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Wednesday
ADVANCED DATAWINDOW.NET
I started off first thing in the morning with the Advanced DataWindow.NET class that I assisted Dave Fish with. It was somewhat of a mixed bag; Dave discussed a lot of the new features from a PowerPoint presentation. One of the Sybase engineers responsible for the ongoing development of the Web DataWindow did those demos, and so was able to speak in great detail about how it operated. Dave then showed the DataWindow Designer plug-in for Visual Studio. One of the engineers responsible for its development was also in attendance. Unfortunately, that demo didn't work that well (not surprising considering it was a pre-alpha build).

I then spoke on the WinForms DataWindow control, with more of an emphasis on creating your own custom control inherited from it and adding functionality to address some of the more common issues or desired features. I showed a lot of code rather than how the unmodified control operated. One of the things that kept me from doing too many demonstrations was the late realization that I hadn't installed the demo databases for MS SQL Server on my new laptop. The demo I was using was written on my old laptop and was coded to use those demo databases. I tried for some time to re-install MS SQL Server with the demo databases, but after doing so Visual Studio couldn't seem to locate the server at all.

Dave was a bit concerned that we went a bit "deep in the weeds" at times. I thought that was appropriate as we had indicated that this was an "Advanced" course. My concern was that the presentation style was a bit uneven, with one of us using mainly PowerPoint, one of us doing demos and a real low-level discussion, and I was showing end-user code and a somewhat middle-level discussion. I think it was all just due to how late we decided to do the presentation.

The original list of proposals that I saw for review had only a couple of DataWindow.NET sessions, and several of those weren't good candidates. That's why I approached Dave about doing the session. It turns out quite a few DataWindow.NET proposals came in much later and were accepted, so there was no lack of information about DataWindow.NET at the conference after all.

Despite the course being added at the last minute (and being held at 8 a.m.), we did have a fairly good turnout - better than we had originally been told to expect. We did have a smaller room, but they also had to bring in extra chairs for the people who hadn't originally signed up but came anyway.

USING POWERBUILDER TO DEVELOP APPLICATIONS FOR ORACLE: SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
This was the session I did alone, and had spent the most amount of time preparing for. Unfortunately, it still suffered from the "demo curse." I have two Oracle instances installed on the machine and they worked flawlessly until just prior to the class. At that point, the listener suddenly started flaking out. Either it would crash on startup or it would start up but then be unable to hand off connection attempts to one of the instances. In any event, I barely had enough time for my slides, much less any demos. Attendance was fairly good and most people seemed to have liked the presentation.

OPEN SOURCE PFC
This was another one that was added late. Many folks didn't even know it was available when they registered; they only found out about it when they arrived at TechWave. We did a modified version of our presentation from last year, trying to make it clearer about how to get involved and how important it was for the project to have more people actively participating. We also tried to address some of the questions and concerns about the LGPL licensing model.

POWERBUILDER APPLICATION SERVER PLUG-IN
This was the only session I was able to attend so far in which I was neither a presenter nor a proctor. Much the same as last year, except fewer code samples and demos. That was a good thing, as the presenter barely had time for his slides as well. Still good information though. The product should be released soon, although I was a bit disappointed to hear that official support for the Oracle application server won't be in the original release. Instead, the focus has been on JBoss, WebSphere, and WebLogic.

ENCHANCEMENTS SESSION
There were perhaps 30 people, including a number of Sybase people at this session. They made sure that there was nothing else going on during these sessions that would prevent people from attending. Perhaps more is needed, as I was a bit disappointed by the turnout.

The following is a list of comments from the attendees:

• Instability of the DataWindow painter when a non-default view is used
• Source control - collapses the PBL when it refreshes - is being worked on
• DataWindow SQL painter opens slowly in 9 ( perhaps even PB8 ) and beyond (only seems to happen for certain databases) - could be the retrieving of the database catalog
• Problems with auto-size height not displaying correctly in preview, although it prints correctly
• Mixed message about the future. The Workspace folks made a claim about Workspace being the development tool of the future during the keynote, which made the PowerBuilder users in the audience uncomfortable.
• Trouble finding people who program in PowerBuilder - one person recommended just hiring recent college grads and training them.
• Training materials - mentioned Larry Cermak's training CDs. ISUG also does monthly Webcasts.
• Test-driven development
• Refactoring
• Recommended camtasia to record demos, since there were so many problems with demos this year
• ORCAScript is only half finished
• More training options on the support section Sybase Web site, recorded Webcasts
• Many of the PB controls are wrapped common controls, but some of the functionality is missing. Make sure that all of the functionality is exposed as we move to WinForms.
• Conditional breakpoints for page breaks in reports
• DataWindow doesn't work correctly with enhanced screen readers for visually impaired users
• Ability to debug into a stored procedure from the PowerBuilder IDE
• Issue with DataWindow Painter re-creating the DataWindow when the SQL is edited
• Want the option to SaveAs (Excel) that exports what the user sees on the screen, not what is in the dataset - mention that there is a third-party tool that does this.
• Want Excel-like capability where text will display to the right when there isn't another column there.
• Don't like having the update specifications change when the DataWindow is changed.
• Want image column capability.
• Question on accessibility features in Workspace
• Ability to plug in resources in the IDE
• Rich text column style
• Save an object that can't be compiled
• When are you going to get rid of the PBL
• Long column text not breaking correctly over page breaks
• Turning gridlines off prevents column resizing and movement
• Dockable windows
• "Lock" controls on the DataWindow so it can't be moved in the painter until it's unlocked

The Special Event
PENN & TELLER
Once again I blew it off - decided it wasn't quite my cup of tea. Frankly, I'd prefer special events that were a bit more family (and pocketbook) friendly. Guest passes for this event went for $200 each. Not something you take a family of four to. But then again, I'd prefer a location for TechWave that was a bit more family-friendly.

I did get some feedback the next day on the Special Event. Actually, the hit of the night was apparently SyberJam, a band composed of Sybase employees and TeamSybase members. They played during the pre-event while the food was being served.

My Last Session
SERVICES ARE THE KEYS TO REUSE
Jeff Pryslak was doing most of the talking, I was just the "demo doll" (the guy showing the live example) and I only suffered a minor piece of demo curse this time. I deployed a component and forgot to recycle the server, so the component crashed intermittently during that portion of the demo. Everything else (including live calls to the Amazon and eBay Web services ) worked fine. There also were quite a few poeple in attendance.

ISUG Meeting
At the ISUG meeting there was the introduction of officers and a discussion of past accomplishments: the road show in Africa and Europe, the PowerBuilder tour in North America, and the new web site. Few folks are involved in user groups. Many want to be but there's none in their area.

There was a rumor that TechWave may be in Orlando next year. Numerous raffle prizes were presented:

• 19 flat screen monitor
• Two iPod nanos
• HP digital camera
• Two noise-reducing headphones
• CD/MP3 jog proof player
• $50 gift certificate
• Printed documentation sets (either ASE or PowerBuilder)
• Tips and tricks for ASE 15
• 13 protective laptop sleeves

I think I was one of three people in the audience who didn't win anything.

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