Page last updated: December 27, 1999.

Cycla Corporation
Year 2000 Compliance Information

General Compliance

In general, all Cycla software applications based on Microsoft FoxPro and Visual FoxPro are Year 2000 compliant. This is because:


[Note: Cycla is also continually investigating the compliance of its own internal network and Internet connection. This affects only those systems that are hosted on Cycla's servers. The status of this examination is presented in the section entitled Cycla Network below.]

Analysis of Cycla Software Systems Vulnerability

The following table shows general Y2K areas of concern and Cycla's assessment of any vulnerabilities:

Area of Potential Concern Cycla Vulnerability Analysis
Data Storage: Date information may be stored using 2 digit years, such that upon reaching 2000, date values become ambiguous. All Cycla systems that store specific date values use Visual FoxPro's DBF format, which stores complete (4-digit) year information.
Conclusion: No Vulnerability
Date Sorting: There is a potential for functions that index or sort data in date order to place dates after 2000 prior to 1999. Where sorting is done using the actual date data type, there is no issue for the same reason as that for data storage. In general, however, to support concatentation with other data types in sort sequences, Cycla has used the Visual FoxPro DTOS() function, which converts any date to a YYYYMMDD 8-character string. Such strings are impervious to Y2K issues, and even to other problems, such as local settings of date format (i.e., European vs. American). This DTOS() conversion is enforced within Cycla's framework by default on all date fields.
Conclusion: No Vulnerability
Date Arithmetic: If dates are stored (or converted at runtime) to any format with ambiguity as to year, the potential for incorrect date arithmetic exists. Any date calculations in Cycla's systems use the "date" data type, which is Y2K-compliant.
Conclusion: No Vulnerability
2-Digit Data Entry Ambiguity: Data entry forms that receive dates with 2-digit years as "input masks" ("xx/xx/xx") may cause data entry errors, or even prevent users from entering dates after 12/31/1999. Further, even if entered properly, such a form would only show the final 2 digits, thus preventing the user from reviewing the accuracy of the data. The Cycla framework always uses the SET CENTURY ON and the SET DATE AMERICAN command, which forces all dates without specific input masks to a default of "mm/dd/yyyy". Custom input masks (that could override this default) are never used on date fields. Cycla has reviewed 2 of its systems thorougly, and not found a single instance with a 2-digit year in an input form.
Conclusion: No Vulnerability
2000 as Leap Year: Some systems may not represent the year 2000 as a leap year, thus thinking the day after 02/28/2000 is 03/01/2000. (Note: 1900 was not a leap year.) All versions of FoxPro and Visual FoxPro used by Cycla correctly represent 2000 as a leap year. For example, issuing this command:
? {02/28/2000} + 1
yields the result: 02/29/2000.
Conclusion: No Vulnerability
2-Digit Years in Output Reports: If output reports show only the final 2 digits of a year, then there may be ambiguity as to century. (That is, does "06/01/50" refer to 1950 or 2050?) As stated above, Cycla's framework always uses SET CENTURY ON. For output, this means that, unless specialized formatting were applied to a given field, it would display with 4-digit years shown. (Aside: If the field were visually truncated, say limited to 8 character in width, the right-most digits would truncate, vs. losing the century information. This would be immediately obvious.)
Conclusion: No Vulnerability
Non-compliant Hardware: Some workstations or PCs have older system clocks and BIOS systems that cannot properly recognize the year 2000. Conclusion: Computers whose internal system clock cannot properly distinguish the 4-digit years, should not be used for data entry purposes running Cycla software after 12/31/1999. Note: This does not apply to browsers of Web applications, since all date manipulation and formatting is done on the Web server machine(s).

Important Note: Cycla does not provide hardware for its systems, and is not responsible for limitations caused by inadequate hardware. Further, Cycla suspects that most other software applications will have significant problems, or even be unusable if run on such machines after 12/31/1999.

Embedded Systems: Non-compliant software embedded in other equipment (e.g., routers and hubs) may manipulate date information incorrectly. Conclusion: Administrators should verify that all such systems in their infrastructure are compliant. Given connectivity with the Web server, all manipulation is performed on that server without reference to date information supplied or manipulated by other embedded systems.

Important Note: Cycla does not provide the network equipment on which its systems operate, and is not responsible for limitations caused by inadequate hardware. Further, Cycla suspects that any such problem would manifest itself in the complete prevention of user connectivity (as opposed hidden problems) after 12/31/1999.

Web Browser Issues: In web-based systems, non-Y2K-compliant browsers on the client end could cause problems, in particular with systems that use "permanent cookies" to help store "state" information during user web site navigation. Cycla has seen that older versions of Netscape Navigator cannot handle cookie expiration dates after the year 2010. Cycla seldom has control over client Web browser selection. Further, since most browser software is virtually free, and this problem manifests itself only in the application "forgetting" user preferences or denying certain functions to just users with non-compliant browsers, there is no hidden vulnerability. For its systems that use cookies (vs. authentication schemes), Cycla specifies 12-31-2010 as "forever", thus ensuring these systems will work with most older mainstream browsers for at least 12 more years. (This is an easy setting to change, once the browsers in use have all addressed this issue.)
Conclusion: No Hidden Vulnerability. Clients should avoid use of 2.X versions of Netscape Navigator after 12-31-1999.
Microsoft Issues: Microsoft rates Visual FoxPro 2.6 as "compliant with minor issues" and Visual FoxPro 5.0 as "compliant", but lists some specific suggestions for developers. Conclusion: The specific issues/suggestions consist of:
  1. Avoiding LUPDATE() function. Analysis: Cycla does not use this function.
  2. Avoiding CTOD() to format date data with 2-digit years. Analysis: Already covered above.
  3. Don't SET CENTURY OFF. Analysis: Already covered above.
  4. Proper use of date constants. Analysis: Cycla, as a matter of course does not use date constants. A review of a sample of Cycla's code modules found no date constants. Further, it is noted that these constants are most susceptible to systems where local settings can change the SET DATE format or the SET CENTURY settings. In Cycla systems, these cannot be changed by the client.

Conclusion: No Vulnerability

Suggested Client Actions

For clients who maintain systems based on Cycla's Level 5 framework library and methods, suggested changes are delineated on a separate page.

Cycla Network Readiness

 The following is the status of Cycla's review of Year 2000 compliance for its own network and Internet connectivity. This impacts only those systems hosted by Cycla.
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