Latest News from Bruce Armstrong

Is the Ladder We’re Climbing Resting on the Wrong Wall?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:15:00 EST

John Strano came to Los Angeles on part of the PowerBuilder 12.0 ISUG road show. If you have an opportunity to attend one in your area, run by either John or Dave Fish, they’re well worth attending. John demonstrated some impressive new features of the new version of PowerBuilder, including a fly-away image effect (see Figures 1 and 2) as well as DataWindow skinning (see Figure 3).

How PowerBuilder Got Its Groove Back

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:15:00 EST

One of the main issues that PowerBuilder and PowerBuilder developers have been facing for the last few years is the lack of mind share for the product. All that seems to have changed with Sybase’s announcement of the beta of PowerBuilder 12.0. Articles on the release appeared in a large number of IT-related news outlets, including Darryl K Taft in eWeek (http://xrl.us/eweek), Sam M Fulton III in BetaNews (http://xrl.us/betanews), David Worthington in Software Development Times (http://xrl.us/sdtimes), Eric J Bruno in Doctor Dobbs (http://xrl.us/dobbs), John K Waters in both Visual Studio Magazine (http://xrl.us/visualstudio) and Application Development Trends (http://xrl.us/apdevtrends) and Paul Krill in ComputerWorld (http://xrl.us/compworld),

Using the Microsoft Chart Controls in PowerBuilder

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:45:00 EDT

You may not be aware of this, but Microsoft now provides a rather powerful charting control free of charge as an add-in for .NET 3.5. It’s available for download at http://xrl.us/ben3pm. Because it supports 35 different chart types (see Figure 1), it can add significant new charting capability to PowerBuilder applications.

Hey Buddy, Can You Spare Some Code...?

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:45:00 EDT

PowerBuilder fans have been sharing code with one another since...well at least since the beginning days of CompuServe in the early 1990s. When PowerBuilder users gathered in just a single section in a general interest programming forum, we had an associated file library section, and when we moved to our own PowerSoft forum we had a series of file libraries.

Come Get Your Beta While It’s Hot

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:45:00 EDT

The PowerBuilder 12.0 beta has officially started (http://response.sybase.com/forms/WW09JULPB12beta1). It’s pretty hard to overstate the magnitude of the changes that are taking place within PowerBuilder for this version. As a result, it’s more important than ever for as many people as possible to participate in order to get the most amount of feedback as possible back to Sybase.

PowerBuilder 12 and .NET

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EDT

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 significant phases. In Phase 3, Sybase added a number of .NET target types to PowerBuilder 11 and added support for calling non-visual .NET assemblies from PowerScript.

New Features in PowerBuilder 11.5

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:00:00 EDT

In the previous articles in this series, we looked at FDCC changes (part 1) and GUI enhancements (part 2) in PowerBuilder 11.5. In this article, we’ll be looking at the enhancements that were added to PowerBuilder 11.5 that are specifically related to .NET targets. The one thing we won’t be covering in this regard is the .NET security enhancements that were covered in a previous PBDJ article: “Applying Code Access Security in PowerBuilder .NET Applications” by Maggie Lv.

If It’s Worth Doing, It’s Worth Doing...Twice?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:45:00 EDT

There’s been a lot of discussion among the .NET folks recently about the magnitude of the changes that are being introduced in the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) in .NET 4.0. See, for example, “Windows Workflow Changes Direction” by Kathleen Dollard. It’s just another anecdote that backs up the old saying about Microsoft technologies, best stated by Karl E. Peterson.

New Features in PowerBuilder 11.5 – Part 2

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:15:00 EDT

This is the second part of an ongoing series about the new features that were added in PowerBuilder 11.5. In the first part, we looked at the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) and the impact it had on developers. In this part, we’re going to look at a number of the improvements in GUI functionality. We’ll start that by comparing a couple of screenshots of images in DataWindows (Figure 1 and Figure 2), which demonstrate a number of these new functions.

TechWave Goes Global

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EDT

First, I should explain what I’m referring to. Sybase recently announced that the format of TechWave will be significantly different in 2009 than it has been for the last 10 years.

New Features in PowerBuilder 11.5

Thu, 28 May 2009 12:45:00 EDT

I plan to make this the first of a series of articles that discuss the new features in PowerBuilder 11.5, which was released late last year. Of course, they won’t be the first articles we’ve run on the topic, as we ran an article on the new Code Access Security features back even before 11.5 was released and a more recent article on New DataWindow Features. This series of articles is intended to discuss the major hitters of the remaining features.

A New IDE - WPF Workshop

Wed, 13 May 2009 15:00:00 EDT

Actually, the new IDE doesn’t arrive until next year. But I thought we could start talking about it now. In case you didn’t make TechWave, any of the PB 11.5 road shows or webcasts, you may not know what’s planned for PowerBuilder 12.0. There’s a lot that they’re talking about already (and that in itself is new), but what I want to focus on is the new IDE called WPF Workshop.

