Carson City, Nevada was abuzz with developers excited by the debut of Visual DataFlex Project Horizon at the DataFlex International Software Developers (DISD) 2006 conference.  Here’s what they had to say...

"Project Horizon was unveiled at the DISD conference, and it represents a huge step forward. It will enhance the already powerful rapid application development tools which the Studio has provided for the last several years. I look forward to using it as soon as VDF12 is released. Thank you DAW!"
 - David King, Trinity Universal

"I really like the direction that Horizon is going. I saw several enhancements that will make my job much easier (i.e. multiple Workspaces open at the same time, CodeSense). I really like how each programmer will be able to customize their display for his/her own comfort level. Can’t wait to try it out!"
 - Amanda Denning, JASPER Engines & Transmissions

"Have you ever been in a storm that lasted the night, then woke up to bright sunshine on the horizon? Well, we have with VDF. Project Horizon’s demo at last week’s DISD conference was warm Miami sunshine, coming after the storm of VDF. Gone are the registrations that haunted us, and welcome are the myriad of changes that hold the promise of increased productivity and improved functionality. Even if you haven’t been through the storm, who can resist a little sunshine on their horizon. Check out Project Horizon, you’ll be glad you did, and you just might get a tan!"
 - John Sutton, Kansas Bankers Surety

"Visual DataFlex 12 – Project Horizon, a watershed release for sure. For so long we’ve been waiting for VDF to lose its quirks, finally we’ve gotten that and all the other developer centric things that we’ve been asking for. VDF 12 Studio environment + VDF 12 Database development language = Unparalleled database application development tool. Horizon cuts through all the crap and lets us get down to our core skill set, database application development."
 - Oliver T. Nelson, Out of the Box Consulting

"Sitting there on the front row as usual this year, I found my self glued to the presentation screen. It felt like my mind was perfectly clear because every detail that was presented about Project Horizon JUST MADE SENSE. It’s a little spooky actually because it feels like someone has been listening in on my dreams. The VDF 12 Studio along with CodeSense does it all."
 - Tony Mackay, Anasazi Software

"Before attending DISD, I thought, ’What could Project Horizon do to improve upon Visual Dataflex 11.1, the best release yet?’ But now that I have seen it, I’d describe the difference like this: VDF 11.1 is like a Cape Cod house where you’ve added a full dormer to the second floor, appended an "L" out the back and re-done the kitchen and bathroom. It’s a nice house but there isn’t a lot of room left for expansion. Project Horizon is like a new colonial with plenty of room to build on. But the new "Project Horizon House" isn’t so different that you can’t bring along the furniture from the old house. The streamlining of the studio user interface, the integration of the debugger inside the studio, the improved code editor with "CodeSense", the visual modeling of the source code, the elimination of "The Green Line" - Project Horizon isn’t just a re-worked version of the existing studio, it’s new from the ground up. The overall feeling of the studio environment can be summed up in one word: ’smooth’. I get the impression that the various pieces of the studio work well together because that was the plan from the beginning. The improvements all add up to making it easier to ’crank out some code’. Isn’t that what it is about?"
 -  David (Bo) Lincoln, Lincoln Systems

"The Horizon platform looks to eliminate a lot of the language specific code bugs and issues (registration of code, etc.) that added time and cost to development with no real payback to the developer, product or user. Also, with CodeSense, it identified a lot of typo and code structure problems at the moment they were typed rather than at compile time. I predict that this language aware code editor (or whatever you want to call the code that accepts my keystrokes) will be a huge benefit to the developer community. Nice job!"
 - William S. Carpenter, Carpenter Associates

"The new studio truly is a quantum leap forward in many ways. I have never had the time to participate in an alpha program but I will make the time for this one. 
 - Bob Roth, Barton Nelson, Inc.

"DISD 2006 was another great event and the introduction of Horizon made it one of those milestone years. The excitement from everyone reminded me of the DISD when the ’Framework’ was introduced. Horizon will not only help current developers be more productive but it will help draw new users to the product. I looked up milestone in the dictionary. One of the definitions was the advancement of knowledge in a field or a turning point. I think VDF 12 has the potential to be a turning point for Data Access and the DataFlex community."
 -  Coby Sparks, Remac, Inc.

"Bringing the Studio to intelligently handle VDF source code of any origin, without using code mark-up, seems like a very sound evolution of the product. Along with the full integration of the compiler/debugger and the way struct member, property and method definitions are automatically provided as part of the CodeSense editor, VDF 12 will give me a chance to finally join the Studio ranks and get rid of my DOS based super editor."
 - Sture Andersen, Sture ApS

From the Visual DataFlex Newsgroup:

“What a pleasure to be able to sort out our code into projects and then by groupings of files. And source code pathing relative to AppSrc. To be able to never ever register another component again. Never ever to wonder again ‘is it above the green line below; does it go to the outer code area?’ Never ever having to be concerned with ’dfo’ files again. Never having to hunt again for properties or their values - everything is visible in front of your eyes. You have a code source window for entering code and a code modeler view to see what the view looks like. Now we are able to enter ANY code into the IDE and if it can’t model the code then it tells you so, but does not go into panic attack and bale you out of the IDE! When importing old projects from previous releases it will tell you what procedures/functions are not being referenced or used. It will also tell you what components are not being used. The ability to reference ’other’ component from ’other workspaces’ and not having to register them in this project or workspace - just path and use. Existing projects should just load and run. (well maybe a few changes to sloppy code <) All this in the new VDF 12.0 (Horizon Project).”
 - Hendrik van Niekerk, Figmination

"Hendrik, I too was impressed with what I saw concerning Horizon. Obviously, DAW listens to us. I expect Horizon to reduce my development time by a significant margin. Those who are still coding in DF v2.3 and 3.x, now is the time to jump on board with VDF 12. Horizon will certainly ease the pain (and cost) of upgrading to a Windows environment even if you have never worked in OOP before. Thanks to DISD for a very successful conference and to all the presenters."
 - Jim Albright, Wizard Systems, Inc.

"DISD 2006 - in a word: Fantastic. Vincent’s class on structs and arrays left me realizing that I didn’t know how much I’ve needed them. The preview of Project Horizon was excellent; I think the methodologies it utilizes are definitely the right way to go and will make producing quality apps significantly faster easier. I look forward to using it. Data Access also gets a compliment for its degree of participation and availability at these conferences. I know of no other software company that keeps in such close touch with its developers. It’s a superb and valuable relationship - thanks. DISD continues to be a must-do event.
 - Jim Hurson

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