SWFOX - "PEM Editor" session - by Cathy Pountney

 

 

the first session that i attended in the conference was cathy pountney's pem editor: an absolute must have in your development toolkit.

i was really very curious to attend this session for some reasons:

i've been following closely the development of this fantastic tool that is pem editor. i started using doug hennig's "add property" and "add method" replacements since i got my vfp9, and also tried the first version of the "properties and methods dialog replacement" from marcia akins. if you look at the current version of the pem editor, you'll see that it kept almost nothing from the first version. for sure the work from doug and marcia was essential for what we have today in the pem editor.

jim's work on this tool is frenetic, crazy, insane. sometimes he delivers 10 versions of that tool on the same day. he sends many emails, bringing tons of ideas and discussions... man, sometimes for me that's impossible to follow his thoughts :-). he's always adding lots of new possibilities to this fantastic tool. another point is that he is always open to new suggestions, and never refused a challenge.  lucky me to have him as a friend, and the whole community to receive pem editor as a must-have tool for free, and in constant development.

that said, i confess that although being at the email list from jim, that he uses to discuss his tool, i didn't know more than 30% of what it was capable to do and ease my life. so, definitely, the main reason to attend to that session was to better know about the tool;

and secondly, i was excited to attend to a session from cathy pountney. i like a reports a lot, and her inumerous articles, books and blogs have been my reference for years. i didn't find anything that i wanted to do with a report that cathy hasn't shown yet. i'm a very big fan of her work.

and she didn't disappoint me. she did very well, showing the most important features of peme. most of all i didn't know. some others when i heared about i thought i would never use, but seeing cathy bringing those features and showing cool ways to use them, i was completely rendered. i was so glad to have attended to this session, because i feel that i would have never managed to know all the features she presented.

if you would expect me to tell you about the features of pem editor, i'm sorry to disapoint you, because i can't. there are endless utilities, impossible to list them. i just can tell you that i use it all the time ! more info at the links below:

related links:

pem editor at vfpx

pem editor blog  new !

SWFOX - The KeyNote session

so finally, at thursday night, the conference would officially begin !

that was the first moment when i had the oportunity to meet all the participants together. it was really nice finally meeting all mu gurus and friends from the fox community with whom i've been exchanging messages in forums and in private for years!

in the first part of the session they provided some important information about how the conference works, etc.

then, it was my priviledge to see the vfpx administrators award going to jim nelson and francis faure for their contributions to the vfp community through their projects on vfpx, the pem editor and the vfp9 help file. both projects are essential, i use them all the time! specially for the case of jim nelson, i was truly pleased to see his work being recognized. thanks to vfpx, i had the oportunity to know jim. since the first steps of foxcharts, jim took an important part, providing lots of suggestions, fixes, introducing new features, and even creating a separate tool, to help people to use foxcharts with simplicity. foxcharts was too small for him, and he needed to fly by himself. and fortunately i had the oportunity to follow his steps from the beginning developing the fantastic tool that is pem editor. having the oportunity to meet jim in person was one of the highlights of the whole conference.

next, me and bernard were introduced to the audience as the 2010 ceil silver ambassadors. thanks a lot to all people who contributed to this fund, and invited me. it was a great priviledge and honor to be there with you. i have no words to express how happy i am for having the oportunity to attend swfox !

then, finally the pink panther, craig boyd came to the scene, whith a very funny and energetic speech, that you'd better see by yourself: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/swfoxtv

apart from that some prizes were offered to some of the attendants, and we all left the main room very excited and enthusiasted for the great conference that had just begun ! most people stayed at the corridors, at the bar and pool talking. for me, it was time to sleep, after 2 long flights.

SWFOX - Preparing for the conference

it was with great surprise that in last july i received an invitation from tamar, rick and doug to participate in the swfox conference this year, as ceil silver ambassador. i was really not expecting to be invited again ( i could not attend last year).

as i told the organizers, i truly don't know what they've seen in me, but i apreciate that ! of course i couldn't miss this time. i've been hearing and reading so many good things about that event, that i had to see and feel it by myself.

since the moment when i accepted the invitation, i started receiving many emails from them, providing all types of informations about the conference. the location, hotel, airport, the sessions, the authors, even the weather ! when we started to get close to the week of the conference, the messages became more frequent. always with relevant information, specially for a newcommer like me.

i started feeling excited like if the conference was already starting, for sure that was a great warmup ! these guys are unbelievably organized. two weeks before the conference almost all the materials from the sessions were available at an ftp server, for us to download.

it was sooooo nice to have access to these materials, i printed the ones that most interested me, and now you know that i had lots of things to read during my 18 hours since i left home and arrived in arizona. the quality of the materials is really impressive. these articles are super detailed and provided me an excellent oportunity to get a first contact with the subjects, specially for a foreigner.

the flights were tiring, but without surprises, what is really good :-d. when i finally reached phoenix, on thursday at 11, what a vip reception ! therese schummer was waiting for me and bernard at the baggage claim at the airport to take us directly to gilbert, at the san tan elegante conference center. therese was very kind, and provided the first information about the conference, etc... it was really cool to meet bernard at the airport. that's so crazy, we've been exchanging lots of messages in foxite and in private, and i though i would never have the pleasure to meet him in person.

having reached the hotel, me and bernard finally had the oportunity to meet tamar, doug and rick at the conference. these guys were so warm and hepful! from them we received lots of materials about the conference: a cd, some great books, and a conference guide - not just a simple guide, but a book ! with several information about everything ! i got really impressed, again and again... at that moment, the pre-conference was already running, and we took some time to rest from the flights, and waited for the beginning of the conference, at the key note session, later at night.