In preparation for our new season, I have just upgraded my TaeKwonDo (TKD) master's web site that I originally built in PowerBuilder 10.2.1 to the
new PB release
10.5.0. We have again been renewed by the City of Ottawa's recreation department (in Canada's National Capital) to run a community program. My TKD master has been teaching this program for the past 23 years - so this will mark his 24th season! I am the Web Master for this site and as such have been updating it so that we can convey the new 2006 / 2007 registration information to our students. In the updating of the site content I thought to myself ... "why not use the latest PB production release and take it out for a spin (my term for "test drive)"?
I am happy to report that the upgrade went flawlessly and the web site content has also been updated. You can see the live web site at: www.syeoh.com. If that does not work (because or firewall restrictions) - try clicking
here as an alternative. Many clientele that I meet in my PB consulting role talk to me about products like DreamWeaver, HTMLEdit, VS2005, etc as the products that they use to construct their various web sites. I tell them that I use PowerBuilder - which immediately provokes the response ... "thats that old Client/Server tool isn't it"? I say politely .. "No, you must be thinking about Visual Basic", which immediately prompts a dumb-founded return stare <lol>! In recent releases, PowerBuilder assimilated a cool product known as
PowerSite (originally developed by the innovative PowerSoft guys) that can allow any PB developer to build and maintain various web site models (ASP, JSP, PHP, Perl, etc) within the PB Integrated Development Environment and then also connect all this information to your favourite Source Code Manager version control software (or use its own internally built rendition)!
Once you have created a "
Web Target" using one of the many wizards in the PB product, you will arrive at the HTML / ASP / JSP ,etc editing dialog. This dialog allows you to view the web page in its Graphic mode, Source Mode, or Full Preview scenrio. If you were developing in PB and opened a web page, here is that you would see (
figure 1). In Figure 1 you can see the ability to reverse engineer the Document Object Model (DOM), see both a live editing and source code split dialog - with extensive editing features including "Drag & Drop" programming! In figure 1, you are looking at the "Class Schedule" web page which also includes a HTML table. Getting a little deeper into the web site (see
figure 2) generation - when you view the web entity in its "source code" format you will see that PB (and PowerSite) have generated meta tags that identify that PowerSite was involved and what version of PB was used to generate or last maintain this web page. While in Source Code mode, you can also see the handy HTML reference sheet that can be activated in the System Tree to again provide a handy reference with examples, help and "Drag & Drop" programming abilities!
This is not the only aspect of the PowerSite capabilities (
figure 3). In Figure 3 you can see an ASP.Net web page being designed and maintained. However, take a look at the System Tree as an ASP.Net reference card has been activated using the "Language" tab. This allows the ASP developer to also use "Drag & Drop" programming, examine properties and methods and even link into the extensive PowerSite help files or over to the Microsoft web site for detailed help information. The same reference can be brought into play in the System Tree for JSP and HTML web pages too! I have included
figure 4 here that demostrates the full web browser "live" preview capabilites within PB without having to leave the IDE. This screen snap-shot also illustrates the cool integrated "Source Code Manager" integration capabilies with PB's System Tree as well. When you
deploy or
build a web entity, PB also checks your syntax and cross-checks your URL references. It then informs you in the "OutPut Pane" of any inconsistencies.
When performing complex programming tasks using for example ActiveX controls (
figure 5), PB allows the web designer to bring up a list of possible controls by using the "components" tab page of the System Tree. Then, when a possible control is found - like the MS Agent control in figure 5 - "drag & drop" the control on to the web page and then use the same technique to program it! PB also includes "InstaCode" - much like "AutoScript" elsewhere in PB or "Intellisense" in Visual Studio. InstaCode will pop-up an give you a reference card on any DOM, ActiveX, HTML, etc script where you are currently coding. Coupled with all these great features is also the live preview mode that allows you to visual see the effects of your programming efforts while continuing to edit your work .... very cool - eh?
I hope this little insight into PB's
PowerSite Web capabilities will "wet your appetite" to give them a try. Also, for those "management types" out there - "PB is
not only just for client / server applications" - you can build extremely robust web sites and use the prowess of the Web DataWindow too (OK, now I am getting goose bumps) to significantly reduce your web coding to bring dynamic web content to the internet. In the mean time, please enjoy our Martal Art web site. I have added
fireworks to the introduction page (DHTML) and web page
fade-in of the main web pages under each topic you select from the top menu toolbar.
Regards ... Chris
