PowerBuilder 11.2 Feature Overview

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PowerBuilder 11.2 Feature Overview

• John Strano
• Technology Evangelist
• Sybase, Inc.
• john.s.strano_at_sybase.com

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Agenda

• PowerBuilder Roadmap
• PowerBuilder 11.2 Feature Overview
• Demonstration

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PowerBuilder Roadmap

• Version 11 released in June 2007
• 11.1 Maintenance Release in November 2007
• Delivers on third-phase of PowerBuilders .NET
  initiative

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(No Transcript)
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PowerBuilder 11.2 Defining Features

• Certificate Store Support for Smart
  Client-published Applications
• Usability and UI Enhancements
• Database Connectivity Enhancements
• Enabling the DEBUG Condition for ORCA and
  OrcaScript
• Application Pools for Web Forms in IIS7
• Telerik RadControls Support
• EAServer Support for .NET-deployed PowerBuilder
  Clients
• AJAX Functionality for WebForm-Deployed
  Applications

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Certificate Store Support for Smart
Client-published Applications

• As of PowerBuilder 11.0 you can publish your
  WinForm-deployed application using .NET Smart
  Client techniques.
• To be compatible with the .NET security model,
  applications must be able to be signed with a
  digital certificate.
• In PowerBuilder versions 11.0 and 11.1, the
  developer was required to browse for a
  certificate file.

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Certificate Store Support for Smart
Client-published Applications

• Using PowerBuilder 11.2, developers may now
  additionally browse a digital certificate store
  in order to securely sign their applications.
• See Trusted Application Deployment Overview
• http//msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/01daf08f.
  aspx

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Certificate Store Support for Smart
Client-published Applications
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Usability and User Interface Enhancements
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Usability and UI Enhancements

• Target-relative paths and shared projects
• The developer may need to move a target to a
  different location in the file system.
• The developer may want to give a copy of the
  target to another developer.

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Usability and UI Enhancements

• Target-relative paths and shared projects
• The paths stored in a project object are now
  adjusted relative to the new target location.
• Developer A gives a target to Developer B
• C\target1\target1.pbt
• C\target1\pbls\pbl_1.pbl
• C\target1\pbls\pbl_2.pbl
• C\target1\res\target1.pbr
• C\target1\out\target1.exe

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Usability and UI Enhancements

• When Developer B copies the target to the new
  directory, no 'manual' changes to paths in the
  project object are necessary
• D\PB\My Targets\Target 1\target1.pbt
• D\PB\My Targets\Target 1\pbls\pbl_1.pbl
• D\PB\My Targets\Target 1\pbls\pbl_2.pbl
• D\PB\My Targets\Target 1\res\target1.pbr
• D\PB\My Targets\Target 1\out\target1.exe

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Usability and UI Enhancements

• Library list and .NET Assemblies context menu
  items on targets in the System Tree
• The popup menu for Targets in the System Tree has
  new menu items
• Library List
• .NET Assemblies
• These new menu items will open the Targets
  properties response window with the appropriate
  tab page already selected

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Usability and UI Enhancements

• Publish context menu item on Smart Client
  projects in the System Tree
• The popup menu for Windows Forms Projects has a
  new Publish menu item
• This operation can now be initiated from the
  System Tree without opening the Project Painter

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Usability and UI Enhancements

• Files opened in the File editor are added to the
  most recently used objects list

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Usability and UI Enhancements

• File editor Open dialog box lists additional file
  types
• JavaScript
• HTML

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Usability and UI Enhancements

• Current DBMS connection displays in the
  PowerBuilder title bar

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Usability and UI Enhancements

• UseEllipsis property is now available in edit
  styles in the Database painter
• UseEllipses was added as a DataWindow property in
  PowerBuilder 11.0
• UseEllipses is now available in the Database
  Painter for Extended Attribute definition

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Database Connectivity Enhancements
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Database Connectivity Enhancements

• The DisableBind DBParm is now supported by the
  ASE and SYC database interfaces

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Database Connectivity Enhancements

• Support for Oracle 10.2 NCHAR literal replacement
• String literals are converted from the clients
  character set to the servers character set when
  SQL statements are executed
• Data in string literals can be lost in this
  character set conversion
• NCharLiteral database parameter is to Yes
• An internal character set is used on the client
• The character set is converted to Unicode on the
  server to avoid data loss

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Enabling the DEBUG Condition for ORCA and
OrcaScript

• Conditional Compilation was introduced in
  PowerBuilder 11.0
• Enables the developer to maintain one code line
  for multiple deployment environments

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Enabling the DEBUG Condition for ORCA and
OrcaScript

• Project objects are currently where you set the
  inclusion or exclusion of the DEBUG condition
  when compiling from the IDE.

