Object-Oriented Programming

While Visual FoxPro still supports standard procedural programming, new extensions to the language give you the power and flexibility of object-oriented programming. Object-oriented design and object-oriented programming represent a change in focus from standard procedural programming. Instead of thinking about program flow from the first line of code to the last line of code, you need to think about creating objects: self-contained components of an application that have private functionality as well as functionality that you can expose to the user.

In This Section

• Classes and Objects: The Building Blocks of Applications
  Explains the differences between classes and objects and highlights the properties, methods, and events of objects
• Classes in Visual FoxPro
  Introduces the types of classes in Visual FoxPro and describes their important characteristics.
• Preparation for Class Creation
  Contains information on how to plan the design of classes and how to select their functionality.
• Creating Classes
  Provides three ways to create a new class.
• Modifying a Class Definition
  Describes the steps required to modify a class in the Project Manager.
• Subclassing a Class Definition
  Contains directions on how to create a subclass of a user-defined class.
• Operating the Class Designer
  Explains the functionality of the Class Designer, including viewing and editing properties of your class in the Properties window and writing code in the code editing windows.
• Access and Assign Methods
  Visual FoxPro contains support for Access and Assign methods that you can use to execute code when the value of a property is queried or when you attempt to change the property's value.
• Container Hierarchy Object Referencing
  Describes how objects are referenced in the container hierarchy and explains the importance of identifying objects in relation to the container hierarchy.

Related Sections

• Programming in Visual FoxPro
  Visual FoxPro is a powerful interactive data management tool, but you also can access the full power of Visual FoxPro by creating applications. Understanding object-oriented programming techniques and the event-driven model can maximize your programming productivity.
• Application Development
  As you develop an application, organize its pieces with the Project Manager, an integrated way to build and test your application as you go.
• Writing Class Definitions Programmatically
  You can define classes visually in the Class Designer and the Form Designer or programmatically in .PRG files.
• Understanding the Event Model
  The event model defines when and how user and system interactions occur.