Supporting Events from .NET Visual Components in PowerBuilder

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:30:00 EDT

This article seems like it should be the fourth in a series of articles. The first two were on non-visual components in August 2006 and July of 2007. The last one was in August of 2007. In that one, we looked at using the Interop Forms Toolkit to provide a COM wrapper for Visual .NET components – essentially making them ActiveX controls – so that PowerBuilder could use them.

PowerBuilder Editorial: Hi, I’m Mort from Ort...

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EDT

Back in March of 2004, Eric Lippert of Microsoft explained in his “Fabulous Adventures In Coding” blog how Microsoft divides the developer community into three groups, each which is designated by a personality. Apparently, this is a practice recommended by Geoffrey Moore in “Crossing the Chasm.”

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.

PowerBuilder with FusionCharts

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST

Back in August of 2007, I wrote an article entitled "Dynamically Generating Next-Generation Charts from PowerBuilder DataWindows" that demonstrated one method of dynamically generating Flash charts from within a PowerBuilder application. I was primarily writing that from the perspective of writing standard client/server applications. PowerBuilder 11 was just freshly released, and so while the option of creating WebForm applications that incorporated the technology was a factor that was being considered, it wasn’t part of the sample at that time.

The Future of . . .

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:12:00 EST

I've been reading "The Future of Management" by Gary Hamel lately. I have a staff of nine developers and, while I believe I'm a pretty good manager, I also believe there is always room for improvement. So I try to keep my eyes and ears open for ways to improve, and reading this book among others is one attempt to do so. One particular concept I found intriguing did involve evolution.

TechWave Revisited

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:22:00 EST

Once again I thought this was one of the best TechWaves in years. Better than last year's, which was good. Having my laptop crash on me when I'm scheduled to do four sessions wasn't pleasant and took the edge off of it for me. Otherwise, it might have been a real blast. Location – I'm still not a big fan of Las Vegas, but the Mandalay Bay was a great place to hold the event.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For…

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:30:00 EST

Particularly in a means of moving PowerBuilder applications to the web. What I’m looking for doesn’t require a server license or the installation of unmanaged code to the web server, and works well across different browsers (not just Internet Explorer). The WPF DataWindow will help move us to a place where we won’t need to deploy unmanaged code. But I’m doubtful that the current WebForms implementation will ever get us to a place where we are browser independent.

Welcome to TechWave 2008!

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:02:00 EST

As in prior years, the first thing I'll cover is what has changed (assuming that you attended in the past few years). We're back at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Near as I can tell, if you have to be in Las Vegas, this is the place to be. About the only complaint I had last year was that at times there were lines to get into the elevators to the hotel rooms. Other than that it was great last year, and I’m expecting the same this year.

Sybase PowerBuilder Takes Honors in Mobile Star Awards

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:25:00 EST

Sybase took honors in several categories of the Mobile Star Awards, including a Gold in the Application Development category for PowerBuilder. Application Development Gold Star - Sybase PowerBuilder Database Gold Star - Sybase SQL Anywher

Editorial: PowerBuilder 11.5 Is on the Way . . .

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:20:00 EDT

The PowerBuilder 11.5 beta is officially opened. If you're at all interested in upgrading, particularly to improve the "eye-candy" aspect of your applications, now is the time to get involved. If you wait until after the product has been released and find that there are some key component of the new features that you feel is essential but missing, you'll have only yourself to blame.

PowerBuilder Editorial: A Tale of Two Companies...

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:00:00 EDT

The first is Borland. Originally known for their development tools (e.g., Delphi, JBuilder, C++ Builder), in February of 2006 Borland announced they were planning to sell off the Development Tools Group so that they could focus on Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) product offerings.

PowerBuilder Editorial - "There You Go Again"

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:15:00 EDT

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 development, the folks at Borland released a hit piece on PowerBuilder written by a Delphi advocate. You can still find a copy of it as a series of articles on the CodeGear site.

A New Year and a New Direction

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EDT

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 explaining part of that shift (http://pbdj.sys-con.com/read/42184.htm). That shift has continued, and this editorial will explain some of the reasons for that.

PBDJ Editorial: Is RAD Dead?

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:00:00 EST

Well, if you listened to Rob Enderle of Enderle Group (www2.sdtimes.com/pdf/SDTimesBackIssues/sdtimes184.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 that are often lumped together and called RAD. One is the RAD development methodology and the other is 4GL tools that were often used in RAD development.

PBDJ Feature: Custom Common Dialogs Using SetWindowsHookEx

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST

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 2005. Here it is again in full so that you can enjoy Bruce's insights into the endless scope for customization in PowerBuilder.

PBDJ Editorial: We Live in Interesting Times...

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:00:00 EST

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 ourselves living in such times. In a previous issue I talked about the incremental releases that Sybase was doing for PowerBuilder 11.

Aliens Take Over Sybase...

