DataFlex Asia Pacific Conference 2017 Field Report

“DAPCON 2017, the DataFlex conference in Australasia, was once again a great success!" Marco Kuipers, Managing Director, 28 IT DataFlex Specialist Consultancy

The DataFlex Asia Pacific Conference (DAPCON) recently concluded, once again bringing developers together for the annual event to get up to speed with the latest functionality of DataFlex products, exchange ideas, participate in training and "have a great time!" Marco Kuipers, Managing Director of 28 IT DataFlex Specialist Consultancy and a DAPCON board member, fills us in on the event happenings…

DAPCON 2017 Conference, Sydney, Australia

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA -- DAPCON 2017, the DataFlex conference in Australasia, was once again a great success! A total of 27 attendees joined Data Access’ CTO John Tuohy and Senior Programmer John van Houten for 4 days in Sydney.

On day one, John van Houten trained 16 attendees on the DataFlex Web/Mobile framework with some extra attention to what’s new in DataFlex 2017/19.0. That evening, Triumph Business Systems’ Michael Macliver organised a Puzzle tour with teams of 3 traversing through Sydney visiting some 6 bars before ending in a restaurant in the Rocks.

On day two at the morning training, John Tuohy showed his skill in explaining something new and challenging - condensing into bite sized pieces for the 19 attendees a digestible explanation of JSON, character conversions, and why we should care. In the afternoon, I jumped into the fray and trained this same group on DataFlex Reports, showcasing its power and readiness, especially using the new Runtime Data Source. In the evening, we all enjoyed the welcome drinks with nibbles in a partitioned area of the fantastic hotel bar at Rydges World Square. Everybody enjoyed the mingling as a social catch-up, as well as discussing what we have achieved as DataFlex developers over the last year and what’s next on our list.

Data Access’ John Tuohy at DAPCON 2017

Day three was the first day of the conference presentations. Nine sessions from six presenters showed 21 developers a range of DataFlex techniques such as DataFlex 19.0’s SQL connections, pay gate web services, large data storage in SQL using uChar’s, embedding HTML editors in Windows DataFlex, and using the latest DataFlex 19.0 controls.

The evening was shared between the Australian Footy League semi-final and our conference dinner. (The dinner was a great success! However, the footy was a success only for the Adelaide guys; not so much for the hopes of Geelong…) All in all, another great evening shared amongst fellow DataFlex developers! The last day of the conference started with a remote presentation by Data Access’ Vice President of Development Stephen Meeley, who last year joined DAPCON in-person and just could not stay away this year (or at least that is what we like to think!).

Dinner at DAPCON 2017

The day showed eight sessions ranging from a further overview of "What’s New in DataFlex 19.0," to practical use of the JSON class, using ADO for SQL, developing large mobile touch applications, web services and scripting tools for the developer toolkit. The conference closed at 5pm on Saturday and the journey back home began…

We can all look back on another great conference which the organizing committee of eight has again put on tirelessly for the last 18 consecutive years. A huge thanks to Data Access Worldwide for supporting the training and 50% of the presentations, as well as assisting with marketing and creating energy and buzz around the event. Without their support, this event would not be the success it is today.

If you have not attended a DAPCON (formerly Corroboree) before, consider attending next year - most likely October 2018 in Sydney. We hope to see you there!