docs: community-driven roadmap for v1.4.0 and v1.5.0

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,20 @@ Versions follow [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/) — minor bump per su
 
 ---
 
+## [Unreleased] — v1.4.0 in progress
+
+Direction for v1.4.0 and v1.5.0 is set by what people who shipped xBase software for a living
+asked for after seeing v1.0.0 — see [`docs/roadmap-v1.4-v1.5.md`](docs/roadmap-v1.4-v1.5.md).
+The short version: xBase shipped the developer's tools *with* the app, so the end user could
+change their own forms and reports. WebBase-III has the report designer but no form designer.
+v1.4.0 adds the screen painter and a catalog; v1.5.0 publishes an app to a URL.
+
+### Added
+- `docs/roadmap-v1.4-v1.5.md` — community-driven roadmap, citing the Show HN and
+  r/retrocomputing threads it came from.
+
+---
+
 ## [1.3.0] — 2026-07-13
 
 ### Added

CLAUDE.md

@@ -366,6 +366,32 @@ Beyond-parity work lands on the milestone's own `release/vX.Y.Z` line.
   grouped report, CSV export (#46) ✅
 - ~~`DATEADD()` built-in~~ — day arithmetic; W3Script had none (#52) ✅
 
+### Beyond parity (v1.3.0)
+
+- ~~`LOOKUP` column qualifier~~ — declare a column's legal values (live table or literal list),
+  enforced by `REPLACE`/`grid-edit`, rendered as a dropdown in BROWSE and forms (#58, #60) ✅
+- ~~Field-bound `@ SAY GET`~~ — a `GET` naming a table column binds to the record, prefills
+  from it, and `READ` writes it back all-or-nothing (#59) ✅
+- ~~Demos adopt lookups + Assistant wizard support~~ (#61, #62) ✅
+
+### The community roadmap (v1.4.0 → v1.5.0)
+
+**Full doc: [`docs/roadmap-v1.4-v1.5.md`](docs/roadmap-v1.4-v1.5.md)** — read it before planning
+work on these milestones; it records *why*, with citations.
+
+The direction is no longer "what did dBASE III have". It comes from what people who shipped
+xBase software for a living said after the [Show HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48656986)
+and [r/retrocomputing](https://old.reddit.com/r/retrocomputing/comments/1ue8k6s/) threads:
+xBase shipped the *developer's tools with the app*, so the end user could open the screen
+painter and report writer and change their own forms — "still unmatched", per a 25-year
+FoxPro ISV. WebBase-III has a report designer and `BROWSE`; it has **no form designer**.
+
+- **v1.4.0 — the screen painter.** `CREATE SCREEN`/`MODIFY SCREEN` (visual `@ SAY GET`
+  designer that emits editable W3Script), a **catalog** grouping tables/screens/reports/programs
+  into a named application, and the Assistant's JOIN + work-area wizards (#34).
+- **v1.5.0 — ship it.** Publish a catalog as an app to a URL: FoxPro's distribution kit, except
+  distribution in 2026 is a link. The tools ship with the app.
+
 ## Boolean literals
 
 Both styles accepted: `TRUE`/`FALSE` and `.T.`/`.TRUE.`/`.F.`/`.FALSE.` (dBASE III style). Output always uses `.T.`/`.F.`. Logical operators likewise: `NOT`/`.NOT.`, `AND`/`.AND.`, `OR`/`.OR.`.

