Yakov Werde

One of the innovative new features in the PowerBuilder 12.5.1 release is its ability to deploy PowerBuilder .NET code to run in 64-bit mode on 64-bit Windows platforms. In this article, after gaining background and perspective on 32- and 64-bit memory management and .NET deployment models, you'll explore the internals, strengths and limitations of this new feature. Introduction Almost all current server, desktop and notebook hardware platforms have 64-bit processors. Almost all current versions of Windows operating systems support both 32- and 64-bit platforms. With the 12.5.1 release, some PowerBuilder application software will be able to take full advantage of all available system memory. Read on to see if your code is a candidate for instant memory expansion. Background 32-bit OS' can access a theoretical maximum 4 GB of RAM. In practice however, 32-bit Windows e... (more)

Writing to the Console in PowerBuilder 12.5 .NET

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 wrapp... (more)

Building a Snap-In App Framework Using Dynamic PowerBuilder Assemblies

The articles in this two-part series examine and contrast PowerBuilder .NET 12.5.1's new dynamic assembly feature with corresponding dynamic library functionality in PowerBuilder Classic. The discourse is presented in the context of a simplified yet practical use case. The first article presents the use case, reviews pertinent PowerBuilder Classic dynamic APIs, and presents a Classic PBD implementation. The second article introduces PowerBuilder .NET 12.5.1's Dynamic Assembly feature, reveals relevant PowerBuilder .NET generated assembly internals, and presents a PowerBuilder .... (more)

PFC Project Partitioning Using a Referenced PowerBuilder Assembly Target

Paul Harvey, the great American radio personality, would always conclude his colorful broadcasts with the quip "And now you know the rest of the story." For those of you not acquainted with Paul's broadcasts, here's a sample. If you get to about 3:40 in, you'll hear the classic remark. Paraphrasing Paul's tag line, in this article you'll learn "the rest of the story" about RAD Development methodology in PowerBuilder 12.5 .NET using a Referenced PB Assembly Target. I'll explain the technique and implementation steps using the open source PEAT PFC demo application. In a previous P... (more)

RESTful Web Services: A Quick-Start How-to Guide - Part 1

Among PowerBuilder 12.5 .NET's new features comes the ability to use WCF to call RESTful web services. This article, the first in a two-part series, provides a PowerBuilder 12.5 .NET developer with the foundational knowledge and skills to rapidly get up and running building PowerBuilder RESTful Web Service clients. Along the way I'll share with you a few tips and workarounds. Introduction PowerBuilder 12.0 .NET provided the ability to call SOAP-based web services using Microsoft's .NET 3.5 WCF API. I encourage those of you not familiar with WCF and SOAP to view my PowerBuilder W... (more)