A common question we see in the newsgroups is "Where do I get the free
version of InstallShield," or something along those lines. The truth is that
deploying PowerBuilder applications is so easy (in most cases) that a
full-blown, large commercial tool like InstallShield is overkill (especially
when coupled with a behemoth of complexity such as Windows Installer).
Unbeknownst to many, there are a few open-source and freeware installation
tools available that are quite capable of creating a setup/installer program
for a typical PowerBuilder application. We'll look at my favorite of these,
NSIS (Nullsoft Install System), brought to you by the same folks responsible
for creating WinAmp, the most popular MP3 player on Windows. They created
NSIS internally as a tool to distribute WinAmp and its plug-ins, but made it
powerful and flexible enough to be usable for a wide rang... (more)
Expanding into other language markets presents an ample challenge for any
PowerBuilder shop. In my case, we were faced with internationalizing our
existing sales audit application into French (we're based in Quebec, where
French versions of applications are required by law), as well as UK English
(there are enough differences in retail terminology between North America and
England to make this necessary). Our European salespeople were also targeting
clients in Germany and Spain and, realistically, we had to anticipate
supporting more languages in the future.
Our application is f... (more)
In Part 1 of this article (PBDJ, Vol. 9, issue 4) we discussed creating
resource DLLs using the open-source LCC-WIN32 C compiler, maintaining string
phrases in its IDE, and utilizing the compiled resource DLLs in our
PowerBuilder application. Although that provides the basic technical
foundation for internationalizing an application, it still doesn't cover many
of the real-life issues that come up during the internationalization process,
which is what we'll cover in Part 2.
Clarity of Code
One thing that became obvious early on is that using only resource IDs
without indicating ... (more)
In Part 1 of this article (PBDJ, Vol. 9, issue 4) we discussed creating
resource DLLs using the open-source LCC-WIN32 C compiler, maintaining string
phrases in its IDE, and utilizing the compiled resource DLLs in our
PowerBuilder application. Although that provides the basic technical
foundation for internationalizing an application, it still doesn't cover many
of the real-life issues that come up during the internationalization process,
which is what we'll cover in Part 2.
Clarity of Code
One thing that became obvious early on is that using only resource IDs
without indicating ... (more)
Expanding into other language markets presents an ample challenge for any
PowerBuilder shop. In my case, we were faced with internationalizing our
existing sales audit application into French (we're based in Quebec, where
French versions of applications are required by law), as well as UK English
(there are enough differences in retail terminology between North America and
England to make this necessary). Our European salespeople were also targeting
clients in Germany and Spain and, realistically, we had to anticipate
supporting more languages in the future.
Our application is f... (more)
Jacek Furmankiewicz is a PowerBuilder R&D supervisor at the Montreal office of STS Systems, an NSB company. His team is responsible for developing applications for some of the largest retailers in North America and Europe. Jacek has been using PowerBuilder since version 4.0 in Sybase, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server environments.
Scott Sellers
Anthony Franco
Daniel Morris
Wayne Walls
Niki Acosta
Jereme Hancock
Oren Michels
Marvin Wheeler
Douglas Kim
Ken Guiberson
