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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Advanzado PowerBuilder para Profesionales


** Noticias Calientes **

   eLearnIt Systems, Inc. se currrently trabajando en una versión en español de su curso eTraining muy exitoso PowerBuilder "Advanzado PowerBuilder para Profesionales". El nuevo curso debe estar listo para lanzar a finales de este año. Para obtener una vista previa de la versión en español, por favor, siga este enlace

   Para comentarios y sugerencias o más onformation en el curso de español, por favor póngase en contacto con eLearnIt presidente Yakove Werde en yakov yakov@yakovwerde.com.

Saludos ... Chris


 

Saturday, October 20, 2012

PowerBuilder Goes NHL

 ** Hot News **


     At the last Ottawa Sybase User Group (OSUG) meeting we had a surprise guest presenter arranged by OSUG president Chris Pollach. This also included a demonstration of a special PowerBuilder application that was written to – you might not believe this – run and emulate any standard NHL Hockey Scoreboard. Yes, you read that correctly, interface to a very complicated score board hardware system. Obviously, this is not your average PowerBuilder application but one that long time PB enthusiast Chris Pollach likes to show case as Chris has always maintained that “you can build any type of Windows application using PowerBuilder”! To that end, Chris has proven that aspect over and over again with applications like multi-media players, Application / DB Server Monitors, SQL Extraction & Analysis utilities, DataWindow Changer, Code Commenter, MS-Agent, O/S System Resource Introspection, and many more bizarre applications that most people would not at first consider PowerBuilder for.

This system is another excellent example of what Roland Smith of TopWiz Software likes to say “Anything is possible given enough time, money and Mountain Dew”! In this case, we have Mr Jeff Courtice of CourByte Consulting Group Inc who pushed the outside envelope of what typical applications PowerBuilder developers might build. Jeff, a long time PB consultant in Canada’s National Capital area who has worked on elite PowerBuilder applications like Elections Canada System that runs all federal elections right across Canada - decided that he wanted to take a break from these high-end business systems and build something that he wanted PowerBuilder to solve. In his case, after being involved with minor hockey due to his son’s participation in the sport and Jeff’s frustration with dealing with the various scoring systems decided to “build a better mouse trap” in the form of more intelligent scoreboard application software!

A few years ago Jeff decided to start an application that would emulate a hockey scoreboard as he found in real life; as these systems can be quite varied, hard to learn for the novice, poorly documented as their operation and offer no proper training along with their products. To this end, Jeff built a PB application that would visually display the various popular scoreboards including their control panels. Then the application would guide the user through the mechanics of how that scoreboard worked and allowed the student to actually score a virtual game and see how the scoreboard would react to the various inputs. In a few months, Jeff had a basic emulation working of a typical scoreboard. With this early success, Jeff decided to continue his endeavour adding more scoreboard types and better simulations. Then, another revelation occurred to Jeff ... why not build his own scoreboard and challenge the actual manufactures of the current hardware! To this end, Jeff decided to build a new product called Time-Keeper Professional or TKP for short. Thus Timekeeper-PRO ( TKP) was born and is a software program developed in Powerbuilder 11.5 and SQL Anywhere 11 to run on a standalone computer in the timekeeper/scorekeeper’s booth in hockey games.  It will perform the role of expert timekeeper/scorekeeper where none exists.  Timekeeper-PRO was designed from the ground up to be a simple to use tool that would automatically make any timekeeper/scorekeeper an expert without having to know the myriad rules of hockey as they apply to off-ice officiating. Many seasoned PN developers do not realize that simple RS232 serial port communication can be accomplished in PB by using the FileOpen, FileRead and FileWrite built-in commands. You can actually open any PC’s COM port via the FileOpen command and then read and write data streams to any device listening on the port. Typical devices could be cash registers, RFID programmers, security systems and oh, of course – hockey scoreboards.

