Cover Story

The Transition to Cloud Computing: What Does It Mean For You?

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:45:00 EST

We are standing on the threshold of a new transition in information technology and communications; a radical departure from current practice that promises to bring us new levels of efficiency at a vastly reduced cost. Cloud computing is full of potential, bursting with opportunity and within our grasp. But, remember, that clouds always appear to be within our grasp and bursting clouds promise only one thing: rain!

A Rules Engine Built in PowerBuilder

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:00:00 EST

BPEL is a mystery to me. EbXML? Sorry, not a clue. These things, of course, are about defining and executing business rules and processes in enterprise application servers. On my travels through the world of PowerBuilder applications I’ve frequently come across the need for business rules to be implemented in the applications I’ve been working on.

PowerDesigner 15: Expanding Data Modeling into Your Enterprise

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EDT

In today’s business world change is a constant and companies need to ensure that they keep up with that change. Whether the change is an opportunistic response to new conditions – requirements, regulations, market conditions, a merger/acquisition – or a major transformation, companies need the power to succeed and that power is knowledge.

PowerBuilder and .NET: Development Strategy

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:30:00 EDT

Nowadays .NET has become a mainstream programming platform. To be inline with PowerBuilder’s .NET deployment and .NET development strategy, the PowerScript language will be enhanced to be a true CLS-compliant .NET language in PowerBuilder 12. Users will be able to consume and extend any CLS-compliant .NET resource, thereby saving them a lot of development time.

Supporting Oracle Failover in PowerBuilder Applications

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:15:00 EDT

Oracle has provided support for failing over database connections and, through Transparent Application Failover (TAF), doing so in a way that allows connected applications to continue functioning relatively uninterrupted during and after the failover. The connected application has to work with the Oracle client layer to participate in the failover, rather than just erroring out when the original connection is lost.

Make Your Design Ideas Speak: Using UML in PowerBuilder Projects

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:30:00 EDT

A picture is worth a thousand words. We all have heard this saying a countless number of times. But what if you don’t understand what is drawn in the picture? I was approached once with a request to review requirements specifications for some module. The document contained a scheme that represented the place of the module within the system. The picture was mainly made of rectangles and arrows.

PowerBuilder Developer's View of SQL Anywhere DBMS – Part 2

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:13:00 EST

For this article I'll focus on SQL Anywhere version 10 and PowerBuilder 11.0. Some of the features reviewed may not be supported in previous versions of these software releases. In Part 1 I discussed the installation of SQL Anywhere, developing a schema, and the Database Painter. In Part 2 I will continue the discussion on the Database Painter as well as tracking database changes.

PowerBuilder's .NET Strategy

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:30:00 EST

.NET has become a mainstream programming platform. To be in line with PowerBuilder's .NET strategy (.NET deployment and .NET development), PB11 introduced many .NET-related features: its .NET compiler enables users to develop .NET Windows Forms (including SmartClient) applications and ASP.NET Web Forms (including AJAX-enabled) applications with functionality similar to PB’s native pcode compiler.

PBDJ Feature: Take Control of Your GUI

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST

One of the biggest complaints I hear about PowerBuilder is how the applications developed with it end up looking old and outdated. PowerBuilder allows developers to create complicated, robust, and efficient business applications. What it doesn't do is offer an effective presentation. Sometimes lackluster presentation can hurt an application's marketability. Unfortunate as it is, the look of the application is what gives users their first impression. An old-looking application just won't impress.

Multi-Select Dropdown List Box-type Entries for DataWindows

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST

We make customized electronic medical record formats for physicians. We've been using multi-select list boxes to enter various choices together as part of a single column in many DataWindows in our applications. They help enter some interrelated data faster without creating an independent table and/or nested report.

