To build software for today's highly competitive business environment, professional developers need affordable tools and technology. Developers who are transitioning to Windows from traditional programming environments need ways to work smarter and faster. That's where Powersoft's PowerBuilder Desktop for Windows comes in.
PowerBuilder Desktop for Windows is a comprehensive single-developer tool for building Windows 3.1 client/server applications. It combines intuitive graphical painters with an extensible object-oriented programming language. It offers a powerful 32-bit Watcom™ SQL ANSI-standard relational database in an integrated package that provides all you need to develop and deploy client/server applications.
With its advanced Data Pipeline technology and ODBC 2.0 connectivity to the most popular desktop databases, you can quickly and easily migrate data from flat file database formats to the Watcom SQL database. Plus, PowerBuilder Desktop allows you to broaden the scope of your development environment through a range of add-on companion products.
PowerBuilder Desktop offers a feature-rich development environment, including:
Comprehensive Windows 3.1 Support --for all Windows controls, events, and functions. Advanced graphical interface capabilities include support for Multiple Document Interface (MDI) and drag-and-drop applications with minimal coding.
Configurable toolbars with PowerTips --PowerTips toolbars are movable, customizable, and quickly configured. PowerTips give the name and function of each icon.
PowerScript programming language --an extensible, object-oriented language that provides access to hundreds of built-in functions. Developers can write custom functions or access existing functions written in C or other languages. An incremental compiler and full-featured debugger are included.
Desktop Integration --through support for OLE 2.0 containers and automation, Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs), and Visual Basic controls (VBXs).
Developer Assistance --through a Quick Application Generator and a comprehensive set of online code examples that assist in rapid prototyping and development. A library of PowerBuilder sample applications is provided as a learning aid. An extensive, context-sensitive help facility and complete documentation (in electronic book format) puts technical information at your fingertips.
With the intelligent DataWindow object, developers can perform database manipulation without coding SQL. The DataWindow understands the unique functionality of each database you simply select a data source and presentation style, and the DataWindow directly manages the interaction and manipulation of the database.
The built-in, single-user, 32-bit Watcom SQL database is uniquely positioned to satisfy developer needs. Its powerful, advanced features include referential integrity, as well as bi-directional, scrollable, and updatable cursors. The Data Pipeline, PowerBuilder Desktop's data migration and replication utility, copies tables, their data, and even repository information from one database to anotherÑwhether the data resides in different locations or DBMS types.
For database administration, PowerBuilder Desktop provides point-and-click simplicity. Developers can create or alter tables, create and drop indexes and views, define primary and foreign keys and referential integrity rules, administer database security, specify application design repository information, and more.
Powerful object-oriented technology allows developers to rapidly create Windows applications without specialized knowledge or complicated programming. PowerBuilder Desktop supports the definition of classes for modeling visual and non-visual business objects. It also provides support for other key object-oriented programming features, including multi-level inheritance, encapsulation of processing logic, and polymorphism. These capabilities ensure consistency in applications, increased productivity, and minimized maintenance costs.
You can take advantage of a comprehensive library of reusable objects included in the optional Advanced Developer Toolkit. Or choose from a number of commercial class libraries designed specifically for the PowerBuilder environment.
PowerBuilder Desktop makes data retrieval simple, with a graphical Query Builder and a multi-table QuickSelect utility. You can save queries as objects, then use them as data sources for a variety of reports.
PowerBuilder Desktop's banded report writer supports an impressive array of business reports: freeform, tabular, multi-control break, crosstab, grid, nested, composite, and more.
For professional-looking business charts and graphs, PowerBuilder Desktop includes a tightly integrated, programmable business graphics engine that provides 2D and 3D pie, bar, column, line, scatter, and other types of graphs.
PowerBuilder Desktop for Windows simplifies application management. The Application Painter displays a graphical hierarchy of the entire application, providing a quick overview of development work with direct access to the appropriate painter to modify PowerBuilder objects.
The PowerBuilder Repository stores headings, labels, display masks, validation rules, and graphical edit styles, increasing productivity and ensuring consistency throughout the application.
PowerBuilder Desktop provides an interface for building deployment files, including .EXE files and dynamic libraries, which can be bundled with Windows icons, pictures, and resources. The Project Painter maintains an application's deployment file configuration, allowing developers to regenerate instantly an application's configuration. An optional install disk builder, part of the Advanced Developer Toolkit, allows you to generate setup disks for easy application distribution and installation.
PowerBuilder Desktop applications and the limited single-user Watcom SQL database can be deployed royalty-free.
You can easily expand PowerBuilder Desktop's capabilities through Powersoft's companion products, including the Advanced Developer Toolkit, a rich collection of reusable objects, tools, and utilities. You can also add the popular FUNCky for PowerBuilder with more than 500 function additions to the PowerScript language, or the PowerBuilder Library for Lotus Notes¨, which provides connectivity to Notes databases.
Expand to a multi-user environment by upgrading seamlessly to the high-performance Watcom SQL Advanced Network Servers for Windows, Windows NT, NetWare, and OS/2.
PowerBuilder Desktop users may also add InfoMaker, the complete information access and management tool for both end users and developers. InfoMaker enables the creation of presentation-quality reports and easy-to-define queries without any programming. It comes with built-in connectivity to a broad range of databases, and provides powerful, intuitive tools for managing and maintaining that data.
PowerBuilder Desktop is part of the Powersoft Enterprise Series. This family of scalable development tools increases productivity at every level throughout the enterprise, promoting an integrated environment for IS developers and end users alike. The Series includes PowerBuilder Enterprise, PowerBuilder Team/ODBC, PowerBuilder Desktop, and InfoMaker.
386SX, MS-DOS or PC-DOS operating system (version 3.3 or above), 8 MB RAM, Microsoft Windows 3.1, 19 MB hard disk space
Watcom SQL, Paradox for DOS 3.x, 4.x, 5.x , dBASE III, IV, V, Paradox for Windows, dBASE for Windows, NetWare SQL 3.x, Clipper; Summer 87, 5.x , Access 1.x, FoxPro for DOS 2.0, Btrieve 5.x, 6.x, FoxPro for Windows, ASCII text, Excel
Powersoft Corporation, 561 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742-2732 U.S.A. Phone 1-800-395-3525 or 1-508-287-1500. FaxLine 1-508-287-1600.
Powersoft Europe Ltd., Windsor Court, Kingsmead Business Park, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP11 IJU U.K. Phone +44 (0) 1 494 555555. Fax +44 (0) 1 494 538 100.
Powersoft Asia-Pacific, American Powersoft Corporation Pte. Ltd., No. 5 Temasek Boulevard, #04-01 Suntec City Tower, Singapore 0103. Phone +65 378 0140. Fax +65 378 0143