Anyone who has ever been involved in timekeeping and score-keeping in a hockey game when the game gets intense and there are many penalties being tracked concurrently knows that the job can get extremely difficult and pressure packed.  Timekeeper-PRO’s approach was to simplify the timekeeper/scorekeeper’s life is straightforward.  Simply enter data corresponding what the on-ice referees say and the software will do the rest without any knowledge of the rules.  Among many other features, TKP will automatically track offsetting penalties and will automatically determine such things as when an extra player is required to sit for another player’s penalty.  TKP will automatically generate the game-sheet thereby eliminating the need to hand scribe the information during the game.  TKP clearly displays time remaining for penalties that are not displayed on the scoreboard – ie – off setting penalties and it will automatically adjust them when necessary as goals are scored.  TKP also has an integrated communications component responsible for distributing near real-time game statistics to registered email recipients and to league websites.

Over the course of the TKP development process a separate initiative was undertaken to design and build a fully functioning and complete electronic scoreboard to be controlled by TKP.  This was undertaken as joint venture between the Ontario Centre of Excellence (OCE), Algonquin College and Courbyte Consulting Group.  As part of the College’s Electronics Technologist program, four electrical engineering students were tasked with the job of designing and building the scoreboard.  They were successful in their task and were awarded first place amongst all Ontario colleges participating in the OCE program.  In addition to building a full sized scoreboard (12’x5’ and 300 lbs), a mini-scoreboard was also designed and built to use as a proof of concept and also as a sales tool for displaying at trade shows where space is expensive and most often at a premium.

Timekeeper-PRO has now been extensively tested at the junior hockey level where the frequent need for tracking multiple penalties and goals is prevalent.  Timekeepers that have assisted in the testing of this revolutionary new product have been amazed at the power of the product and often are heard to say “that it’s about time a product like this was developed to make timekeeping and score keeping a less onerous task”. Jeff has now decided that not only does he have a product that can easily control any major commercial scoreboard system – he now has actual scoreboard hardware that he estimates could be built at a fraction of the price many commercial systems are priced at today. To this end, Jeff is now talking to potential electronic manufactures that might be interested in taking on his design.

The latest version of TKP has even grown the functionality further by allowing the application to post the current hockey game statistics to the internet where Jeff has another PB application that can display the current game vitals on his website, email parents who cannot attend that their son or daughter has scored a goal and even print out official game reports that can be sent into the various hockey leagues. Jeff also has a “ton” more ideas for this unique PowerBuilder application for sure and OSUG members were exceptionally impressed with his system. Even SAP Sybase Technical Evangelist John Strano in attendance at the last OSUG meeting was also suitably impressed over Jeff’s scoreboard application.

For more information on the TKP application, have a look at the YouTube video of the actual TKP application in action at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNleZ2gqUdM. To experience the actual TKP training emulator application, have a look at this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPUboSNegSI
Also, feel free to drop Jeff an email as well for more information on TKP (http://www.timekeeperpro.ca) or to just cheer him on in this unique endeavour!



Regards ... Chris


Thursday, October 18, 2012

PB Micro-Website

** Hot News **

PowerBuilder Micro Website


  SAP have now created a new "micro" website dedicated to the PowerBuilder MS-Windows development tool. The web site contains blogs by SAP MVP's, features overview, success stories, user experiences, webcast recordings, white papers, tutorials, sample applications and code segments, and related partner products. A good focus on the PB IDE and its ecosystem.

You can experience the micro-website for PB yourself ... just click here!

Regards .. Chris

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

SAP Road Maps

** Hot News **

     SAP recently held three webinars that focused on the various product directions from its takeover of Sybase. The webinars reflected the revised product road-maps for: PowerDesigner, ASE (Adaptive Server Enterprise) and PowerBuilder. These webinars were presented in late September through early October 2012 by Jason Lovinger - VP, SAP Database & Technology - and the associated product manager.

    The webinars were recorded and are now available (thanks to Donald Brizendine - Director SAP) for  those who missed the event, as follows:


  • ASE (*)




* - Not yet released, please stay tuned to this blog as to when the actual ASE webinar link is available.

Regards ... Chris

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

PB Song

The PowerBuilder Song

by Chris Pollach

(sing to "Let it Be" (The Beatles))


  When I find my application in tons of trouble,
  Friends and colleagues come to me,
  Speaking words of wisdom:
  "Write it in PB!"

  As the deadline fast approaches,
  And defects are all I can see,
  Somewhere, someone whispers:
  "Write it in PB!"

  Write it in PB, write it in PB,
  Write it in PB, oh, write it in PB.
  ALGOL is so dead and buried,
  Write it in PB!