docs/roadmap-v1.4-v1.5.md

@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+# Roadmap — v1.4.0 and v1.5.0
+
+*Written 2026-07-13, the day v1.3.0 shipped.*
+
+Parity was finished at v1.0.0. Everything since (`TIME` columns, cell validation, `LOOKUP`
+columns, field-bound `@ SAY GET`) has been small, careful deviation from dBASE III in the
+direction of "less painful". This document is the first roadmap that isn't driven by what
+dBASE III had — it's driven by what people who *actually shipped xBase software for a living*
+said they miss, after WebBase-III was shown to them.
+
+## Where the direction came from
+
+Two threads, both June 2026:
+
+- **Show HN**, 2026-06-24 — 96 points, 27 comments:
+  <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48656986>
+- **r/retrocomputing**, ~2026-06-24:
+  <https://old.reddit.com/r/retrocomputing/comments/1ue8k6s/>
+
+They did not ask for more dBASE III. They asked, repeatedly and independently, for one
+specific thing — and it is not a feature, it is a *property of the environment*.
+
+> "One of the very cool things Fox allow us was to ship their ability to `CREATE FORM,
+> CREATE REPORT, BROWSE, etc` so the users can customize the app with the same power as us.
+> This is one of the most important advantages of ERPs and such made with Fox and **is still
+> unmatched**."
+>
+> — [mamcx, HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687809) (building [tablam.org](https://tablam.org) out of the same conviction)
+
+> "if the ERP allows the customer to do their own custom reports and forms… they won't pay
+> you extra customization fees?"
+>
+> — [nottorp, HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48688871) — the joke that names the business reason this capability disappeared
+
+> "Loved doing xbase coding back in the day as it had **everything all in one tool**.
+> Especially when you added in SQL, form and report builders. Foxpro even had a distribution
+> kit to compile to an .exe."
+>
+> — garyk1968, [r/retrocomputing](https://old.reddit.com/r/retrocomputing/comments/1ue8k6s/)
+
+> "you have to wonder if maybe some of these tools could be useful again. With the increased
+> power of modern computers, and some additions of modern technology like a web UI, HTTP
+> support for data access… We could be entering a new age of building our own tools."
+>
+> — [jdswain, HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48692500)
+
+> "I'm not nostalgic about the tech of those years, but I definitely think that **we unlearned
+> a few things along the way**."
+>
+> — [myth2018, HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687266)
+
+### The thesis
+
+xBase's real advantage was never the dot prompt. It was that **the tools that built the app
+shipped with the app**. The person using the software could open the screen painter and the
+report writer and change their own forms and reports, with the same power the developer had.
+Modern web software took that away and never gave it back — and `mamcx`, who has been doing
+this for 25+ years, says it is *still unmatched*.
+
+WebBase-III is one component short of being able to demonstrate that. It has the language,
+the editable grid (`BROWSE`), the report engine and designer, and the Assistant's wizards.
+**It has no form designer.** Forms exist only if you hand-write `@ SAY GET` into a `.prg`.
+
+So:
+
+- **v1.4.0 gives the end user the developer's tools** — the screen painter, plus a catalog to
+  hold an application together.
+- **v1.5.0 lets you hand the whole thing to someone** — an app, published to a URL. FoxPro's
+  distribution kit, except distribution in 2026 is a link.
+
+That order matters. The screen painter is what makes an app *buildable* by its user; app
+publishing is what makes one worth building.
+
+---
+
+## v1.4.0 — The screen painter
+
+> Give the end user the same power as the developer.
+> [Milestone 5](https://github.com/DDecoene/WebBaseIII/milestone/5)
+
+### `CREATE SCREEN` / `MODIFY SCREEN` — a visual form designer
+
+The centrepiece, and the single most-requested capability across both threads. A visual
+designer for `@ SAY GET` forms on the character-cell grid, which **generates real W3Script**
+you can then open in the program editor and edit by hand. dBASE III+ had a screen painter;
+FoxPro had `CREATE FORM`; WebBase-III has neither.
+
+Design constraints that fall out of what already exists:
+
+- Output is `@ r,c SAY "…" GET <field>` source, not an opaque binary. The generated form must
+  be readable, editable, and re-openable in the designer — a round trip, the way `MODIFY
+  STRUCTURE` already round-trips a schema.
+- Field-bound `GET`s (shipped in v1.3.0, #59) already bind to the active table's columns,
+  prefill from the record, validate on submit, and render a picker for `LOOKUP` columns. The
+  designer's job is to *place* them, not to reinvent binding.
+- Screens are stored like programs and reports are: server-side, in `data/system.sqlite3`
+  (see `ProgramStore.ts` / `ReportStore.ts` for the shape).
+
+### Catalog — hold an application together
+
+`garyk1968` named dBASE IV's catalog manager specifically. A catalog groups tables, screens,
+reports and programs into one named *application*, so a WebBase-III app is a thing with a
+name rather than a loose pile of objects in a database. It is also the natural unit of
+publishing, which is what v1.5.0 needs.
+
+### Assistant: JOIN + work areas (#34)
+
+Already open, already on this milestone. The Assistant catalog exposes no work-area state, so
+the `JOIN` and `SET RELATION` wizards can't offer real dropdowns. Closes the last gap between
+the sidebar and the REPL language.
+
+---
+
+## v1.5.0 — Ship it
+
+> Publish an app to a URL.
+> [Milestone 6](https://github.com/DDecoene/WebBaseIII/milestone/6)
+
+FoxPro shipped a **distribution kit** that compiled your app to an `.exe` you could hand to a
+customer (`garyk1968`). That is the piece that made xBase a way to *deliver software*, not
+just to write it. The 2026 equivalent is not an `.exe` — it is a link.
+
+Export a catalog (its tables, screens, reports and programs) as a portable app, and open it
+from a URL. The person on the other end gets a working data application — and, because
+v1.4.0 shipped the screen painter and the report designer *with* it, they get the tools to
+change it too. That is the whole thesis, executed: the tools ship with the app.
+
+This is also the milestone that earns a second Show HN. v1.3.0 does not — HN treats a point
+release as a repost, and the first Show HN did well enough (96 points) to count as
+significant attention. *"Build a database app in your browser, then send someone the link"*
+is a headline. *"v1.4.0 is out"* is not.
+
+---
+
+## Explicitly not doing
+
+- **`.DBF` file import.** Off the table, and nobody in either thread actually asked for it —
+  that was an assumption, not a finding. Revisit only if real users ask.
+- **Being useful.** [nutifafa asked what the use case was](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48690733) and the honest answer stands: there
+  isn't one. It's a toy, a piece of history revived. The features above are chosen because
+  they make it a *better* toy and because they demonstrate an argument worth making — not
+  because WebBase-III is bidding to run anyone's business.

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "webbase-iii",
-  "version": "1.3.0",
+  "version": "1.4.0",
   "description": "dBASE III is back. In your browser. USE customers like it's 1984.",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",