1. Pocket PowerBuilder

2. Ian Thain Pocket PowerBuilder Evangelist PTOG Evangelist Team, Sybase Inc. ian.thain@sybase.com

3. Agenda Introduction Unwired Enterprise Why PPB ?
Enterprise Mobile Applications
PPB Overview
PPB vs. PB
MobiLink
Developing An Application
Migrating
Demonstrations

4. Introduction
Over the last 11 years we have seen PowerBuilder grow and develop into the tool it is today. Originally for Client Server, then incorporating Component Development & RAD Thin Client Development.
Also over the last 11 years we have seen increasing developments in DataWindow technology that has seen it appear (or not) as a non-visual DataStore, Java DataWindow and HTML DataWindow
DataWindows EVERYWHERE? Well nearly!
Reference material within PBDJ article

5. Introduction "Don't think big…Think Small!!"
Pocket PowerBuilder is now coming to aid corporate development of Pocket PC applications, brining all the benefits
RAD 4 GL and even the DataWindow technology.
So we really can now say, DataWindows EVERYWHERE!!!!
Reference material within PBDJ article

6. Unwired Enterprise Liquidity + Mobility = Unwired Enterprise
Liquidity - Free flowing information with economic value
Mobility - Freedom to work anytime, anywhere
Reference material within PBDJ article

7. Why PPB ?
Pocket PCs are becoming more popular and are produced by many manufactures such as
HPTM,
DellTM,
ToshibaTM
Pocket PC market leader HP - iPAQ
Many companies are starting to realize the competitive advantage that occasionally connected Pocket PCs can provide in today’s business climate.

8. Why PPB ?
Pocket PCs are not as powerful or as feature rich as notebook computers or Tablet PCs but are a fully enabled computer operating within a mobile context
But their small size is proving popular with road warriors looking to reduce the equipment they take with them while traveling
Pocket PCs are also allowing organizations to provide automation in areas where computers wouldn’t fit
Thus saving money by reducing data entry requirements and eliminating data entry errors.

9. Why PPB ?
While there are some development tools available for creating Pocket PC applications, no tool seems to combine the features of ease-of-use with power and flexibility quite like Pocket PowerBuilder.
With Pocket PowerBuilder and Adaptive Server Anywhere for CETM, developers will be able to quickly and easily create powerful Pocket PC applications for a variety of uses.
Ideal for Mobile Smart Client development

10. Why PPB ? Mobile Smart Client
Application where client side business logic is executed on device
Persistent data storage on the device
Application can be executed at any time, even without a wireless connection
Integration to the enterprise is typically provided via synchronization
Client application communicates data to the back end via a synchronization server

11. Enterprise Mobile Applications
Identifying a candidate for a mobile application
For existing systems…
Not replace but extend
What advantage or +ve impact?
User needs
Current inefficiencies
Not just a Port or conversion !

12. Enterprise Mobile Applications
Identifying common functionality
Existing System
Mobile Sysytem
Common functionality
Greatest common denominators of functionality
Some functionality may not be practical for mobile users

13. Enterprise Mobile Applications
Key areas for a mobile application
Usability (including intuitiveness, efficiency, ease of use & reliability)
Innovation (including New Functionality) – maybe from using mobile technologies
BPI (including extending existing systems) – it should fit well into existing business processes
ROI – As always a return on investment is a major factor

14. Enterprise Mobile Applications
Potential Systems for Mobile Applications
Data Collection
Inventory Management
Customer Relationship Management
Event Tracking
Sales Force Automation
Healthcare
Field Force Automation
Mobile Healthcare

15. Pocket PowerBuilder Overview
Productive 4GL IDE
Supports complete development cycle
Rich component set
Visual development with minimal coding
Currently based on the PB8 code line
DataWindow control
Single component providing sophisticated data representation
Built in SQL for selects, updates, inserts and deletes
Reference material within PBDJ article
Current GA v 1.5

16. Pocket PowerBuilder Overview
BTW
SalesDB Tutorial

17. Pocket PowerBuilder Overview
DataWindow Control
Advanced control for displaying and manipulating data
Available in many formats
Freeform
Graph
Grid
Group
Tabular
Reuse existing DataWindows with little effort

