PowerBuilder Editorial:
The State of the State
Back in 2002, Sybase
announced their
four-phase ap
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Bruce Armstrong
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Bruce Armstrong is a development lead with Integrated Data Services (www.get-integrated.com). A member of TeamSybase, he has been using PowerBuilder since version 1.0.B. He was a contributing author to SYS-CON's PowerBuilder 4.0 Secrets of the Masters and the editor of SAMs' PowerBuilder 9: Advanced Client/Server Development.
Back in 2002, Sybase
announced their
four-phase approach
toward adding .NET
support to PowerBuilder.
Phase 1 was the
implementation of web
services in PB9 and Phase
2 was the release of
DataWindow.NET, which was
packaged with PB 10.
Phases 3 and 4 were the
more ...
If that doesn't ring a
bell, it's from the
Reagan / Carter debates
in the 1980 election
cycle. Carter had
presented a string of
criticisms of Reagan's
positions, which Reagan
pretty much dismissed
with that statement. Back
in the heyday of
client/server
developm...
I received an e-mail from
a loyal reader recently
complaining that the
magazine was no longer
'primarily about
PowerBuilder.' The charge
is actually true and,
despite the title of this
column, is not
particularly new. In
fact, we had an editorial
eight years ago
...
Well, if you listened to
Rob Enderle of Enderle
Group (www2.sdtimes.com/p
df/SDTimesBackIssues/sdti
mes184.pdf) you might
think that Rapid
Application Development
(RAD) is dead or dying.
However, I think it's
important to distinguish
between two different
things tha...
PBDJ's readers ask us
from time to time what
the most popular article
in the magazine has been
over recent years. We are
delighted to report that
the answer is that it is
one by our very own and
much loved
editor-in-chief, Bruce
Armstrong. We first
published it in...
That isn't, by the way, a
Chinese curse. The phrase
'may you live in
interesting times' (which
became popular after
Robert Kennedy used it in
a speech in 1966)
probably originated from
a 1950's science fiction
story. Regardless of its
roots though, we find
ourselv...
Or well, perhaps it just
seems that way. Like the
Dilbert strip where
aliens kidnap the PHB and
one of them impersonates
him. They all notice
because he's suddenly
more competent and
caring, so they don't
report it. Sybase
released PowerBuilder
11.0 in June of 200...
This year TechWave 2007
took place at Mandalay
Bay in Las Vegas. For
those of you who didn't
make it, the following is
a recap of the events,
with a couple of thoughts
and suggestions thrown
in. Officially the only
thing going on Sunday was
conference registration. ...
It's been the bane of
PowerBuilder development
since day one. You have a
DataWindow that contains
one or more text blocks
that, when previewed for
printing or printed, span
a page boundary. The
result: the DataWindow
incorrectly handles
portions of the text. You
m...
As I've mentioned
previously, TechWave 2007
was (IMHO) one of the
best TechWaves we've had
in years. Nonetheless,
there is always room for
improvement. I've made
some specific comments in
my blog, but there are a
few general suggestions
that are the most
important...
Microsoft recently
released the Interop
Forms Toolkit 2.0 in
order to allow
'developers to
incorporate VB.NET Forms
and Controls into their
VB6 applications' (www.mi
crosoft.com/downloads/det
ails.aspx?FamilyID=934de3
c5-dc85-4065-9327-96801e5
7b81d&DisplayLang=en). 
Novalys released Visual
Guard for PB11. This tool
secures PowerBuilder 11
applications and supports
.NET Winform and ASP .NET
Web forms deployment.
Microsoft recently
released the Interop
Forms Toolkit 2.0 in
order to allow
'developers to
incorporate VB.NET Forms
and Controls into their
VB6 applications' (www.mi
crosoft.com/downloads/det
ails.aspx? FamilyID=934d
e3c5-dc85-4065-9327-96801
e57b81d&DisplayLang=en). 
As with previous
TechWaves, there are once
again a number of
changes. The most obvious
one is that this year's
event is at the Mandalay
Bay Resort and Casino
rather than Caesar's
Palace. While not the
complete move out of
Vegas that I was hoping
for, at least it's an
improvement. 
It will come as a
surprise to no one that
PowerBuilder's native
graphing capabilities are
somewhat lacking. Even
the Define Graph Style
dialog for the DataWindow
graph style seems to have
been left out of the GUI
update in PowerBuilder
10.5 (see Figure 1).
Forget ...
What do you want to see
in PowerBuilder 12?
That's not just my
question for you this
month, it's also Sybase's
question for you as well.
Two things demonstrate
that. The first is the
recent invitation to
participate in a survey
by Sue Dunnell,
PowerBuilder's produ...
Back in August of 2006, I
wrote an article about
calling .NET components
from PowerBuilder using
COM wrappers (i.e., CCW).
Since I was basing it on
a registry entry
approach, the technique
demonstrated required the
component to be added to
the GAC, which in turn
r...
Every few years somebody
winds up the
'PowerBuilder is dead'
argument, and every few
years we beat it down
again. This time it's
Mary Brandel of
ComputerWorld and her
list of the 'top 10 dead
(or dying) computer
skills' (www.computerworl
d.com/action/article.do?c
...
Back in late 2002 I wrote
an article on creating
Web Services using
PowerBuilder
('Implementing
PowerBuilder-Based Web
Services from
PowerDynamo' http://pbdj.
sys-con.com/read/42210.ht
m). It was based on a
PowerBuilder 8.0
component deployed to
EAServer called fr...
