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Lianja for VFP Developers

If you are a Visual FoxPro developer then you will feel right at home with Lianja.

There is no need to learn a new language -- Lianja has its own cross-platform implementation of Visual FoxPro (LianjaScript) embedded inside it as well as PHP, Python and JavaScript. Yes, that's right, all these scripting languages are embedded inside Lianja and they are all fully integrated so that code can be written in any of these scripting languages.

Lianja by design is a radical departure from traditional desktop development tools just as Visual FoxPro was to FoxBase and Visual Basic was to Basic.

It takes a radically different view of app development providing a high level of abstraction for visually designing, developing and deploying multi-client-device business apps on whatever operating system you choose.

When we set out to develop Lianja we made a conscious decision to architect and build a product that embraced dynamic scripting languages, hence the support for Visual FoxPro scripting, PHP, Python and JavaScript.

Lianja is also cross-platform; Windows, Mac, and Linux, and it allows you to build data-centric apps that can connect to any data source; MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle (and others), but also very importantly it enables both professional developers and domain-experts (people who know everything about their business but are not programmers) to be able to build compelling Desktop, Web and Mobile Apps.

The Lianja App Builder includes support for importing Visual FoxPro databases (.dbc files) , projects (.pjx files), forms (.scx files) and visual classes (.vcx files).

The Visual FoxPro compatible scripting language in Lianja has been extended with many new commands and functions.

The Visual FoxPro UI classes that you as a VFP developer are familiar with are all available in Lianja as well as many additional ones to help you better build modern looking Apps. All of the VFP UI classes can be skinned with CSS to improve their visual appearance without having to change hardly any of your existing code (if any at all).

Additionally, Lianja for Windows has full support for ActiveX.

The database engine in Lianja is full 64-bit with huge file support so unlike VFP there is no practical restriction on the size of database tables.

One of the unique features of Lianja is that it has a complete cross-platform web browser component built-in as well as a server page processing engine. Server pages (just as you would write them as .php or .asp pages) can be written in VFP and embedded into your Lianja Apps (.rsp pages). Alternatively, you can write these server side pages in Python (.pysp pages) or JavaScript (.jssp pages). There is no need to install or configure anything to obtain this functionality.

Additionally, Lianja also has a complete database server -- Lianja SQL Server -- that runs on Windows and Linux. Lianja SQL Server is a true database server just like MySQL or MSSQL -- the big difference being that you can write stored procedures and triggers all in VFP.

Lianja takes Visual FoxPro to the next level which is why many developers have said that Lianja is what "Visual FoxPro 10 should have been".

If you want to know more about Lianja without having to spend a lot of time browsing around the website read the FAQ or take a look at The Lianja Overview.

Lianja App Builder is a Visual development environment with a lot of features and functionality to minimize coding. Rather than jump straight into coding in LianjaScript/VFP it is important to understand what is built-in to Lianja.