  I used to write a lot of COBOL,
  For character devices it worked flawlessly.
  Try using it for Windows graphics:
  Write it in PB!

  If you've just spent nearly 30 hours
  Debugging some .NET assembly,
  Soon you will be glad to:
  Write it in PB!

  Write it in PB, write it in PB,
  Write it in PB, oh, write it in PB.
  Only wimps use BASIC:
  Write it in PB!

  Write it in PB, write it in PB,
  Write it in PB, oh, write it in PB.
  DELPHI won't quite cut it.
  Write it in PB!

   {  Guitar Solo   } 

  Write it in PB, write it in PB,
  Write it in PB, oh, write it in PB.
  Don't even mention JAVA:
  Write it in PB!

  And when the screen is getting fuzzy,
  And the editor is really bugging me.
  I'm sick of binary ones and zeros,
  Write it in PB!

  Thousands of people use TCP/IP
  IPV6 is the one for me.
  I hate the word PROCEDURE:
  Write it in PB!

  Write it in PB, write it in PB,
  Write it in PB, oh, write it in PB.
  PL-1 is so 1980's:
  Write it in PB!

  Write it in PB, write it in PB,
  Write it in PB, oh, write it in PB.
  Supercharge it with APPEON:
  Write it in P....B....!


enjoy ... Chris 

   (I bet you can't stop singing this one and emailing your PowerBuilder  friends a copy!)

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

PBTV

** Hot News **

 Upcoming webinars on PowerBuilderTV


Starting next week PBTV have Bruce Armstrong, followed by a PowerBuilder Developer's conference recap in November!

Don't forget to check out the archive of past webinars!

Wednesday Oct 3rd 2012
at 9:00 AM PDT (Los Angeles) - 18h00 CEST (Paris)

Best practices for managing exceptions and errors in PowerBuilder
In this webinar we will look at best practices for error handling in DataWindows, in PowerScript, and how to find errors in nonvisual objects such as datastores and custom user objects. We will show examples and frequent cases where errors occur as well as exceptions and how to handle them properly.
Presenter: Bruce Armstrong
Register

October and November


Stay tuned for a PowerBuilder Developer's Conference recap
If you arnt able to make to SAP Sybase's PB Developer's Conference in Las Vegas (registration is still open), then stay tuned to PBTV in November to find out what you missed!


  Also, check out the following "on demand" webinars ...on PowerBuilderTV:
  Modernize the look of your PowerBuilder Applications
  How to take your PowerBuilder applications mobile with Appeon Mobile
  How to develop Multithreaded applications with PowerBuilder
  Allow end-users to modify applications themselves with Customization Studio
  How to make your application multilingual with Enable 5.0


Regards ... Chris 

Friday, September 14, 2012

PowerBulder Coaching Team

** Hot News **


    ISUG are pleased to announce the launch of a PowerBuilder Coaching initiative starting on October 1st (originally September 24th)! ISUG have formed a team of experts in PowerBuilder that will be presenting content to user group leaders in order for those leaders to present back to their own group!  These sessions will not be open to the general membership but will be open to delegates of user groups around the world.  Those people will in turn present the content back to their own user groups.  PowerBuilder will be the first product covered in this initiative and others will follow shortly.

    Unlike regular sessions, the coaching sessions will go beyond the basic presentation, and will delve into set up (e.g., a demo presentation doesn't just occur; it needs to be set up first), presentation details, Q&A so the user group leaders can fully understand what is being presented, and post presentation materials.Some of ISUG's coaches already hold the role of user group leader in their own locale, and they will be sharing presentations that they have given so that other user group leaders can benefit from them as well.

    If you'd like to join the ISUG coaching team, please contact ISUG's Executive Director Mike Harrold directly.  If you think ISUG is cool and makes you want to start a user group in your area, you can contact Mike about that too!

For more information on the program, click here.

Regards ... Chris

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Hana

** Hot News **

     It's been a year since SAP AG released it's HANA in-memory database platform, and to mark the occasion the company said it is now close to 600 customers world wide. HANA competes with Oracle Corp's Exalytics, which was released in February of this year. Both move data to be processed into RAM instead of reading it off of disks, providing performance gains.