18. Pocket PowerBuilder Overview
PowerScript
Powerful OO language
Inheritance
Polymorphism
Overloading & Overriding
Event driven
Based on Basic/Pascal
User Events
User Functions
User Objects
Visual
Non Visual
Reference material within PBDJ article

19. Pocket PowerBuilder Overview
Tight Integration with SQL Anywhere Studio
Easily develop mobile “smart client” applications with ASA
Forte’ is the occasionally connected database application (necessary for wireless use)
Integration with MobiLink for data synchronization
Other Database Drivers After 1.5 GA

20. Pocket PowerBuilder Overview
Rich Set of components
Command Button,
Picture Button,
CheckBox,
Radio Button,
Static Text,
List View,
Tree View,
List Box,
DropDown List Box,
Edit Mask,
Single Line Edit,
MultiLine Edit,
Progress Bar,
Scroll Bars,
Line, Oval, Rectangle, Tabs, and many, many more!
Plus the ability to create new components!

21. PPB vs. PB Unsupported Functions within OLE, DDE, CORBA, Profiling,
Printing,
Rich Text and a few more.
Unsupported Events contain
help(),
closequery(),
anything to do with remote (example remoteexec()), hotlinkalarm() and toolbarmoved().
Reference material within PBDJ article

22. PPB vs. PB Unsupported Features MDI applications,
EAServer CORBA connections,
Web and JSP targets,
and Automation server.
NO PFC !
Reference material within PBDJ article

23. PPB vs. PB Unsupported DataWindow types Composite Crosstab Label N-Up
OLE2.0
RichText
Reference material within PBDJ article

24. PPB vs. PB Environment variables
In both products, the enumerated types for the Environment object returned by a GetEnvironment call include the OSType and CPUType.
Pocket PowerBuilder 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!".
ORCA Script
Both PB & Pocket PowerBuilder ship with ORCA Script as of v1.5
Reference material within PBDJ article

25. PPB vs. PB System functions for SIP
Pocket PowerBuilder has system functions to control the display of the Soft Input Panel (SIP) on a Windows CE device or emulator
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
Reference material within PBDJ article

26. New Controls
With PDA Things like Rich Ink control…

27. New Controls
With PDA Things like DatePicker control…

28. New Controls
With PDA Things like Notification Bubble…

29. New Controls Other Native controls
HP 5400 & 5500 Series Biometric Fingerprint Scanner
Symbol Barcode Scanner

30. Different Functionality
Upper-Right Corner Window Controls
Changed for PDA Standards.
ok Close the window,
or the entire application
X Smart-Minimize,
to minimize the window or entire
application.

31. Window or
Application
Close

32. Window Title

33. Menu At
Bottom

34. SIP
Keyboard

35. Different Functionality
Window Concepts are Different
NO MDI
“main!” and “response!” Windows Only
No Mouse
Seldom Use “drag and drop”
Seldom Use “mouse move”
Left & Right Click events mapped to “tap” & “tap-hold” gestures
Not Supported DataWindow Types:
Composite, Crosstab, Label, Nested, N-Up, OlE, and RichText
Not Supported Object Types:
ADOResultSet Inet Pipeline
Connection InternetResult Profiling
ContextInformation JaguarORB SSLCallback
ContextKeyword MailSession SSLServiceProvider
CORBAUnion OLEObject Timing
DynamicDescriptionArea OLEStorage TraceFile
DynamicStagingArea OLEStream TraceTree
ErrorLogging OLETxnObject TransactionServer
Post GA we may add back:
Trace**, OleObject, DynamicDescription & Staging Area, a few others

36. Different Functionality
Menu Concepts are Different
Space Limitations
Width is 6 items MAX
Some Event Differences
Top level items don’t get a “menu event”
Sub-Menus DO…
Toolbar is a separate object
In PB toolbar is a MDI Menu property
In PPB Toolbar has a separate object ‘painter’
Can be at top or bottom
Not Supported DataWindow Types:
Composite, Crosstab, Label, Nested, N-Up, OlE, and RichText
Not Supported Object Types:
ADOResultSet Inet Pipeline
Connection InternetResult Profiling
ContextInformation JaguarORB SSLCallback
ContextKeyword MailSession SSLServiceProvider
CORBAUnion OLEObject Timing
DynamicDescriptionArea OLEStorage TraceFile
DynamicStagingArea OLEStream TraceTree
ErrorLogging OLETxnObject TransactionServer
Post GA we may add back:
Trace**, OleObject, DynamicDescription & Staging Area, a few others

