Need help in MXP.

santoshkumar

New Member
Hi MXP Pandits,

I am NEW to MXP ( i had earlier worked on MFG/PRO) .
I would like to know the extension of the programs after compilation in MXP since so far i have not come acrross any prgs with extensionas .p as in the case of MFG/PRO.

2. the directory listing what are the standards that are followed and would like to know where will I get the MXP PDF files and entity relation diagrams as in the case of MFG/PRO.

Please answer the above querries.

Thanks in Advance.

H.Santosh Kumar.
 

jongpau

Member
First of all a question: What version of MXP are you using/involved in and in what country?

Yes, you are right, in the old versions of MXP there are hardly any extensions used. However, the compiled files end with .r as per normal. The .r extension is the only one Progress knows when compiling, no matter what the extension of the source file is.

Just so you know, MXP was "born" many many years ago. Way back then it was called "Varnet". Not sure if it is true, but from what I have heared, back then every man and his dog was making changes and additions to the application, which were then grouped into a new release for the user base. Since those early days the application has changed hands a couple of times. One of the owners was Marcam who apparently renamed the application Marcam XP, which was then changed into MXP. The application is now owned by Foresight Software Inc (Atlanta) -- http://www.foresight-esp.com. Some of the things you will encounter in MXP still originate from the Varnet days and the limitations of the very very early Progress version that was used to create the original application.

By the way, in one of the latest Foresight versions of MXP you should get normal .p and .i extensions for the source code (not sure if that is the Decade version or one of the previous releases), so maybe an upgrade might be an idea?

As for the directory listing, the standards are very rudimentary and easy to remember really. The code of course sits in folders. The folders are named after the module the code belongs to (or is closest associated with). So you will find "ar" for Accounts Receivable, "ap" for Accounts Payable, "in" for Inventory, "op" for Order Processing, "ca" for Contract Administration, "ff" for Field Force etc etc etc. You may find that the "pt" folder does not contain all the readable code for all the .r files. This is because the pt folder contains some of the base code of the application, which is delivered in encrypted version only (which you should be able to find in src/crypt/pt). Come to think of it, there may be some modules you may or may not have (such as Helpdesk) for which you also may not have all the source code.

If you are using a really old version (before version 8.x) you may find that you don't have a pt folder. Back then I think it used to be "ht" (for Hyper Tools or something of the kind).

If you have a look around in the menu and go to PB (ProBase) --> version 8.x and up, or HT (HyperTools) --> before version 8.x, you should be able to find some "tools" that you can use when developing for MXP. There should be an application compiler, "where used" lists etc etc.

I have worked with MXP for about umm 6 years or so. I must say I loved it, it is a fun application to fiddle in when you are Progress programmer, full of surprises and little brain teasers and pretty easy to make changes in or additions to. But, I have yet to come across a usable entity relation diagram. That said, I must admit that the relations are not very difficult to grasp without such a document; I have never had the need to have one really. For what it's worth, the table names and field names are generally self explanatory, but because of the many hands that touched the application over the years not 100% consistent.
 
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