Software:VP-Info

VP-Info is a database language for the personal computer. VP-Info was a competitor to the Clipper and dBase applications in the late 1980's and 1990s. VP-Info runs on MS-DOS, DR-DOS and the PC-MOS/386 operating system. It can be run on modern computers using an emulator such as DOSBox. The last release of VP-Info was named Shark, or "Sharkbase".

VP-Info can read and write all the common dBase/Clipper file formats, as well as exchange data with OpenOffice. VP-Info can read and write any type of dbf files (e.g. dBase II,III,IV, Clipper) at the same time. Unlike the older dBase file formats, VP-Info dbf files can have an unlimited number of records. VP-Info has a built-in compiler for fast execution.

An online User's Manual for the latest distribution of VP-Info, Sharkbase, is still maintained. VP-Info, and subsequent Sharkbase versions, can run on Windows 7 & 8 using the SVN version of the DOSBox MS-DOS emulator, and it can also run on multi-user/multi-tasking systems with NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NBT). VP-Info dbf files can be opened and saved by Apache Open Office using Open Office Calc.

VP-Info is well-suited to running under DOSbox since it's not dependent on DOS-type printer ports for output. VP-Info is stable and reliable on DOSbox, with no known problems. Although DOSbox doesn't handle printed output, all VP-Info output can be spooled to text files, thereby completely bypassing the DOSbox hardware limitations. The text files can then be printed using the newer O/S of the host machine.

An complete online VP-Info/Shark Reference Guide and User's Manual is available at: http://www.intelligentwebware.com/SHARK/shark-ref.html