This program is slow. The compiles are very slow. The Object Window is so slow I thought the computer had hung.

the null object reference error is common when you compile something.

All code windows must be closed before you can compile and run.

Almost all windows must be closed before you can display the list of included files (libraries).

The property editors are modal and must be closed to do anything else, including selecting another component.

There is no way to open a new application until you display the application window - about 2.5 minutes to wait for nothing. Then File / Open ... is available. (Maybe I forgot to mention how slow this thing is - NT 4.0 64M)

I strongly recommend not using this product. It is highly illogical, very slow, and difficult to learn.

.X
.Y
.Width
.Height
.Visible

There are only a few (26) basic components. The toolbar and statusbar are missing. However, the toolbar is defined as part of the menu, and a status bar is part of the MDI Frame with Microhelp window. There are no splitter bars, but one of the examples has them. (The help says that a splitter control is in the PFC.)

Double clicking a component opens the property editor.

Component help is hard to find - F1 won't find it. You have to type the component name into the help index.

The supplied examples are excellent. Unfortunately, I can't figure out the underlying code. You can't really run one form (window) by itself. Run executes the entire application; Run Window has unresolved references. While the app is running, there is no way to browse the code. The necessary help/structure is shown only while it is running. And around in circles we run.

What is a frame, what is a sheet? The frame has Window Type: MIDI Frame The sheet has Window Type: Main and is a child window. Each can have its own menu.

The default application template will run on Windows, Unix, and Macintosh. There is no easy way to read all the code.

hsb_1.MaxPosition = 1000
hsb_1.MinPosition = 500
hsb_1.Position    = 750
hsb_1.unitspercolumn
hsb_1.columnsperpage

vsb_1.unitsperline
vsb_1.linesperpage

From the Scrolling in Windows and User Objects help

Each window is 100 lines X 100 columns
• pagesize = LinesPerPage * UnitsPerLine
• UnitsPerLine = contentLength (in PB units) * 0.75/100
  0.75 is approximate
• LinesPerPage is how many lines scroll when the user clicks the bar.

Some important menu properties

ToolbarItemIndex   Non-zero to display, each index is on a separate line
ToolbarItemOrder   Order of the buttons
ToolbarItemSpace   Non-zero produces a vertical bar

It appears that a good selection of standard toolbar icons is supplied.

You may have to run the form several times before the changes show. There is no way to simply browse the code (click events) tied to menus, or to see which selections have no code attached.

• Use Open/Project. The project file points to all the included libraries.
• It appears that the library file references contain a full path, and that there is no way to edit it. Therefore, you can never change the location of (path to) the development code.
• Libraries (*.pbl) can be defined under Application / Properties / Libraries. Each one can contain windows (forms).

• When the main MDI Frame with Microhelp window is made non-resizable, the re-size icon (size grip) is still displayed. (This is a basic GUI style guide violation.)
• You have to close the property box before you can select another control or run the app.
• The help file only shows some of the available properties. Clairvoyance helps. So does the Object Window.
• There is a mapping between Windows 3.1 messages and PowerBuilder functions, but no information on how to call Windows 95 to fix various problems. (Of course the same code runs on Unix and Mac.) The following example is from powersoft.public.powerbuilder.general

  /* Setup the Communications Port */
  function boolean SetupComm( ulong hFile,   &
     ulong dwInQueue,   &
     ulong dwOutQueue) library "kernel32.dll"

  Additional examples
  • Hepek provides several Win API Examples.
• I see absolutely no reason to use this instead of VisualBasic if your app only needs to run on Windows 95/NT.
• Free Super Statusbar replacement for the lame PFC statusbar.
• The examples are available via the Start menu. However, to to view the actual forms and such, you need to open the Examples\pbexamfe.pbl application. (No, I did not find documentation pointing to this!) The forms (windows) are defined in pbexamw1 (a-d), pbexamw2 (e-o), pbexamw3 (p-z), pbexbm (benchmark)
• When clicking components on a form, the only way to determine their type is to open the properties box - the component type is in the title.
• When a code window is open, it is possible to declare global, shared, and instance variables (via the Declare menu option). However, the help does not explain how they differ.
• There is no obvious way to determine what the variable prefixes mean - ls_ gs_ s String, idrg_ dragobject, cii_ integer, il_ long, ib_ boolean, of_ ??? some kind of function call - if we try, this could really be confusing. Or perhaps the examples just don't bother to use a consistent naming convention.
• In the Toolbar example, I want to locate the f_save_toolbar_profile() function. There is nothing like this in the help. There is no obvious way to globally search all the linked libraries. Therefore, even though it is a cool function, there is no way for me to re-use it in my applications. (Another worthless example.)

• PowerBuilder Developer's WebRing
• Tips page

URL: http:// cpcug.org / user / clemenzi / technical / Languages / PowerBuilder.html