    To read a detailed article on this amazing new technology, please click here!

Regards ... Chris


SAP TechEd - PBDC

** Hot News **

PowerBuilder Developers Conference - Breakout Sessions

October 15-19, 2012, Las Vegas, Venetian Hotel

   SAP has finally released a lust of the presentation sessions that will be appearing at the PBDC sub-conferenece within the main SAP TechEd Conference. Here is a list of of the major presentation titles that we will be seeing at the conference:

  • Using .NET Assemblies with SAP Sybase PowerBuilder
  • SAP Sybase PowerBuilder Techniques and Experiences in Industry — Manufacturing Execution Systems
  • Creation and Consumption of Web Services with SAP Sybase PowerBuilder
  • Techniques for Storing User-Created DataWindows and Graphics in the Database
  • Developing Enterprise Applications for the Film and TV Industry with SAP Sybase PowerBuilder
  • Migrating Classic SAP Sybase PowerBuilder Applications to the Web Using Appeon
  • Using InfoMaker as Part of an Enterprise Reporting System
  • Modernize Your Application Security
  • Modernize the Look of Your SAP Sybase PowerBuilder Applications
  • A New Approach to Making Changes in SAP Sybase PowerBuilder Applications
  • Take Your SAP Sybase PowerBuilder Apps to the Web, and More
  • A New Approach to Making Changes in SAP Sybase PowerBuilder Applications
  • Using SAP Sybase PowerBuilder to Deploy Dynamic Visual Content in the Digital Signage World
  • SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere Tips and Techniques
  • Real-World Case: Integrating SAP Sybase PowerBuilder .NET 12.5.1 CVUOs into the Lawson ERP (M3) Global Implementation
  • CRAFT — A Software Platform for Building Customizable Applications
  • VHG-Tools Platform — SAP Sybase PowerBuilder .NET, Expression Blend, Web, and Cloud
  • How to Migrate 7000 Objects in 180 PBLs from SAP Sybase PowerBuilder Classic to SAP Sybase PowerBuilder .NET
  • Appeon Mobile — Cross-OS Mobile Apps with SAP Sybase PowerBuilder
  • Gantt Chart Planner — Consuming .NET Assemblies in SAP Sybase PowerBuilder .NET
  • Creating and Consuming Web Services Based on SQL Queries in SAP Sybase PowerBuilder
  • XML and Web Services with SAP Sybase PowerBuilder and the Database
  • SAP Business One and SAP Sybase PowerBuilder — Now They Speak!
  • Extend SAP Sybase PowerBuilder to Use Virtual Channels with Microsoft Terminal Services and Citrix
  • Features for a DataWindow-Based Reporting System
  • Coding Tips to Bite Bugs Before They Bite You
  • How to Use SAP Sybase PowerBuilder .NET to Architect Powerful Mobile Apps for Mobile Workers
  • Gradients, Not Glitz — Methods to Modernize SAP Sybase PowerBuilder User Experiences
  • Point-of-Sale Application in the Cloud with Appeon
  • Stored Procedure and Update DataWindows in SAP Sybase PowerBuilder Classic and SAP Sybase PowerBuilder .NET
  • Building a Snap-In Application Framework Using Dynamic SAP Sybase PowerBuilder Assemblies

   For more information on these presentations, please download the PBDC overview content by clicking here. To register for the PBDC conference itself, please click here!

Regards ... Chris


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

New PB Developer Centre

** Hot News **
SAP PowerBuilder Developer Centre 


 
  This is the phase 1 (or "pre-launch") version of the new SAP PowerBuilder Development Centre. For now, the PB Development Centre will give PB developers a first point of reference for anything related to PowerBuilder. SAP in the meantime are working on migrating all the content and material from Sybase's website to SCN to achieve a seamless learning and download experience. Please bear with SAP until then and excuse the additional registration or contact information forms that you will have to fill-in to access certain pieces. The final version of the PowerBuilder Developer Center will include all the SCN content features (blogs, discussions, etc.) that you know from SAP's other developer center spaces.

  Please be patient for a little while longer and you will be able to  hear about great stories from your PB developer peers or make the SAP experts sweat with tricky questions. 




Stay tuned for more Developer Center updates!




Regards ... Chris