37. Different Functionality
Synchronization
Pocket PowerBuilder also surpasses PowerBuilder with the introduction of a MobiLink wizard
Generates PowerScript code (NVO’s) & Windows for within your application, to interact with a MobiLink Server.
PPB VM
pkvm15u.dll has a footprint of 3.8MB !
Reference material within PBDJ article

38. Different Functionality
Adaptive Server Anywhere mobile database
Uses full data storage capabilities of Adaptive Server Anywhere on Windows CE client
Database access via ODBC
MobiLink data synchronization
MobiLink bi-directional data synchronization used to integrate with other enterprise databases (Sybase ASE and ASA, Oracle, MS SQL Server, IBM DB2)
New component to manage synchronization properties & maintenance of synchronization

39. Different Functionality
Integration with POOM
Pocket Outlook Object Model
POOM is the key to the Pocket Outlook object managers repository
This repository is the object store for the Pocket PC contact manager, appointment manager & task manager.
So with the POOM object & Pocket PowerBuilder we can now enquire, access, create, update & delete contacts, appointments and tasks programmatically from within Pocket PowerBuilder applications in a very 4GL way.

40. Different Functionality
Today Item
In PPB, the custom Today item and its parameters are part of the Application object, and you can use the Application painter to set Today item properties.
The Today Item means several things from being a way of displaying data from a Pocket PowerBuilder Application onto the Display screen, to being a glorified shortcut to a Pocket PowerBuilder application, as well and even a combination of the two.

41. Different Functionality
Today Item
Two types of applications are needed for Today Items, they are the Display Application & the Run Application.
If you have both a Display Application and a Run Application that each will have its own instance of the Pocket PowerBuilder VM loaded as the Today Screen has its own memory space and no communication can take place.

42. Developing an Application
Design & Develop with the Pocket PowerBuilder IDE on a PC.
Test on the PC with the
Pocket PowerBuilder IDE,
Pocket PC emulator (especially if you’re not the lucky developer with a Pocket PC device)
Pocket PC device itself.
Deploy to the Pocket PC device via ActiveSync for final testing, user acceptance etc.
Distributed finally as CAB files
Reference material within PBDJ article

43. Application Deployment
Pocket PowerBuilder applications can be run on the mobile device in two ways:
1) Using the ‘stub’ application that is installed into the Pocket PC start menu as Pocket PowerBuilder 1.0
2) By clicking directly on the application .exe (which is put into the ..\windows directory by default)
Deployment Platforms
ARM based Pocket PC devices
This covers all devices coming out with Pocket PC 2002 & Windows Mobile 2003 operating systems
MIPS, SH3 chipsets are not supported as device manufacturers have all but stopped making these devices

44. Application Deployment
With Pocket PC Development… Distribution!
Achieved by the Pocket PowerBuilder interface to Microsoft's CABWIZ, in the project painter.
This enables the automatic creation of your .EXE & .PKD's into distributable .CAB files.
The CAB generation process also generates an .INI file for creating a setup.exe.
This uses the OpenSource EZSetup
The distributable Pocket PowerBuilder files (VM etc) are installed with the IDE and can be distributed separately from your application.

