I'm not sure if it is the right phrase for my question, but I try to explain... In DotNET an Application starts with a form. I think that form is the form wich I would use as a Main form like we have had in Visual FoxPro, the FoxPro-Window, where we place our menu, Main-Toolbar and use it as a background for our application. Is there in Strataframe a similar way to develop applications? Is there a tamplate for it, or have I to create that "Mainwindow" on my own?
You bet...you can really turn any .NET form, include an SF window, into an MDI window, which is what VFP ultimately used. StrataFrame does come with a template called an SF Main Form which already has the MDI environment set. You may instead want to use an MDICLient class and then add it to a form which turns it into a MainForm as well. We generally take the MDIClient approach because you have more control...for example changing the background color. To manually add an MDIClient to a form, just create the class and add it to the controls collection:
Dim myMdiClient As New MDIClient()
MyMdiClient.Backcolor = Colors.White
MyForm.Controls.Add(myMdiClient)
or you can just use the SF template:
To localize my app I want to use the build in localization tool. But what is with all the Strataframe forms, like the form what is directing the enduser to its database? How can I translate these texts? I can't find these texts within the Localization and Messaging Editor.
The Connection String Wizard just hasn't been localized. The reason is because most people usually take a different route and manually set the connection strings in their application. As you learn, most end-users just have an issue with setting a connection string. So you may do this during an install or have a single location that is referenced on a network drive that contains the connection information and manually set the datasource. Or you can create your own localized connection form that is shown to the end-user and set the connection manually.
Databasics.DataSources.Add(New SqlDataSourceItem("","MyConnectionString"))
If you are really wanting to use the Connection String Wizard, then we can talk about localizing that form as well (it would be embedded within the framework).
You know in VFP we usually have our database in a folder located under our project folder and VFP is working with relative paths during runtime. DotNET is working with static paths. What is your favorite solution to enable a free installation location for data ( I want to use VFP tables) as well as for the localizations xml files?
During your installation, you will just want to allow the end-user to set the "shared" or "network" folder to which the VFP and XML tables will be loaded. You will want to write this to a registry value so that when you start your application, you can pull the shared folder location from the registry and then setup your VFP connection:
DataBasics.DataSources.Add(New VfpDataSourceItem("VFP","provider=VFPOLEDB;datasource=" & MyRegistryPath & "MyDatabase.dbc"))