Paul Bukauskas, Redondon Beach, California
Bruce Braunstein, Los Angeles, California

Published November, 1996 by Prentice Hall PTR (ECS Professional)

Copyright 1997, 704 pp.
Paper Bound w/CD-ROM
ISBN 0-13-238577-5

Sign up for future
mailings on this subject.

See other books about:
    Distributed Databases-Computer Science

This book will teach you to build client/server applications with PowerBuilder and learn PowerBuilder from the ground up.




Covers all the basics of PowerBuilder.
Includes sample PowerBuilder applications and exercises on CD-ROM.
The least expensive PowerBuilder book/disk package for novices.
Teaches what PowerBuilder applications are, and walks through the process of building them, including interface development, scripts, data types, accessing external database information, managing transactions, compiling and debugging, even overall project management.



(NOTE: Each chapter concludes with a Summary and Test Yourself.)

1. What Is PowerBuilder?

PowerBuilder Universe. PowerBuilder and Database Connectivity. PowerBuilder and Windows. PowerBuilder as a Set of Painters. The Painters. Shortcut Keys to Access the Painters. PowerBuilder Information Resources. Help System. PowerBuilder CD-ROM. Customizing the Toolbar.

2. Overview of Client-Server Computing.

The Client. The Server. The Middleware. SQL Databases in Client-Server Computing. Client-Server Architecture. PowerBuilder's Database.

3. Introduction to Event-Driven Programming .

Windows Environment. Modal vs. Nonmodal Programming. Object-Oriented Programming. Encapsulation. Polymorphism. Inheritance. Visual and Nonvisual Objects. Object Class. Properties. Methods. Programming.

4. What Is a PowerBuilder Application?

Libraries. Application Painter. Application Tree. Application Events. Open. Close. Idle. SystemError. ConnectionBegin. ConnectionEnd. Application Components. Application Creation. Creating a New Application. Defining Application Default Settings. Changing An Application. Flash vs. Functionality.

5. The Library Painter.

Using the Library Painter to Access Other Painters. Using the Library Painter to Create New Libraries. Copying or Moving Objects from One Library to Another. Checking In/Out Objects from Shared Libraries. To Check Out Items. To View Check-Out Status. To Check In Items. Using the Object Browser. Exporting/Importing Library Entries to Text Files. Deleting Objects. Regenerating Objects. Setting the Current Path for Your PBL.

6. The Window Painter.

Previewing Windows. Launching the Window Painter. Creating a New Window. Setting Colors. Changing Window Position and Size. Defining Window Style. Pointer Attribute. Icon Attribute. Window Types. Main Window. Child Window. Popup Window. Response Window. Anatomy of an MDI Frame. Menu Support for MDI Applications. Creating an MDI Frame. Events Revisited. Application Level Events. Window-Level Events. Object-Level Events. User-Defined Events. Creating a User-Defined Event. User Events vs. Functions.

7. Window Controls.

Using Window Controls. Command Buttons. Picture Button. Static Text. Single-Line Edit. Edit Masks and Spin Controls. Multiline Edit. Listbox. Picture Listbox. Check Box. Radio Button. DataWindow Control. Drop-Down List Box. Drop-Down Picture List. Picture. Group Box. OLE 2.0. Tab Objects. Drawing Objects. Horizontal/Vertical Scroll Bars. Setting Tab Order. Naming Controls.

8. Scripts and Data Types.

PowerBuilder Scripts. The Script Painter. Working with Events. Significance of Color. Ancestor Scripts. The Toolbar. The Browser. Comments. Script Identifier Names. Special Symbols and Other Miscellany Stuff. Null Values. IsNull ( ). SetNull ( ). Continuation Character (&). PowerBuilder Data Types. Enumerated Data Types. Variable Declarations. Scope of Variables. PowerBuilder Functions. Open ( ). Close( ). String Handling Functions. Integer ( ). Dec ( ). SetFocus ( ). MessageBox ( ). SelectText ( ). SetFocus Event. KeyDown ( ). TriggerEvent ( ). Declaring Instances of Windows. External References to Windows. Special Pronouns. Parent. This. ParentWindow. Super. Database Issues. Arrays. Operators. Support for Control Structures. Choose Case Statement. For Next. Do Loops. Continue. Halt. Return. Assignment Operators.

9. The Menu Painter.

Creating a Menu. Observing Menu Conventions. Automatic Naming. Cascading Menus. Inserting and Deleting Items. Associating a Menu with a Window. Menu Events. Special Pronoun. Observing Menu Scripting Conventions. Special Functions. Toolbars. Drop-down Toolbars. Displaying Popup Menus.

10. User Objects.

Benefits of User Objects. Code Reuse. Multiple Developer Support. Data Encapsulation. PowerBuilder User Objects. Visual User Objects: Standard. Visual User Objects: Custom. Visual User Object: External. Class User Objects: Nonvisual Objects. Class User Objects: Standard. Non-Visual Objects and Application Partitioning.

