PowerBuilder 8 Reference Manual

Author: Zhang Changfu
Publisher: China Science Publishing Group
Publish Date: 2002-04-01
Features: This book comprehensively introduces the technical knowledge and usage tips of PowerBuilder8 applications. The book consists of 7 chapters and 1 appendix, covering main content such as the new features of PowerBuilder8, PowerScript language, system functions, properties of all objects, events and functions. It focuses on the access methods for widely used, easily misunderstood, or error-prone data window properties, as well as the access methods for data window data. Additionally, it provides numerous examples that can be directly run in applications for reference. In the appendix, common Windows API call formats and application examples are provided, which are applicable to Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, and Windows XP operating systems.
Chapter 0: New Features of PowerBuilder8
PowerBuilder8 has comprehensively improved the application development environment, offering a fresh user interface, enhanced web functionality, data window capabilities, and tighter integration with EAServer. It provides new database connection and access capabilities, further improving usability. The new PowerScript features allow developers to more directly, conveniently, and effectively control application errors, enabling the development of more robust applications. This chapter briefly describes the new features of PowerBuilder8 and elaborates on their usage in application development in subsequent chapters.
0.1 User Interface
0.1.1 Workspaces and Targets
In previous versions of PowerBuilder, developers could only operate on objects within a single application. To work with objects in another application, they had to close the current application and open the other one. However, in PowerBuilder8, developers can operate on objects across multiple applications simultaneously. This version introduces two new concepts: workspace and target. Developers can create multiple workspaces as needed, each containing multiple targets. Simply put, a target refers to the application we develop or use. Targets are divided into two categories: PowerScript targets and Web targets.
● PowerScript targets refer to client/server applications, multi-tier applications, or server components.
● Web targets refer to web applications. They include all the elements needed to construct a web site, such as HTML files, scripts, images, download components, various options for setting up the site, database connection options, and deployment options.
When we want to work with any target, we must first open the workspace that contains it. Only one workspace can be opened at a time, but a workspace can contain multiple targets. We can simultaneously edit or browse multiple objects in multiple targets, or construct and deploy multiple targets at the same time.