From the Editor

How Quickly the Mighty Have Fallen

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:30:00 EST

On November 9, Adobe announced in a blog post[1] that it had decided to cease efforts to develop browser plugins for mobile devices to play Flash, indicating that HTML5 was “the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms.” In case that sounds like Adobe abandoned Flash entirely, it should be noted that Adobe indicated their intentions to continue to develop the AIR player for mobile devices, so that the role for Flash on mobile devices would be restricted to native apps, just not browser-based apps. A few days later in another blog post[2], Adobe also noted that it was releasing the entire Flex SDK (used by the Flash Builder IDE to generate Flash RIA applications) to open source, indicating that “In the long-term, we believe HTML5 will be the best technology for enterprise application development.”

Silverlight Is Dead, Long Live Silverlight

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST

There’s been a lot of discussion since Microsoft’s BUILD conference on the fate of Silverlight. (Something that is an issue for us because Sybase was originally looking at supporting it for web app development in PowerBuilder 15.) Contrary to what a number of the pundits and would-be pundits have said, I don’t think it’s quite accurate to say that Silverlight is dead in Windows 8. I think it’s more accurate to say it’s evolved. As background for those who haven’t been following this closely, Microsoft announced that the Windows 8 operating system would support two kinds of applications: traditional “desktop apps” and the newer “metro style apps.” What would not be available in the Internet Explorer provided with Windows 8 would be support for any plugins, either Silverlight or Flash (see Figure 1).

Welcome to TechWave 2011!

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EDT

The more things change, the more they stay the same. There are a lot of changes at TechWave this year, largely due to the somewhat delayed effects of SAP’s acquisition of Sybase. But in many ways, it’s almost a return to the old way of doing them. This will be the first year that TechWave is co-located with a SAP TechEd event. As a result, we’re back in Las Vegas. (SAP TechEd is also being held in Bangalore, Madrid and Beijing, but later in the year.) It also means that it’s being held in mid-September, much later than I can recall any other TechWave being held (in the past they seem to have been in August or even as early as July). In 2009 and 2010, Sybase held TechWave “symposiums” that were less expensive but with a shorter agenda than prior years and consisted almost entirely of Sybase employees as presenters. This year’s agenda (and registration cost) is more reminiscent of the earlier events. In 2008, the event was also held in Las Vegas (at the Mandalay Bay rather than the Venetian), and it also officially started on Tuesday and ran through Friday morning. Also similar to 2008, there are pre-conference courses on Sunday and Monday and the special event is scheduled for Thursday evening. Back in 2008, the combination of the special event the night before and many people having to catch flights out Friday morning resulted in very low attendance at the Friday morning sessions. I expect the same to happen this year.

Say Hello to PowerBuilder 12.5!

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:45:00 EDT

By the time you read this, PowerBuilder 12.5 should be released. Like several “.5” releases before it (i.e., 6.5, 10.5 and 11.5), this release is a major release with a number of significant new features. We’ll have a number of individual articles in PBDJ that will dive into these new features in greater detail. Given the editorial lead time, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve even read a few by the time you read this! For now though, I’d like to give a brief overview of what you’ll see in this new version. Just to show that you haven’t been ignored if you’re still using just PowerBuilder Classic, a number of important new features have been included for that version of the product.

PowerBuilder – Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:15:00 EDT

As you may be aware, the company I work for does both PowerBuilder and RIA (Flex) application development. We actually create client/server and web-based front ends for the same application. Doing that has really emphasized just how much faster we can do development using PowerBuilder. Of course, we’re originally a PowerBuilder shop, so one could argue we’re faster using PowerBuilder because we know it better. But along comes a thread in the Adobe Flex Developers discussion groups on Linkedin with this heading: “I’m sometimes amazed at how unproductive [modern] development tools are compared to the client/server tools of 20 years ago.”[1] There’s a lot of discussion back and forth, but it seems that a number of other folks chimed in with similar feelings. While the development environment has changed (mobile devices and the web), many of the tasks that are simple to do in a product like PowerBuilder (e.g., formatting a field) require coding, sometimes a great deal of coding, to implement in more “modern” IDEs.

Can PowerBuilder Leverage Mono?