PowerBuilder Cover Story — The DataWindow in PowerBuilder 11 Web Form Targets

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:00:00 EDT

PowerBuilder 11 introduces the WebForms target, which lets you transform an existing PowerBuilder application into a Web application with relative ease. While the deployed application will be remarkably faithful to the original client/server deployment in terms of application behavior, the degree of faithfulness is limited by the fact that your application is running as a Web application. The PowerBuilder component where this poses the greatest challenge is the DataWindow.

PowerBuilder Cover Story — Extending a PowerBuilder Client/Server Clinical Application...

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:00:00 EDT

This article is about Oriam's real-life experience of porting its Clinical Trials Management System, EC1-TrialManager, to the Web. The product, initially designed as a PowerBuilder/Oracle client/server application, contained more than 300 screens.

PBDJ Cover Story — Why Upgrade to PB11?

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 13:00:00 EDT

Why upgrade to PowerBuilder 11? Here are some interesting and compelling reasons in my opinion... First, before we even get into the PowerBuilder details, PB 11 will be shipping with the new SQL Anywhere version 10 DBMS. This newest release is 'jam-packed' with over 200 new features and performance improvements so this DBMS engine will rival the big guys like Oracle, DB/2, SS2005 - but at a fraction of the price.

Where's i-Technology Headed in 2007?

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:00:00 EST

At the end of each year, when SYS-CON informally polls its globe-girdling network of software developers, industry executives, commentators, investors, writers, and editors, our question is always the same: where's the industry going next year?

AJAXifying the WebDataWindow

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:30:00 EDT

When we talk about AJAX and its huge impact on Web development, one important thing to mention is that it's not a ready-to-ship component that you just plug into your app and now you're Web 2.0. In fact, what AJAX can do for you is to provide a simple, yet powerful way to make transparent server requests; but nothing more than that. The important point with AJAX is what to do with it. In other words, how do we use it to improve the user experience?

PBDJ Cover Story — A DataWindow Based on Oracle Stored Procedures with a Result Set

Thu, 18 May 2006 12:15:00 EDT

In DataWindow.NET 2.0, Sybase added support for access to Oracle through the Oracle managed data provider (ODP.NET). A managed data provider provides better performance and more support than a non-managed driver for database-specific functions, though not as much as the Oracle native driver.

PowerBuilder Feature Story: "Context-Sensitive Help"

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 19:15:00 EST

As I started a new PocketBuilder application and wanted to encompass some of the 'context sensitive' help features that I have previously used in a PowerBuilder application. I knew that this was not going to be easy, as the Pocket PC operating system does not support the (Multiple Document Interface) behavior. As a result, neither the Micro-Help bar nor pop-up help (also known as 'bubble help') are available as they would be in a standard PowerBuilder application. PowerBuilder developers also use a nice feature named 'PowerTipText' that allows automatic 'bubble' help to appear during a mouse hover.

PowerBuilder Cover Story: Introducing Enable

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 19:15:00 EST

What do you do if suddenly your application has to be used in another country, or even in different areas of the same nation? English and French are spoken in Canada; Italian, French, and German are spoken in Italy; and Switzerland has four official languages.

Implementing the Microsoft Rich Edit Control

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 15:00:00 EDT

As we mentioned in Part 1 (PBDJ, Vol. 12, issue 7), we needed to implement spell checking in the rich edit fields in our application (see Figures 1 and 2). To do that, we got a license for the Sentry Spelling Checker Engine from Wintertree Software (www.wintertree-software.com).

PowerBuilder & Informix

Fri, 05 Aug 2005 11:00:00 EDT

In this article we'll discuss connectivity requirements, Informix-specific data type processing, and the use of Informix stored procedures within the PowerBuilder environment.

Implementing the Microsoft Rich Edit Control

Fri, 05 Aug 2005 10:00:00 EDT

What we needed to do was implement spell checking in the rich edit fields in our application (see Figures 1 and 2). To do that, we got a license for the Sentry Spelling Checker Engine from Wintertree Software (www.wintertree-software.com). The utility is easily implemented and works quite well on standard Rich Edit controls.