11. The Database and Administrator Painters.

Connecting to the Database with Profiles. Editing and Deleting Profiles. Shared Profiles. Using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). Creating Tables. Data Types. Altering Tables. Viewing Data in a Table. Deleting Tables. Exporting the Table Definition. Creating Indexes. General Information About Indexes. Creating Primary and Foreign Keys. Sharing Data with Other File Formats. The PowerBuilder Repository. Specifying Format Information. Formatting Characters. Adding Color to Formats. Display Format Masks. Edit Style. Validation. Numeric Rules. String Rules. Writing and Executing SQL Script. Painters.

12. The DataWindow Painter.

Launching the Painter. Identifying Input Sources for DataWindows. Building a Quick Select DataWindow. Building an SQL Select DataWindow. DataWindow Select Screen. Joining Tables. Selecting Columns. Displaying the SQL Syntax. Building the WHERE Clause. SQL Script with Retrieve Arguments. Sorting Data. Building a Query Object. Building an External DataWindow. Building a Stored Procedure DataWindow. Defining a Data Presentation Style. Tabular. Grid. Freeform. Crosstab. Graph. Group. N-Up. Label. Composite. Rich Text Format.

13. The DataWindow Presentation.

Laying Out the DataWindow. Bands. Sizing, Aligning Columns, and Changing Fonts. Arranging Fields. Naming Fields. Removing Fields. Adding Fields. Edit Data Source. Computed Columns. Creating Group Breaks. Suppressing Repeating Values. Display Formats. Edit Styles. Drop-Down Listbox Edit Style. Checkbox Edit Style. Radio Button Edit Style. Edit Mask Edit Style. Drop-Down DataWindow Edit Style. User-Defined Edit Styles. Data Validation. Manipulating Data. Sorting Data. Filtering Data. Data Attribute. Zooming Data. Shortcut Keys. Controlling Updates. Previewing Data.

14. DataWindow Controls.

Associating the DataWindow Object with the Control. DataWindow Control Properties. The DataWindow Control vs. The Object. DataWindow Control Buffers. Understanding Transaction Objects. Checking Transaction Return Values. Loading the Transaction Object. Connecting to the Database. Connecting to the DataWindow. Retrieving Data. Updating Records.Inserting a Row. Deleting a Row. DataWindow Clicked Events. Clicked Event. Double-Clicked Event. Three Other Useful Functions. Summary. Test Yourself: DataWindow Controls.

15. More DataWindows.

DataWindow Events. EditChanged Event. ItemChanged Event. ItemFocusChanged Event. ItemError Event. RowFocusChanged Event. Error. Edit Buffer. Data Validation.Trapping DataWindow Errors. Direct Referencing. Functions to Get Data from a Row/Column. Checking Row Status. Find ( ) Function. Sorting Records. Setting Filters. Summary. Test Yourself: More DataWindows.

16. Various Painters.

Structure Painter. Using the Structure Painter. Saving a Structure. Using Structures in Scripts. Using Structures to Communicate between Windows. Function Painter. Scope of Functions. Creating a Function. Function Overloading. Debugger. Edit Stops. Viewing Variables. Summary. Test Yourself: Various Painters.

17. Working with Multiple DataWindows.

Setting Up the Environment. Linking DataWindows. Retrieve ( ) Function. Retrieving Automatically. GetRow ( ) Function. Handling Primary and Foreign Keys. Generating Primary and Foreign Keys with the Insert Row. Generating Key Values at the Time of the Save. Using ModifiedCount ( ) and AcceptText ( ). Transaction Processing. Coordinating Updates. Updating Unrelated DataWindows. Providing Context-Sensitive DataWindow. Operations. Summary. Test Yourself: Working with Multiple DataWindows.

18. Using SQL in PowerBuilder.

Relational Database Differentiating Concepts. Data Manipulation Language (DML). SELECT Statement. WHERE Clause. Comparison Operators. Ranges. IN Operator. Character Matches. Nulls. Subqueries. DISTINCT Keyword. GROUP BY Clause. INSERT Statement. UPDATE Statement. DELETE Statement. COMMIT Statement. ROLLBACK Statement. Data Definition Language (DDL). CREATE TABLE Command. DROP TABLE Command. ALTER TABLE Command. CREATE INDEX Command. CREATE VIEW Command. Embedded SQL in PowerBuilder. Summary. Test Yourself: Using SQL in PowerBuilder.

19. Distributing the Application.

The Project Painter. Creating P-Code Executables. Objects Are Copied to the EXE. Objects Non Included in the EXE. PowerBuilder Resource Files (.PBRs). Machine Code. Installation Disk Builder-PBSetup.exe Utility. Running the Application. Summary. Test Yourself: Distributing the Application.

Appendix A: Answers to Test Yourself Questions.
Appendix B: Preparing for the CPD.

Certification Testing. Taking the Exams. Subject Matter for the Fundamentals Exam. 10% - 20% Non-PowerBuilder Related. Technology. 20% - 30% The PowerBuilder Interface. 50% - 60% POWERSCRIPT.

Fundamentals Exam.
Answers.
Appendix C: Practical Exercises: Solutions for a Contact Management System.
Appendix D: PowerScript Functions.
Index.

---

© Prentice-Hall, Inc. A Simon & Schuster Company Comments To webmaster@prenhall.com