Upgrading from Earlier Versions

Microsoft Visual FoxPro protects your investment in applications built with previous versions of FoxPro. In Visual FoxPro, you can run many applications that were written in earlier versions with little or no conversion. You can modify and enhance applications using the Visual FoxPro language, knowing that most extensions to the language do not affect backward compatibility. In addition, you can convert FoxPro screens, projects, and reports to Visual FoxPro format.

However, it is possible that some behavior or feature changes in the current version of Visual FoxPro might affect existing Visual FoxPro source code. Therefore, you should review the new features, enhancements, and most recent behavior changes for this version. For more information, see What's New in Visual FoxPro 8.0 and Behavior Changes Since Visual FoxPro 7.0.

Conversion to Visual FoxPro Format

If you choose to convert your dBASE or FoxPro files to the Visual FoxPro format, you can take advantage of the unique features of Visual FoxPro. You can run many files from some previous versions of FoxPro directly; others require varying levels of conversion.

You can convert most projects or components created using previous versions of Visual FoxPro simply by opening or recompiling them in this version of Visual FoxPro. When you recompile components, such as forms, screens, or reports, some modifications may be necessary. You can make modifications to these components in the same way you modify the components of this version of Visual FoxPro.

You can find additional information about upgrading from previous versions of Visual FoxPro on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site at https://msdn.microsoft.com. You can search the MSDN Archive for documentation of previous versions of Visual FoxPro.

See Also

Getting Started with Visual FoxPro | Overview of Visual FoxPro Features | Installing Visual FoxPro | Customizing the Visual FoxPro Environment | Optimizing Your System