigorous in its data approach than dBASE II was. It's—maybe user-friendly isn't the right word—it's just friendly. It's easy to do stuff".

Version information

Operating system compatibility

Technical aspects

FoxPro 2 included the "Rushmore" optimizing engine, which used indices to accelerate data retrieval and updating. Rushmore technology examined every data-related statement and looked for filter expressions. If one was used, it looked for an index matching the same expression. FoxPro 2 was originally built on Watcom C/C++, which used the DOS/4GW memory extender to access expanded and extended memory. It could also use almost all available RAM even if no HIMEM.SYS was loaded.

Version timeline

References

External links

History of FoxPro - Timeline

A site devoted to the history of FoxPro
{{xBase 1984 software Data-centric programming languages Fourth-generation programming languages Microsoft database software Microsoft development tools Procedural programming languages Proprietary database management systems Table-oriented programming XBase programming language family fr:Visual FoxPro