Yakov Werde

Yesterday I taught an intro to PowerBuilder .NET 12.5 session.  Part of the presentation had me comparing the.NET IL code inside an assemblies generated from code written in C# and PowerBuilder. The C# code, after performing a simple arithmetic calculation echoed results to the console using these two lines of code namespace CalculatorExample { class Program { static void Main( )   { Calc c = new Calc( );  //create the object int ans = c.Add( 10, 84); //call the method System.Console.WriteLine("10 + 84 is {0}." , ans); System.Console.ReadLine( ) ;    } } class Calc {   //define a wrapper class for the method public int Add( int x, int y) {return x + y ; }  } } In PowerScript, ordinarily, I echo results using a Messagebox call, but yesterday, I thought I'd "step out on the limb" and echo output to the console using the same NET Framework class methods C# programmers use. The... (more)

Getting to the Top of the Pecking Order

"Chicken flocks have a well-defined hierarchy called a pecking order. A chicken at the top of the pecking order gets to do the things she wants by 'pushing the others around' a little, giving them a short, sharp peck if they don't submit to her, allowing her to go where she wants to go or access food and drink first. Chickens naturally have a pecking order to ensure they live in harmony. When food is available there are no fights. Everyone lives in peace. The bird at the top of the pecking order will have first access to water, food, the best roosting place and so on. The bird a... (more)

Case Study: Refactoring a PowerBuilder Classic Application

Under heavy Confederate fire, wounded, surrounded, with one third of his men lost, Union General John Corse is holding the fort on the top of the hill in the US Civil War battle of Altoona. Peering into the distance, he sees a white signal flag waving. It is a message from General Sherman; "Hold the fort, for we are coming!" Greatly strengthened by the thought of salvation and the enemy weakened by the thought of a large attack, General Corse and his men rebuff the Confederate attackers. (See this link to learn more about the battle.) Mature, feature-rich, market-leading softwar... (more)

Sly Little Critter: The New Way to Save Data Inside a DWO

One of the techniques I use when building the PB rich client in a multi-tiered application is to mock the data set on the client side. This allows me to build the client before I have a server side connection. I simulate DataWindow data by creating a sample cross-section dataset and then ‘tucking' the data inside the DataWindow object syntax. This way the data will show when the data object is created without the need for a database connection. In Classic you open the Data View of the DataWindow Object painter and then either manually insert rows or (if there is a data source de... (more)

TechWave Pre-Con PowerBuilder 12.5 .NET Jumpstart Workshop

It's official! eLearnIT and ISUG are hosting a full-day PowerBuilder 12.5 .NET Jumpstart Workshop at TechWave Pre-Con in Las Vegas.  n this fully loaded day I'll be ‘Powering' you through building a complete partitioned multi-tiered WPF business application, from ‘soup to nuts.' I'm totally psyched and have been cooking up a fantastic training event. I'll be sharing with you lots of what I've learned about PowerBuilder .NET in the last two years. You'll walk out with a broad perspective on this new platform, feeling prepared to tackle your first PowerBuilder .NET application. Cli... (more)