Paul Horan

Greetings, and a Happy 2012 to you! You may have noticed that I’ve been rather absent from the blogosphere lately.   I’ve been focusing on my transition to the Sybase/SAP Mobility team.  That doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned my passion for PowerBuilder – that’s the tool that built my... (more)

Here’s a trivia question for you… How long ago did Sybase release the PowerDesigner Plug-in for PowerBuilder? Your answer would probably be, “What the heck is the PowerDesigner Plug-in for PowerBuilder???”  It is, arguably, the least-discussed feature of both PB and PD, and yet,... (more)

Join Dave Fish on PowerBuilderTV as he covers the enhancements included in the recently-released PowerBuilder 12.1 maintenance patch. Click this link to register. I WANT MY PBTV! Enjoy! -Paul- ... (more)

PowerBuilder 12 has been released, and if you’ve been paying attention, you know that it now comes in two flavors!  There’s PB12 “Classic” for traditional Win32, WinForm, WebForm, .NET Assembly, and J2E component targets, and PB12 .NET for WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) an... (more)

Actually, it’s here!  Generally available for licensed users at the Sybase Product Download Center! The long-anticipated update to PowerBuilder is the 16th major release in 19 years, and that doesn’t count the dozens of maintenance releases and HUNDREDS of EBF patches.  But thi... (more)

This really isn’t a Sybase-related post.  This is about my first real exposure to the power of Social Media and Social Networking. I mean, I’ve seen the Youtube clip of the flashmob that The Black-Eyed Peas organized for Oprah’s kickoff show.  That was all organized through Twit... (more)

I hear this question ALL the time…  And frankly, I think the question itself is a little misinformed!  (Of course, I don’t say that to the person’s face…) The first step is to find out what they’re really asking… “Do you mean, you want your PB application to run inside a browser,... (more)

Back in January, I showed how easy it was to consume SOAP-based web services with PowerBuilder 11.5.  PowerBuilder supports the .NET web services engine, which allows PB apps to invoke very complex web services with very little of the detailed coding required for a similar C# or ... (more)

Here’s a quickie for all you PowerBuilder developers that are currently evaluating the beta of PB.Net (aka PB12). Even though it’s not required to know XAML (because the WYSIWYG layout designer in PB.Net automatically generates it for you), it’s probably a good idea to get famili... (more)

If you’ve been following this series, you’ve seen how easy it is (perhaps I should say, “will be”, since PB12 is still in beta…) to use the new features of PowerBuilder.NET. I hope I’ve been able to demystify any uncertainty you’re feeling about the upcoming transition to Windows... (more)

In my previous post, we took a closer look at the XAML and WPF design capabilities of PowerBuilder.Net (AKA PB12), and actually began to construct a sample calculator application.  I’m using this MSDN sample as a design guide, which was 489 lines of C#, not counting the XAML.  Th... (more)

PowerBuilder.NET (aka PB12) is due out in the first half of 2010, and is currently out in public beta testing.  One of the fundamental goals of PowerBuilder, since its introduction in 1991, is to abstract out the technical tedium of Windows application development, and to free ... (more)

By now, everyone on the planet knows what an iPhone is, and either has one or wants one…  The only real weakness of the iPhone centers around its capabilities as an Enterprise business device.  Here’s a great review of the iPhone 3Gs as an “Enterprise” device by Jason Hiner, of ... (more)

Sybase recently announced the first public beta of PowerBuilder 12.  This is the release that will complete Sybase’s vision of having PowerBuilder fully support .Net development.  There will be two separate IDEs in the box: The classic PowerBuilder IDE will still exist, and will... (more)

Yes, Virginia, Sybase does have a J2EE-compatible application server, and it's known as EAS, short for Enterprise Application Server. In fact, EAS is alive and well, and this issue of the PowerBuilder Developer's Journal will focus on the recent release of version 6.0. Why, you ... (more)

As we all know by now, the interface between PowerBuilder and the myriad of Source Code Control (SCC) providers was completely rewritten with the release of PB 8.0. Over the past three years, PowerBuilder's SCC interface has been in a nearly constant state of evolution, and sever... (more)

Every software development project of any significant size or complexity has a requirement for controlling the source code asset. PowerBuilder is capable of integrating with any third-party Source Code Control (SCC) tool that implements Microsoft's SCC API. However, the fact that... (more)

Source code control (SCC) has become a "hot topic" lately, especially after PowerBuilder 8.0 was released, as it contains a wholesale revision to its interface with third-party SCC tools. PB8 now leverages the full functionality of Microsoft's SCC API, and is much more tightly i... (more)

Every development shop that is currently managing its PowerBuilder source code with a third-party SCC tool and has not yet migrated to PB8 will need to understand the upcoming changes in methodology before attempting a migration. Even PBNative users will be affected, as that inte... (more)

PowerBuilder 8.0 was launched in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the product and, by all accounts, it has exceeded everyone's expectations (...and there was much rejoicing!). The enhancements in this release focus specifically on three major areas - the Web, EAServer int... (more)