Tom Peters

Imagine hiring a crew to put an addition on your home. As capable as they seem, you can't help being concerned over the fact that they've shown up for work without any power tools. Every instrument they use looks like it came from Olsen's Mercantile in Little House on the Prairie. When you ask the crew why they don't own any power tools, the foreman responds, "Oh, we own them. We're just more comfortable with these hand tools." After explaining how they could cut their work time in half by using them, the crew concede, break out the power tools and bring in the backhoe. You look in horror as you see them using these expensive devices in the same fashion as their hand tools. They drive nails by smashing them with the nail gun. They cut wood by manually pushing the electric saw back and forth. We won't even mention how they're using the backhoe. Many PowerBuilder dev... (more)

Business Objects

It's all ancient history now. PowerBuilder 5 was still in beta, and Powersoft toured a series of seminars on this hot new version. One session focused on Distributed PowerBuilder. This concept blew me away, having come from a mainframe background. (Am I showing my age?) In fact, client/server was still exciting to me, so this idea of distributing NVOs and building application servers was downright flabbergasting to say the least. When I returned to the office the next day, my enthusiasm was greeted with equally proportional apathy. PowerBuilder 4 applications were still being bu... (more)

Client/Server-The Haven Of Sensitive Data

I'm a huge fan of Marvel Comics. The subtitle of this article, as well as that of its first part, "The DataWindow Superhero" (PBDJ, Vol. 8, issue 1), shows my fantastic immaturity toward the concept of superheroes. I want it known that it's the Marvel Comics' characters, specifically ThunderStrike and the X-Men entourage, that did this to me. ThunderStrike and Juggernaut are my favorites due to the sheer power they display. Unfortunately, that augmented power is accompanied by an even more augmented physical stature, which limits their flexibility and agility. The ideal superher... (more)

Client/Server Rescue Mission

Just when you thought you couldn't make your existing client/server application even thinner, we've got another technique for you. I enjoy writing these articles because I know there are lots of developers still supporting client/server applications that need to be thinned out. The funds to completely reengineer your system may not be available or maybe you don't have the time. These techniques I've been sharing are geared for just such a developer, one who wants to thin the front end while simultaneously reducing maintenance efforts. I've received some great feedback from reade... (more)

Embarcadero's Rapid SQL Version 5.7

There's nothing more tedious than having to type out SQL. While the glory of PowerBuilder rests primarily within its DataWindow technology, which saves us from most of this horror, we still need to write our own stored procedures, triggers, and other SQL logic. The database painter does have a SQL painter in its ISQL pane, but it's limited when it comes time to write stored procedures, triggers, and other objects. We may be able to use it to write some relatively complex queries, but then we have to play games to get it to work in another database object, such as a stored proced... (more)