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Enabling the DEBUG Condition for ORCA and
OrcaScript

• However, the ORCA tool and OrcaScript commands do
  not use Project objects to compile applications
  of standard (Win32) client-server PowerBuilder
  targets

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Enabling the DEBUG Condition for ORCA and
OrcaScript

• PowerBuilder 11.2 includes a new OrcaScript
  property and method that allow you to
  programmatically compile Win32 PowerBuilder
  applications using or excluding script contained
  in conditional compilation blocks set with the
  DEBUG preprocessor symbol.

start session set debug false set liblist
"testdebug\buildapp.pbl" set application
"testdebug\buildapp.pbl" "testdebug" build
application full build executable
"destination_1\buildapp_p.exe" "icon\icon9.ico"
"" "N" end session
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Application Pools for Web Forms in IIS7

• If youre using Vista, your deployment target is
  by default IIS7.
• Virtual directories for Web applications in IIS 7
  are hosted in an application pool.
• This is the host process for one or more ASP.NET
  applications.

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Application Pools for Web Forms in IIS7

• PowerBuilder deploys WebForm applications to a
  pool named PBAppPool which uses integrated
  managed pipeline mode by default.
• To avoid compatibility issues if your
  applications use TreeView controls,
  StaticHyperLink controls, or currency mask
  conversions, you must designate that PBAppPool
  use the classic managed pipeline mode.

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Application Pools for Web Forms in IIS7
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Telerik RadControls Support

• As of version 11.2, WebForm-deployed PowerBuilder
  applications use Telerik RadControls for certain
  controls by default.
• Enhanced functionality for
• Toolbars and Menus
• DatePicker and MonthCalendar controls
• TreeView controls.

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EAServer Support for .NET-deployed PowerBuilder
Clients

• With PowerBuilder 11.2, your .NET-deployed
  PowerBuilder Targets can access EAServer
• Windows Forms
• Web Forms
• Assemblies
• Web Services
• Through the .NET client ORB, this gives you
  access to EAServer 6.1-hosted components
• PowerBuilder NVOs
• EJBs

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AJAX for Web Form-Deployed Applications

• As of PowerBuilder 11.2, Asynchronous JavaScript
  and XML (AJAX) functionality has been added for
  WebForm-deployed Targets
• The performance of WebForm applications has been
  enhanced by enabling ASP .NET pages to be updated
  one region at a time
• This avoids refreshing the entire page for each
  operation
• Reduces the volume of data transmitted in network
  roundtrips
• Reduces the impact on browser rendering

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AJAX for Web Form-Deployed Applications

• Transparent to the PowerBuilder Developer
• No changes to your application are required
• ASP.NET AJAX extensions v1.0 must be installed on
  IIS
• http//www.asp.net/ajax/downloads/archive
• Install on both development and deployment
  machines

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AJAX for Web Form-Deployed Applications

• Dont forget to clear cached temporary files from
  PowerBuilder versions previous to 11.2
• Output subdirectories in your workspace's
  directory
• ltserver drivegt\Inetpub\wwwroot\ltyour virtual
  directorygt
• ltserver drivegt\Inetpub\wwwroot\ltyour virtual
  directorygt_root
• ltserver drivegt\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.
  0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\ltyour applicationgt

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AJAX for Web Form-Deployed Applications

• AJAX WebForm Global Properties. The Developer
• Can influence the Waiting MessageBox properties
• Can influence how and when menuitem Selected
  events are executed
• Disable the status message by setting the
  PBAjaxWaitingMessage value to an empty string
  ("").

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PowerBuilder 11.2 Demonstration
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QA
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FAQs

• Q I really dont have to change my application
  to take advantage of AJAX?
• A Correct. However, all ASP.NET-deployed Targets
  deployed from previous PowerBuilder versions must
  be fully cleared and redeployed. Please refer to
  the documentation.

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FAQs

• Q Are there any benchmarks from engineering on
  the level of performance improvement with AJAX
  utilization?
• A QA did benchmark testing, the results depended
  on the test scenarios, e.g., the ratio of updated
  area over the whole page, and the server load
  etc. In some cases we see 5 improvement, some
  (DataWindow-intensive report windows) had 50
  improvement.

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FAQs

• Q Does AJAX usage mean it's less likely we need
  to use custom JavaScript?
• A Both custom JavaScript and AJAX can enhance
  performance. Custom JavaScript enhances
  performance by making modifications without a
  round trip to the server. AJAX enhances
  performance by reducing the amount of data in
  postbacks to the server.
• Q Does it impact what we may already have in
  custom JavaScript?
• A There is no impact.

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FAQs

• Q Is there any control over AJAX functionality
  that a developer has?
• A The developer may choose to disable the AJAX
  functionality by setting the global property
  PBPostbackType to a value of Synchronous. ( This
  is a temporary measure for performance comparison
  and will be removed in a later version.)

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QA
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Thank you.