Visual FoxPro (VFP) 8, the latest version of Microsoft's tool for developing data-centric applications using the XBase programming language (similar to the programming language included in Ashon-Tate’s original dBase database product), has been released. Microsoft continues to enhance this product (acquired in 1992) for its enthusiastic base of solution providers and developers serving small and medium-size businesses, even though the vast majority of the company’s development tool efforts are focused on Visual Basic, Visual C++, and its new programming language, C#, while its database efforts revolve around SQL Server.

New features of VFP 8 include support for creating and consuming Web services via the integrated Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) toolkit. It does not, however, use the .NET Framework. VFP 8 also supports "structured exception handling," a programming language feature recently added to Visual Basic that simplifies error handling by enabling programmers to consolidate code for dealing with a particular class of error.

VFP 8 is included in all levels of MSDN Subscriptions and will also be available for standalone purchase in mid-March. The full product price will be US$649 and upgrades from previous versions will be US$349.

For more information on VFP 8, see msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro.