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Go RAD, Go Mobile - With PocketBuilder!

Powerbuilder 9 Trial Download

Introducing PocketBuilder, a new rapid application development tool that speeds the creation of mobile and wireless enterprise Pocket PC applications. Existing PowerBuilder developers can easily leverage their expertise to create new or extend existing applications using the PocketBuilder IDE.

PocketBuilder is the only true rapid application development (RAD) tool for building mobile and wireless applications running on Microsoft PocketPC-2002 and Windows-Mobilea 2003 based devices. It empowers you to build data driven applications to run your business in just hours! Deliver critical information to your mobile users, wherever they are, whenever they need it.

New in version 2.0 - SmartPhone and Pocket PC Phone Edition platform support! Add messaging functionality to your mobile applications quickly and easily!

PocketBuilder has 3 key features that no other product has:

  1. A highly productive 4GL RAD IDE for super-fast graphical development;

  2. Patented DataWindow technology delivering virtually code-free development for data access and data presentation and complex business logic processing;

  3. And, iAnywhere's MobiLink technology, incorporating data synchronization. This means you can quickly and easily create applications for "occasionally connected" users in the mobile world - all with wizard driven development.

It couldn't be easier! Developers who currently use PowerBuilder can leverage their skill-set as well as their code to create new, or extend existing, applications using PocketBuilder. New developers will find that this powerful yet easy-to-use 4GL IDE.



Product Information: Overview



Sybase PocketBuilder is a powerful and easy to use tool for mobile and wireless application development, and targets Pocket PC devices including the HP-iPAQ, Dell-Axim, Symbol 2800 & 8800, Toshiba devices. PocketBuilder greatly simplifies development and deployment of enterprise level applications. Read more about the business advantages of PocketBuilder.

PocketBuilder Benefits - Bring these benefits to your organization using PocketBuilder:

  • Reduced Costs - Greatly simplifies development and deployment of enterprise level data driven mobile and wireless applications. Get your projects done faster than ever before - in days and even hours!
  • Flexible - Test your applications on the desktop, device, or emulator - whichever is easiest for you. Create prototypes in minutes and get user input while viewing it on the desktop or the device itself.
  • Extreme Productivity - Time is money, so get the job done, fast. Build mobile applications quickly and get your enterprise data to mobile users, keeping them always up-to-date. With PocketBuilder, 5 lines of code do the work of 50 lines in other IDEs, and 100 lines of C++ or Java.
  • Minimize Risk - PocketBuilder is built on proven technology tested over time by hundreds of thousands of developers. This ensures that you're working with a rock solid product. You can't afford to trust your key business applications to just any tool.
  • Speeds Development - The only real, complete RAD 4GL IDE for mobile development with hundreds of built-in functions and properties reduces the amount of coding required and eliminates the need to directly interface with complex APIs.

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PocketBuilder Technical Information



PocketBuilder Features:

  • RAD IDE - PocketBuilder delivers the first real 4GL development environment for mobile development. Based on the same best-in-class rapid application development (RAD) platform that PowerBuilder developers have relied upon for over a decade, mobile developers now have the benefit of time tested, proven technology. Drag and drop programming and minimal coding really define RAD, and now it's finally available for mobile development.
  • Patented DataWindow Technology - This technology is so powerful it's patented, enabling developers to build data driven applications quickly and easily, and incorporate sophisticated display formatting and data manipulation capabilities for mobile users - all without coding.
  • SQL Anywhere Studio - The market-leading mobile database is in the box, providing the best possible solution for creating and deploying database-powered mobile enterprise applications.
  • MobiLink - With wizard driven programming, developers use iAnywhere's MobiLink technology for implementing complex data synchronization - easily! Now you can be sure mobile users have the most up-to-date data possible.
  • Phone and SmartPhone Support - Build applications that allow users to make a voice or data call, right from the application using a Pocket PC phone edition or SmartPhone device. Native support for Phone SMS (short message service) means that you can quickly and easily add a new dimension of communication and flexibility to your applications.
  • GPS Support - Easily write applications that communicate with Bluetooth unit Global positioning system (GPS) devices, such as those manufactured by Pharos and TomTom.
  • Digital Camera Support - Build applications that utilize digital imaging as part of the data needed in the application. Easily code for mobile users with devices that have cameras built-in as well as plug-in digital cameras, such as the VEO 130S, HP SDIO PhotoSmart, and the HTC family of phones like the SPVM1000 and SPVE200.
  • Native support for Scanner Devices - Abstraction of complex APIs simplifies application development for integrating with the HP Biometric Scanner enabling developers to build applications with enhanced security. Support also included for the Symbol PPT-2800/8800 Barcode Scanners. PocketBuilder also provides support for Socket's In-Hand Scan Card laser scanner devices.
  • Print Directly from Application - The PocketPC operating system from Microsoft has no native printing abilities, but PocketBuilder provides support for you - now printing from your applications directly is possible and easy!
  • Simplified Integration with Device - Integration with native Task, Contact, Appointment, and Calendar system. Easily create custom items on the PocketPC's "Today Screen."
  • Improved Ease of Use - New properties in the Environment Object for determining a trusted environment, the ability to access and set screen orientation, and a variety of Project Painter changes like digitally signing your code with your security certificate are some of the many other new features in this release. We've even enhanced our conversion Wizard so you can now bring PowerBuilder 9 and 10 targets into PocketBuilder.


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Comparing PowerBuilder and PocketBuilder


This white paper describes many of the differences between PowerBuilder and PocketBuilder.


The PocketBuilder IDE is similar to that of PowerBuilder, so you can leverage your existing PowerBuilder skill-set, reusing knowledge and expertise to build and deploy mobile applications. PocketBuilder has support for the DataWindow, providing powerful data access and sophisticated programming capabilities on Windows CE devices, tight integration with Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA), and support for MobiLink, enabling bidirectional data synchronization with heterogeneous enterprise systems.

Many PowerBuilder features are supported without modification. You can reuse code from PowerBuilder applications, although PowerBuilder projects that you import to PocketBuilder must be re-architected for deployment to handheld devices.

File name changes
Although PowerBuilder and PocketBuilder use the same file extensions for exported objects, file extensions for libraries, targets, workspaces, and resource files differ to prevent confusion for developers who work with both products. Table 1 lists the differences between these extensions.

Table 1: Differences in File Extensions
File type PowerBuilder Extension PocketBuilder Extension
Workspace PBW PKW
Target PBT PKT
Library PBL PKL
Dynamic PBD PKD
Resource File PBR PKR

The file name for the PocketBuilder initialization file is PKU.INI. The U stands for Unicode. PowerBuilder supports ANSI character sets. PocketBuilder primarily supports Unicode, although it does allow you to import and export files with ANSI character sets.

Environment variables
In both PowerBuilder and PocketBuilder, the enumerated types for the Environment object returned by a GetEnvironment call include the OSType and CPUType. PocketBuilder has additional values for the GetEnvironment OSType and CPUType. For a Pocket PC platform, the value returned for the GetEnvironment OSType is "WindowsCE!" and the value returned for the CPUType is "ARM!"

System functions for Soft Input Panel
PocketBuilder has system functions to control the display of the Soft Input Panel (SIP) on a Windows CE device or emulator. These functions are not available in PowerBuilder applications.

Function Description
SetSIPPreferredState Displays or hides the SIP used on the Pocket PC or emulator
SetSIPType Specifies the SIP panel type (keyboard or character recognizer) used by the application on a Pocket PC or emulator

Differences required by target platform
The Windows CE API is a subset of the API for traditional Windows platforms. The most obvious difference between Windows CE and Windows 2000 or Windows XP is the screen size (real estate) available to deployed applications. There are also stylistic differences for applications deployed to Windows CE platforms.

Window Types Supported
PocketBuilder supports the following window types:

  • Main
  • Response

Window properties
The following PowerBuilder properties do not exist in PocketBuilder:

ContextHelp MinBox Resizeable
ControlMenu MDIClientColor RightToLeft
MaxBox PaletteWindow WindowState

The default window object size is smaller in PocketBuilder than in PowerBuilder to fit the size of a Pocket PC screen. You can set default size properties for main and response window objects on a Size tab in the window design Options dialog box. PocketBuilder does not have a Toolbar tab page in the Properties view for windows and menus. The Toolbar page applies only to MDI windows, which are not supported on the Windows CE platform. The PowerBuilder Pointer property on the Other tab page of the window Properties view also does not exist in PocketBuilder.

The properties in Table 3 below apply only to PocketBuilder windows, and not PowerBuilder windows. They are set in the Properties view of the Window painter at design time. You cannot set these properties in a script at runtime.

Table 3: Windows properties for PocketBuilder only
Property Description
Close Adds an OK icon to the title bar of a main or response window that you deploy to a Windows CE platform. By default, when users click OK, user input is confirmed, the window object is destroyed, and the PocketBuilder application is closed.
SmartMinimize Adds an X icon to the title bar of a main window that you deploy to a Windows CE platform. By default, when users click the X, the application is removed from the current navigational stack, but remains in memory for quicker availability and enhanced performance. This property and the Close property are mutually exclusive. Selecting one deselects the other. SmartMinimize is not supported on the Pocket PC 2000 emulator
MenuBar Selecting this property makes room at the bottom of the current window for insertion of a menu. When you set a value for the MenuName property of a window, the MenuBar property is automatically selected.
DefaultSize Selecting this property changes the size of the current window to the default size selected for the window type on the Size tab of the window design Options dialog box.
ShowSIPButton Ensures that the SIP button (that is used to open the soft input panel) displays at the bottom of the window when you run the window on a Windows CE platform. This is selected by default.

Unsupported PowerBuilder features
PocketBuilder Target Types

PocketBuilder 2.0 supports PowerScript targets only, so the System Tree in PocketBuilder has a single Workspace tab. PocketBuilder does not currently support distributed applications or deployment to component transaction servers, and it does not include integrated source control functionality.

Using PocketBuilder with PocketSOAP
You can use PocketBuilder in conjunction with PocketSOAP to access online Web services. DLL files that define a PocketSOAP interface for PocketBuilder are available on the Sybase CodeXchange Web site. Find out more at: http://powerbuilder.codexchange.sybase.com/.

Click the Pocket PB hyperlink, open the Pocket SOAP folder, and select the soapif.zip file for download. A readme file is included in the Pocket SOAP folder and in the zip file on this Web site. PowerBuilder installs a Sybase\Shared folder that contains subdirectories with PowerBuilder DLL files, Web target files, and Java support. There is no shared folder in a PocketBuilder installation.

Wizard differences
The differences between PowerBuilder and PocketBuilder functionality are reflected in the wizards provided with the two products. PocketBuilder has wizards that support the conversion of PowerBuilder and PocketBuilder targets, as well as a wizard to generate objects that support MobiLink synchronization.

Table 4 describes differences between several PowerBuilder and PocketBuilder wizards. Wizards that differ only in the extension of the files they create are not included in this table.

Table 4 Wizard Differences
Template Application Does not support selection of MDI or PFC application types.
Connection Object Does not support EAServer connection; allows for entry of connection information that not in a database profile.
Application Wizard Does not support creation of machine code EXE or DLL files; allows selection of deployment platforms; version information is more limited than in PowerBuilder 9 and is valid only for files deployed to the desktop.

Object Types
PocketBuilder does not support the standard PowerBuilder object types listed in Table 5. Additionally, external visual user objects, standard RichTextEdit and OLE visual controls are also not supported in PocketBuilder. ClassDefinition and ScriptDefinition objects, and other objects that descend from the ClassDefinitionObject object, are supported on the desktop but not on Windows CE devices or emulators.

Table 5: Unsupported standard class PowerBuilder object types
ADOResultSet ErrorLogging Pipeline
Connection Inet Profile object types
ContextInformation InternetResult SSLCallback
ContextKeyword JaguarORB SSLServiceProvider
CorbaUnion Mail object types Timing
DynamicDescriptionArea OLE object types Trace object types
DynamicStagingArea TransactionServer  

PowerScript Language Differences

Datatypes
The longlong datatype added for PowerBuilder 9 is not supported in PocketBuilder.

Functions
The classes of functions listed below are not supported in PocketBuilder:

  • Connection and TransactionServer object functions (such as CreateInstance and Lookup)
  • ContextInformation, Inet, and InternetResult object functions (such as GetCompanyName, GetURL, and InternetData)
  • CORBA object functions (such as BeginTransaction and Init)
  • DBCS functions (such as LenW and PosW)
  • DDE functions (such as CloseChannel and GetDataDDE)
  • Mail functions (such as MailLogon and MailSend)
  • OLE object functions (such as Length and MemberExists)
  • Profile and trace functions (such as RoutineList and TraceBegin)
  • Print functions (such as PrintOpen and PrintPage)
  • RichTextEdit control functions (such as CopyRTF and GetTextColor)
  • SSLCallback and SSLServiceProvider object functions (such as GetPin and SetGlobalProperty)

Table 6 lists PowerScript functions that are not currently implemented for the Windows CE platform. Although you are not prevented from coding these functions, if you call any of them at runtime, the calls will either be ignored, return partially valid data, or throw a system exception.

Table 6: Unsupported PowerScript functions
Activate AddToLibraryList Arrangesheets
CanUndo ClassList ClassName
Connection object functions ContextInformation objectfunctions CORBA object functions
CreatePage DBCS functions DDE functions
GetActiveSheet GetArgElement GetFirstSheet
GetFolder GetLastReturn GetLibraryList
GetRecordSet GetToolbar Inet object functions
InsertDocument InsertFile InternetResult object functions
IsAllArabic IsAllHebrew IsAnyArabic
IsAnyHebrew IsArabic IsArabicAndNumbers
IsHebrew IsHebrewAndNumbers LibraryDirectory
LibraryDirectoryEx LibraryExport LibraryImport
LongLong Mail functions ObjectAtPointer
OLE object functions PageCreated Print functions
Profiling objectfunctions RichTextEdit functions SetLibraryList
ShowHelp ShowPopupHelp SSLCallback functions
SSLServiceProvider functions Trace functions  

Method limitations on Windows CE platforms

  • The SetPointer function works only with the Hourglass! and Arrow! Values in applications deployed to Windows CE platforms. The pointer is an arrow by default. If you set the pointer to an hourglass in a desktop application, the pointer reverts to an arrow after the script is run. On a Windows CE device you must explicitly call SetPointer a second time to reset the pointer.
  • On Windows CE platforms, SetRedraw (FALSE) works only for the ListBox, DropDownListBox, and TreeView controls, however SetRedraw (TRUE) forces a repaint of all control types. This can lead to unexpected performance penalties in applications that you deploy to Pocket PCs or emulators.

Events
The events listed below are not supported on the Windows CE platform. Although you are not prevented from coding these events, if you add script for any of them, it will be ignored at runtime.

CloseQuery RemoteExec RemoteRequest
Help RemoteHotLinkStart RemoteSend
HotLinkAlarm RemoteHotLinkStop ToolbarMoved

DataWindow objects and database support
The DataWindow types supported by PocketBuilder are:

  • Freeform
  • Graph
  • Grid
  • Group
  • Tabular

PocketBuilder does not support Composite, Crosstab, Label, N-Up, OLE 2.0, and RichText.

You can print a DataWindow report from PocketBuilder only from the desktop. The “Rows to Disk” retrieve option for DataWindow objects is not available in PocketBuilder.

The ODBC driver for ASA is the database driver installed with PocketBuilder. Database drivers for OLE/DB and JDBC, as well as DBMS native drivers, are not supported. PocketBuilder also does not support data pipeline objects. If you need to access an enterprise database from a PocketBuilder application, you can use MobiLink synchronization technology or convert the enterprise database to an ASA database. To learn more about MobiLink support in PocketBuilder, visit www.sybase.com/manuals, and download the PocketBuilder Resource Guide and Reference. Visit section “Adding objects for MobiLink synchronization” on page 276 and the chapter on MobiLink synchronization in this guide.

Colors, presentation style, and figures
Some defaults for background colors have been changed from Btn_Face (Gray) in PowerBuilder to Window (White) in PocketBuilder. Some of the named colors on Windows machines are not supported on Windows CE devices. Unsupported colors are rendered in black on these devices. Controls in PocketBuilder default to a 2D presentation style. If a 3D look is selected for a control, it might not have the desired appearance when deployed to a Windows CE device. Different versions of the Windows CE platform can vary in their support of 3D controls. PocketBuilder supports GIFs, BMPs, and stock icons for picture controls. Other picture files (JPGs, WMFs, RLEs, and cursor files) are not currently supported.

Deployment and Runtime Differences

Debug and Deployment Options
For a PocketBuilder project, you specify deployment options that are not available in PowerBuilder. You can select any or all of the following deployment options:

  • Device (ARM)
  • Desktop
  • PPC Emulator 2000
  • PPCEmulator 2002

An application that you deploy to the desktop will look slightly different from the same application deployed to a PDA device or a Pocket PC emulator. The desktop application has its own title bar with a maximize, minimize, and close button. Even if you select Close or SmartMinimize icons for a window, these do not display in the window when it is run or debugged on the desktop. Desktop deployment is for testing and demonstration purposes only. When you debug an application, you do not have access to the Tip Watch or Quick Watch views that were added to PowerBuilder in version 9. You must debug an application from the PocketBuilder IDE; you cannot run the PocketBuilder debugger with a deployed application.

Running Applications on an Emulator or PDA Device
If you deploy applications to a Pocket PC emulator, PocketBuilder starts the emulator. PocketBuilder has toolbar icons and Tools menu items that launch the Pocket PC 2000 emulator and the Pocket PC 2002 emulator. You can download the Pocket PC 2000 SDK and the Pocket PC 2002 SDK from the Microsoft Web site. These SDKs include emulators that you can use as target platforms for your PocketBuilder applications.

Using the Windows CE Start Menu
By default, PocketBuilder deploys applications to the \Program Files directory of a Windows CE device or emulator, but you can change the deployment directory in the Project painter. On a Windows CE device, users can run the PocketBuilder applications you deploy by clicking on an application executable file in the directory where it is deployed. Users can locate deployed executable files with the Windows CE File Explorer.

You can also deploy applications to a directory that you create in the Start Menu of the Windows CE target platform, such as \Windows\Start Menu\My Programs. That way, users will be able to find the deployed applications quickly using the Start Menu. Another option is to use the built-in application list as a selection vehicle for deployed applications.

Using the Built-in Application List
Users can display the built-in application list by selecting PocketBuilder 2.0 from the Start menu. The list is empty until you begin deploying applications. The application list includes a directory browser that lets users select a directory containing deployed applications. By default, the application list displays executable files that you deploy to the \Program Files directory of the Windows CE device. Users can launch any PocketBuilder application that you deploy to the device by selecting the application from this application list. The application list is present on the device only if the complete PocketBuilder runtime package is installed. If you install only the PocketBuilder runtime DLLs to the device, the application list is not available.