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EDT

If you’ve been following my recent editorials, you’ll know I have some concerns with HTML5 as the silver bullet for all web / mobile development. As a result, I’ve been a proponent of rich GUI applications for both web and mobile. To that end, I’ve been supportive of adding Silverlight as a deployment target for PowerBuilder applications for web support. I also had been hopeful that Silverlight adoption on mobile devices would enable PowerBuilder to deploy to those devices as well. Recent indications are that although Silverlight may end up being a solution for web applications (and may even displace WPF for desktop applications), all indications are that few mobile devices will support it other than perhaps Windows Phone. If we are going to be able to develop for mobile devices with PowerBuilder, and we don’t believe that HTML5 is the only way to do that, what other options might we have?

Some Random Thoughts on Application Development

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:00:00 EDT

I was sort of wondering where application development is headed nowadays. What struck me recently is how long Microsoft has been trying to foster widespread adoption of smartphones and tablet PC devices. They released their first Pocket PC operating system in 2000[1] and the tablet-specific version of the Windows operating system in 2001 (they’d actually released a pen computing version of Windows in 1992!).[2] Yet it wasn’t until Apple released the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010 that those markets really took off, leaving Microsoft in the dust. The race doesn’t always go to the swiftest though. I actually started PC programming on an Apple device (an Apple ][ in the late 70s).[3] However, 4 years after the Apple ][ was released, IBM released their own PC.[4] Because the IBM PC was based on a published specification made available to third-party hardware vendors, the market soon gathered behind the IBM PC and its clones.[5] Today, the more “open” economic ecosystem that could give Apple some stiff competition might be Google Android, but there’s still time for Microsoft to do a repeat performance as well.

Ask Not for Whom the Bell Tolls...

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:15:00 EST

...it tolls for....WPF? That may be the case. In case you haven’t been following, WPF is Windows Presentation Foundation, the next generation method of creating a graphical user interface for Windows-based applications. Why is the bell tolling for it? Well, to explain that, we need to cover a bit of history. WPF 3.0 (there was no 1.0 or 2.0) was released as part of the .NET 3.0 Framework in November of 2006. In December of 2006, Microsoft did a Community Technology Preview (CTP) for what was then called Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere (WPF/E), a subset of WPF intended to run in a browser, later to be called Silverlight. Over time, the two products have differentiated somewhat so that while they are both based on XAML, there are significant incompatibilities between them. [1] There has been great interest in, and much talk about, realigning the two products again so that something developed on one can be more easily ported to the other. Just over a year ago, Microsoft’s Pete Brown as suggesting that “In the future, it is very likely that both Silverlight and WPF will be a single technology with a single codebase.”[2]

Where Do You Go for PowerBuilder Info?

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 10:30:00 EST

I’ve had a number of requests from people in the last few days wondering how to get up to speed with more recent versions of PowerBuilder. Their requests are often in the form of: “I’ve been using PowerBuilder since version X (a very early release) and we’re currently on version Y (usually 10.5 or earlier). We want to move to 12.0. How do we catch up with the new features of PowerBuilder?” Usually this is accompanied by a request for information on any books that might be available, or perhaps even a comment that it’s hard to follow some of my more recent articles about 12.1 because it assumes the reader is already somewhat fluent with many .NET concepts. A short time ago, someone also commented in the newsgroups that while they liked Sybase working hard to add improvements to PowerBuilder.NET, they also wanted to see information about the new product, sample code, white papers, instructional videos, etc., pooled together in a single location. So I thought I’d try to address some of those concerns by gathering together all of the knowledge sources I know of and would recommend to learn more about newer versions of PowerBuilder.

To HTML5, or Not to HTML5, That Is the Question

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:15:00 EST

If you’ve been following Sybase’s announcements concerning their plans for future versions of PowerBuilder, you’ll know that they are planning for PowerBuilder 15 to be able to generate a Silverlight application and are looking at having it generate applications based on HTML5 as well. If you’ve been following this column, you’ll know I’ve been arguing that we need Silverlight generation much sooner than that. Back in November of 2008[1], I suggested that by the time PowerBuilder 12 was delivered, Microsoft would have Silverlight 3 out and it would be much more stable and ubiquitous. PowerBuilder 12 is here, and Microsoft is actually already on Silverlight 4. According to statowl.com, Silverlight was installed in 20% of browsers in November of 2008 and is now installed in 56% of browsers. Riastats.com indicates that Silverlight 4 is installed in 56% of browsers, and that Silverlight 3 is installed in another 6.5%. The bottom line is that Silverlight is now mainstream technology and the player is already installed in approximately two out of every three browsers. It’s also available on phones based on the Windows Mobile 7 or Symbian operating systems. Finally, there are rumors flying about support for a player on Android and perhaps even iPhone, but nothing definite yet.