I just recently (finally)
upgraded to a Wii, and I
only had to pay about $50
over retail on an auction
site to get it. Good luck
trying to find one in the
LA area; most stores told
me it would be at least a
month before they had
more. Then try finding
accessories on...
Just over a year ago
PowerBuilder 10.5 was
about to release and we
looked at the top 10.5
reasons to move to that
version. In that same
vein, I'm going to look
at the top 11 reasons to
consider PowerBuilder
11.0, which is just about
to hit the street. This
time I'...
Over the years we've been
offered, either by Sybase
or by third-party
companies, a number of
'move PowerBuilder to the
Web' offerings. Focusing
specifically on those
offered by Sybase, we
were first offered
Web.pb. It was provided
as a set of libraries
with PowerB...
(OK, let me start off by
acknowledging that in the
literary work I am
alluding to, Juliet is
not asking this question
because she's looking for
Romeo. She's actually
lamenting that he comes
from the rival family.
But it's so commonly
misunderstood that I
thought i...
About this time of year
folks make their
predictions about what's
coming up in the New
Year. Not to be left out,
here's mine, along with
my thoughts on what these
events will mean for you.
New features of this
release include the
DataWindow Designer
Visual Studio Plug-in.
This is a set of plug-ins
for Microsoft Visual
Studio 2005. It enables
users to design
DataWindow objects
directly in Visual Studio
instead of in the
standalone DataWindow
Design...
It may be a bit early,
but I have a New Year's
resolution I'd like to
propose to Sybase: 'No
more 80% solutions.' What
is an 80% solution? It's
a technology approach
that seems well conceived
and when used with small
demonstration
applications (e.g., beta
testing) works well.
It took me a while to
mull over what I thought
about the conference, but
the following is my take
on it. This year at
TechWave the Game Show
was held during the
reception, where food and
drink were served. In a
similar mode, many of the
meals were served in the
ex...
I went to TechWave a bit
early because TeamSybase
was holding their
reception on Saturday
evening. At the reception
TeamSybase initiated
several new members. If
you'd like to view some
of the video from the
super-secret initiation
ceremony, go to www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=Vq0VbTrjld
8 
I used to implement SMTP
for PowerBuilder using a
PBNI class that used P.J.
Naughter's
CPJNSMTPConnection MFC
class to do the heavy
lifting. Well, .NET 2.0
changes all that. One of
the new features of .NET
2.0 is the introduction
of a SMTPClient class.
One of the ...
Welcome to TechWave 2006!
The structure of the
conference has changed
significantly this year.
The two- and four-day
a.m. education courses
are gone, at least in
that format. This year
what were the two-day
classes are given in a
single five-hour session
on either...
PowerBuilder Developer
Resources released
PBDelta version 5.2.0.
This new version includes
PowerBuilder 10.5 support
including new icons and
menus. 
PowerBuilder has almost
entirely lost mind share.
In order to reintroduce
PowerBuilder to a new
generation of developers,
Sybase should treat it
like a new product. When
it was originally being
developed, PowerSoft used
the product internally
and also partnered with...
Sybase announced the
availability of Sybase
PowerBuilder 10.5, the
next-generation rapid
application development
tool. PowerBuilder 10.5
features key
functionality
enhancements and improves
the DataWindow, an
industry leading patented
data access,
presentation, ...
One of the first things
you'll notice when you
open up the
File->New->DataWindow
dialog in DataWindow
Designer 2.0 is the new
TreeView DataWindow
presentation style (see
Figure 1). Once you've
double-clicked on that,
you'll see the same
series of dialogs that
yo...
PBDR.com announced a
major upgrade of PBDoc to
version 3.0. PBDoc is a
tool for generating
professional
documentation directly
from PowerBuilder source
code. 
Two of the biggest
launches in Rich Internet
Application history took
place in 2007/2008 when
Adobe launched AIR 1.0 in
February '08 and
Microsoft launched
Silverlight (September
'07). At the 6th
International AJAXWorld
RIA Conference & Expo in
October SYS-CON Events is
delighted to be
In PowerBuilder 11.2,
.NET meets J2EE head-on
with the capability to
deploy .NET Windows Forms
and Web Forms
applications (as well as
assemblies and Web
Services) that access
Enterprise JavaBeans
(EJBs) in Sybase's own
EAServer. As you'll see
over the course of this
article, integratin
HarPB is a specialized
utility for checking
PowerBuilder source
objects in and out of
AllFusion Harvest. It
handles the special
requirements of checking
objects out to
PowerBuilder Libraries
(PBLs) and checking
objects in from PBLs.
These operations are
non-standard to most
source cont
I have been asked many
times by various clients,
students, and the IT
curious about
PowerBuilder: When did
Sybase develop the
product and how did it
evolve? I keep telling
this story and answering
e-mails on the subject. I
am now to the point where
I have decided that I
should have PBD
PowerBuilder 11 deploys
entire applications as
.NET Windows Form or Web
Form applications and
deploys individual
components as .NET
Assemblies and as .NET
Web Services. Version 11
consumes resources of the
default .NET framework as
well as resources of
custom developer-defined
.NET res
I began my career at RCA
Aerospace and Defense in
1983 and worked at MITRE
Corp., BAE Systems, and
the State of NH. I worked
in the defense field
performing software