Connecting to an ASA database on Windows CE
In the development environment, the ODBC driver manager provides an interface between the PocketBuilder ODB interface (pkodb10u.dll) and the ASA version 8 ODBC driver (dbodbc8.dll). The driver manager can handle three types of data source name (DSN) files: system DSNs, user DSNs, and file DSNs. You can create a database connection profile using any of these DSN types.

In applications that you deploy to Win CE, you must use a file DSN because there is no ODBC driver manager.

Using file DSNs
Windows CE does not provide an ODBC driver manager or an ODBC Administrator. On Windows CE, Adaptive Server Anywhere uses ODBC data sources stored in ANSI format files. The file has the same name as the data source, with the extension .dsn, and is usually stored at the root level of the device.

Windows CE also searches for data source files in the following locations:

The directory from which the ODBC driver (dbodbc8.dll) was loaded. This is usually the Windows directory.

The directory specified in the Location key of the Adaptive Server Anywhere section of the registry. This is usually the same as the Adaptive Server Anywhere installation directory. The default installation directory is: \Program Files\Sybase\ASA.

You can specify either the DSN or the FILEDSN keyword to use file data source definitions in a script. On Windows CE, DSN and FILEDSN are synonyms.

The data source typically specifies the location of the database and the database engine. For more information about defining data sources, see "Defining an ASA data source".

Starting ASA
To start an ASA database on a Pocket PC device or emulator, use the File Explorer (in the Programs folder) to navigate to the location where ASA is installed, usually Program Files\Sybase\ASA . Tap dbsrv8, use the drop-down lists or the Soft Input Panel to complete the Server Startup Options dialog box, and tap OK.

Your application can start the database automatically by specifying the properties of a Transaction object and issuing a CONNECT statement.

Using a different ASA ODBC driver
The default ASA ODBC driver supplied with Adaptive Server Anywhere version 8 is dbodbc8.dll. You can specify a different ASA ODBC driver by including "driver=dbodbcX.dll" in the ConnectString parameter in the DBParm value or in the file data source, where X is the version number of the ASA ODBC driver.

For example, to use an ASA 9 ODBC driver on the Windows CE device, you can set the following DBParm value in a script (SQLCA is the default connection object):

SQLCA.DBPARM="ConnectString='DSN=myDSN; driver=dbodbc9.dll;UID=dba;PWD=sql'" CONNECT using SQLCA;

If you are running your PocketBuilder applications from the desktop, use the actual name of the driver (for example, "Adaptive Server Anywhere 9.0") in the ConnectString parameter rather than the name of the DLL. Otherwise, the driver you select in the connection string might be ignored.

The DSN you assign must exist in the root directory on the Windows CE device or emulator, or in the \Windows directory or the directory from which the server was started. You can include the driver name in the DSN instead of the DBParm by adding an assignment for the driver in the DSN file:

[ODBC]
enginename=asademo
databasename=asademo
databasefile=\Program Files\Sybase\ASA\asademo.db
start=\Program Files\Sybase\ASA\dbsrv9.exe
Driver=dbodbc9.dll

Preventing the ASA log screen from displaying
You can add a -q switch to the start line in the DSN file to prevent the ASA log screen from displaying when you connect to the database: start=\Program Files\Sybase\ASA\dbsrv8.exe -q
Because the connection might take a few moments, it is a good idea to call the SetPointer function to display the Windows CE version of the hourglass icon when using the -q switch. For information about the use of SetPointer on the Windows CE platform, see the note on Method limitations on Windows CE platforms in this appendix.

CAB file creation and distribution
In PocketBuilder you can generate a CAB file with all the objects from a project and the project executable file. You can use the CAB file to distribute the project to multiple Pocket PC devices.

Resizing and moving controls
PocketBuilder painters do not allow you to set properties for resizing and moving controls at runtime. However, you can still give users the ability to move and resize controls by modifying these control properties in code.


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