What’s New in PowerBuilder 12.1?

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:15:00 EST

The PowerBuilder 12.1 maintenance release is now available. For people who believe that you should never use the .0 release of any product, the maintenance release means they should feel comfortable using PowerBuilder 12 now. However, there are several good reasons other than that to get the maintenance release, including a number of important new features it introduces. We’ll look at the important ones below. The maintenance release adds support for connectivity to ASE 15.5 and SQL Anywhere 12.0. There is no additional functionality specific to those versions though.

Are We Headed in the Right Direction?

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EDT

Sybase is currently in the middle of the most aggressive marketing program that I’ve seen for PowerBuilder in recent history. If you’ve been following my blog (and if you haven’t you should) you’ll know that Sybase recently ran a four-page ad in Visual Studio magazine promoting the release of PowerBuilder 12 (http://xrl.us/bhmxfe). They’ve also been conducting a worldwide series of “Developer Days” promoting PowerBuilder 12 and a number of other Sybase products. One of the things they show during that road show is a rather tentative “road map” of which features are planned for future versions of PowerBuilder (http://xrl.us/bhmxfr). The release of PowerBuilder 12 triggered some complaints about some of the features that were removed with that release (primarily support for creating COM and COM+ components). Associated with that were complaints about features currently supported in “classic” PowerBuilder targets that are not supported in the .NET targets (e.g., data pipelines). There were also some complaints that the requests in the ISUG enhancement system (http://my.isug.com/enhancements) weren’t being adequately considered.

PowerBuilder Worldwide Survey

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EDT

The 2010 survey is currently in process and the results of the 2009 survey are in. Several months ago we looked at the comments attached to the 2008 results, and I’d like to take a look at the comments on the 2009 results to see how things have changed. One big difference is that this year there was only one comment about how hard it was to find PowerBuilder developers. In last year’s survey there were quite a few comments concerning that. Unfortunately, that may just mean that because of the economic downturn nobody was looking for any. In addition, there also appeared to be quite a few more comments this year about shops that were moving to other development tools (primarily .NET and Java). The comments were split about whether existing PowerBuilder applications would either be migrated to the new tools or simply left in place as “legacy” systems. In most of those cases, the commenters indicated that they were not happy about the move, but had no choice. On the other hand, there was one comment however that “[t]he massive .NET n-tier system that was supposed to replace our good-ol’ PB client/server software is a steaming failure. For client/server database systems, nothing comes close to PowerBuilder…”

Twenty-Four Reasons To Consider PowerBuilder 12

Sun, 02 May 2010 07:30:00 EDT

PowerBuilder 12 has been released. The new version represents a huge leap forward as far as support for .Net development, particularly reflected by the introduction of a new .Net IDE based on the Visual Studio Isolated Shell. That doesn’t mean that people who aren’t doing .Net development with PowerBuilder (the people doing “classic” development) have been left out. There are also a number of enhancements in the “Classic” 32 bit IDE as well. We’ll cover some of those first.

How Might Entity Framework Affect Us?

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:30:00 EDT

If you’ve been following the product direction for PowerBuilder for the last few releases, and particularly with respect to the upcoming PowerBuilder 12, you know that PowerBuilder is evolving into a .NET development tool. As PowerBuilder developers, you’ll also know that the key strengths of the product are its productivity through Rapid Application Development (RAD), support for object-oriented programming (OOP), and simplified data access and update through the DataWindow. That last item, the DataWindow, has served us well. No other control out there gives us the same capabilities. And Sybase has continued to expand on those capabilities, giving us new features like web services as a data source, TreeView presentation styles, and (in PowerBuilder 12) a fully managed version that supports WPF.

The PowerBuilder Ecosystem

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:15:00 EST

One of the indications of how well a product is doing is how well the ecosystem surrounding it is doing. For a software product that can be determined by a number of things, including how active user groups are and whether the number of third-party products that work with it are increasing or decreasing. Well, thanks in large part to the efforts of Sybase to promote the new version, there have been user group meetings across the world recently. Upcoming events are still scheduled for London, UK, Zurich, Switzerland and Lima, Peru. The third-party product market for PowerBuilder is also alive and well: The folks at ECrane Computing – the makers of PowerGen (one of those tools that no PowerBuilder shop should be without) – recently announced a new product called PowerVCS. PowerVCS is a web-based source control system focused on supporting PowerBuilder.

How PowerBuilder Got Its Groove Back

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:00:00 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),

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

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:45:00 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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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 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.

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.

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.'

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...).

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.