Set up a workspace in DataFlex
Not only will this 5 minute session cover how to create a workspace, but we will also create a running application. Though be it can not do very much. But we will remedy that in later sessions.
First let's create a new Workspace. First you need to make sure you started the application with Administrator Privileges, because DataFlex will update your registry when creating a new workspace. You create the workspace by clicking "New workspace" in the File menu in the DataFlex studio.
You are now prompted to give the workspace a name. This will be the name of your application. After that you will be asked to shoos a database. If you do not have a database already, that you want to connect to. And this only is an application for trying out DataFlex. Then I advice you to use the Embedded database. If you are building an application that should be used as a larger scale application, you might want to use an SQL-based database instead. It is actually advised to do that. But for playing around the Embedded works fine, and you could always migrate later if you like. When you are done the you got your workspace. Ready to host your application.
In your workspace you have some views, the default ones shown are the table explorer, for listing all your tables, the current project view and the properties view. But as you work with the studio there will appear more views for selecting components to add, a debugger, a code explorer And many more.
In the middle of the workspace you will see a dashboard that will guide you as you build your application. Red icons indicate that you might want to put some work here to progress in your application.
First up is to create a project. Here you get the options to create Windows project, a Test project for windows, a Web project and a Basic project. And as of version 18.1 you can also create a Mobile project. The windows projects will create applications that run as exe-files in Windows only while the Web and Mobile will create a web application and then you need IIS installed on your computer in order to run the application in your browser.
Regardless of which project you select, DataFlex will create an empty application with some predefined menus and a login prompt. The default username is Guest and the password is guest. But you can disable the login box in the properties if you do not want to login all the time.
Now you have created an empty shell of an application. In later posts I will walk you through what you need to do in order to fill your application with goodness.
- DataFlex, Workspace