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 08:45:00 EST

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 2007 and hyped it at TechWave in August. 11.1 was (as I write this) recently announced and expected to be delivered in mid-November.

TechWave 2007

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:00:00 EST

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. However, there is a private TeamSybase/Sybase reception on Sunday evening where, among other things, new TeamSybase members are inducted. This year we added one new member: Roland Smith.

Using FOP to Handle Formatting of Large Text Blocks in DataWindow Output

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 11:00:00 EDT

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 may find some text on the first page that is repeated on the next page, or some text may be missing entirely, or the text may end up overwriting subsequent report objects. The bottom line is that the results are unusable, and it often takes a great deal of tweaking to get adequate results. The good news is that I found at least one method of addressing the issue. The bad news is that the path to get there was rather convoluted. This article describes both.

TechWave 2007 - A Few Last Recommendations

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:00:00 EDT

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. Quite a few Sybase customers are large corporations or government agencies that have long approval cycles for travel.

Using Visual .NET Components

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:45:00 EDT

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.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=934de3c5-dc85-4065-932...).

PowerBuilder News

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:00:00 EDT

Novalys released Visual Guard for PB11. This tool secures PowerBuilder 11 applications and supports .NET Winform and ASP .NET Web forms deployment.

Using Visual .NET Components in PowerBuilder

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:00:00 EDT

PowerBuilder Editorial — Welcome to TechWave 2007!

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:00:00 EDT

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.

Sybase Techwave 2007: Bruce Armstrong's Blog

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:45:00 EDT

I really like how all this was laid out. When we were at Caesar's the wi-fi lounge and tech support lab were basically hidden past the entrance to the exhibit hall. Here at Mandalay bay you walk into the South Pacific Ballroom and everything is immediately available. Email kiosks both to the right and left, wi-fi lounge to the right, registration to the left, tech support lounge to the far right and exhibit hall straight ahead. Welcome Session Real good food and lots of it, although they cleaned up a bit early. The DJ was a bit too loud for those of us trying to carry on conversations. Unlike previous TechWaves, no other particular action going on other than food, drinks and the DJ (no men on stilts, no gameshow). I didn't really miss them.

Sybase Techwave 2007: Dynamically Generating Next-Generation Charts from PowerBuilder DataWindows

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:15:00 EDT

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 Windows 95, this looks like something out of the version of Excel that came with Windows 3.1.

What Do You Want to See in PowerBuilder 12?

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:30:00 EDT

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 product manager, so PowerBuilder users could 'provide some feedback to us as we plan for the next major release of PowerBuilder.'

Calling .NET Components from PowerBuilder

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 13:00:00 EDT

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 required that we create a strong name and sign the assembly (besides having it compiled as a COM-visible assembly).

PowerBuilder Editorial — I'm Not Dead!

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 08:30:00 EDT

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.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articl...).

Web Services Implementation of a Third Kind

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 11:00:00 EDT

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.htm). It was based on a PowerBuilder 8.0 component deployed to EAServer called from Web pages based on PowerDynamo that used DOM to generate HTML from the XML from the Web Service. Because PowerBuilder 8.0 didn't support the native generation of XML, PowerScript was used to generate it manually.

PowerBuilder Editorial — Learn a Lesson from the Wii

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:00:00 EDT

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 once you have one. I had to hit a half a dozen stores before I found additional controllers. It's not because the stores don't carry them; it's because they fly off the shelves as soon as they come in.

PBDJ Editorial — Top 11 Reasons to Consider PowerBuilder 11

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 14:45:00 EDT

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'm going to break those reasons into two groups: those that directly affect your end users (things they will notice) and thing that will make your life as a developer easier but won't necessarily affect your users. The reason I want to focus on them that way is because as developers we often get excited about the second set, but in order to sell an upgrade to our managers we often need to stress the former.

PowerBuilder Editorial — Would the Real "PB-to-the-Web" Solution Please Stand Up?

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:00:00 EDT

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 PowerBuilder 6 that was built on the Distributed PowerBuilder (DPB) technology introduced with PowerBuilder 5. It actually worked fairly well for developing Web front-ends to non-visual components in an n-tier environment. However, its dependence on DPB spelled its doom once DPB was de-supported in favor of EAServer.

PBDJ Editorial — PocketBuilder, PocketBuilder! Wherefore Art Thou PocketBuilder!

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:00:00 EST

(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 it would be useful nonetheless.)

PowerBuilder Editorial — What's Ahead in the New Year...

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:45:00 EST

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.

PowerBuilder Editorial — New Releases

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:15:00 EST

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 Designer from the previous versions. The standalone DataWindow Designer will not be distributed with DataWindow.NET 2.5.

PBDJ Editorial — No More 80% Solutions

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 14:00:00 EST

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.

PBDJ Editorial — TechWave 2006 Wrap up

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 12:00:00 EST

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 exhibit hall. As I mentioned earlier, that particular format seemed to work well. There also didn't seem to be as many problems as there were last year with having enough food or providing it fast enough.