45. PPB Application Architecture
SOAP
(Web Services)
Device
Enterprise
App Server
Pocket
PowerBuilder
Virtual
Machine
Sample
Application)
TCP/IP
HTTP
HTTPS
ActiveSync
(wired or wireless)
Consolidated
Database
(Sybase/Oracle/
Microsoft/IBM)
ASA ML
MobiLink

46. Demonstrations Basic Pocket PowerBuilder App
Use the wizard to generate an application
Build a DataWindow Object
Place objects on the window
Code PowerScript
Deploy
Run

47. Migrating PowerBuilder Applications
Basics
PPB provides a wizard to import an existing PB application into the PPB environment.
Objects developed in PPB can be exported for import into PB.
Migration from PB to PB is very easy
Make sure your PB code conforms to PPB before opening it in the PPB IDE, as it may not open!
Don't worry too much as those nice guys in engineering have given up a facility to change & compile source code in PPB

48. Migrating PowerBuilder Applications

49. Migrating PowerBuilder Applications
File Extensions that differ
File type PB extension PPB extension
Workspace PBW PKW
Target PBT PKT
Library PBL PKL
Dynamic library PBD PKD
Resource file PBR PKR
The file name for the Pocket PowerBuilder initialization file is PKU.INI The U stands for Unicode.
PowerBuilder supports ANSI character sets.
Pocket PowerBuilder primarily supports Unicode, although it does allow you to import and export files with ANSI character sets
Reference material within PBDJ article

50. Migrating PowerBuilder Applications
From PPB to PB
PPB provides a wizard to export an existing PPB application into the PB environment.
Reference material within PBDJ article

51. Migrating PowerBuilder Applications
With Pocket PC Development… size matters !
Pocket PC devices has % less viewable area than a 1024 x 768 average screen. PPC screen size is 320 x 240 pixels

52. Migrating PowerBuilder Applications
With Pocket PC Development… watch out for the differences !
Some events/actions that we take for granted on PC are not part of the Pocket PC platform, such as right click.
There is no MDI support, so developers tend to code one window with TAB controls as a way of getting around this problem.
Menu's are also on the bottom of the screen, but act as menus in Windows.
Window persistence will be an initial design challenge to the Pocket PowerBuilder developer, as when Pocket PC apps are closed, via the window like X in the top right hand corner of the application, they are actually minimized and stay resident in the device memory

53. Migrating PowerBuilder Applications
With Pocket PC Development… watch out for Performance!
Intel XScale processor is the fastest CPU being used by PPC
Next generation of StrongARM processor
ARM v5 instruction set compatible with StrongARM
200 – 400 MHz, better than MIPS, SH3 & ARM
Limiting factors for Pocket PC development
No Math Co-Processor – Stay away from heavy computations !
Pocket PC OS not optimized for Xscale
Windows Mobile 2003 lean & mean !

54. Migrating PowerBuilder Applications
RAM, which is MB (dependant on the device & model purchased) is not only used for storage of the data on your device but also for the memory whilst running applications.
Trade off on storing a lot of information & applications with how many you can run.
Pocket PC devices can extend their storage capability by using Compact Flash or Secure Digital Memory cards.
Information and applications can be stored on the Memory card, freeing up the RAM for running programs on the device.
With Pocket PC Development… watch out for Performance!

55. Demonstrations TechWave Application View all sessions
Demonstrations
View all sessions
Filter by Instructor, Product Focus, Track & Day
View conference maps
Add sessions to your own agenda
Originally had facility for session evaluation
Does not use Synchronization
First mass deployed PPB application

56. Demonstrations Pocket myPortfolio
Demonstrations
Create Portfolios, Details, Alerts & Shares
View current Portfolio Values
View current Share Prices & History
Alert notification
Update Share prices via PocketSOAP & XMethods webservice
Uses Synchronization & has PB client

57. Demonstrations Pocket Waiter
Demonstrations
Allocate table to customer, take order & order payment
View Menu, Specials & Reservations
Uses Synchronization & has PB client

58. Demonstrations Biometric App
Demonstrations
Train 10 fingers to represent 10 presidents
Information stored in ASA
Random fingers matched to President
Uses HP’s Biometric API & Scanner

59. Conclusions
Pocket PowerBuilder is the smallest, err… I mean biggest thing to happen in the realm of PowerBuilder & Pocket Device Application development in a long while.
Never has such a highly productive 4GL, with the additional strength of the DataWindow, been made available for developers of hand held mobile applications.

60. Pocket PowerBuilder Code Examples
Pocket PowerBuilder code examples can be found on the CodeXchange,

61. Answers Questions and Ian Thain Pocket PowerBuilder Evangelist
PTOG Evangelist Team, Sybase Inc.
Check out PBDJ for Pocket PowerBuilder articles