Update on Sandell Asset Management

Sandell Asset Management recently acquired a leading share of Sybase stock. They've just notified Sybase that they intend to nominate three persons for the Sybase board of directors. Sybase's response can be viewed at:

http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1055424

Sandell Asset Management

Sandell Asset Management Corp. ("Sandell") announced that it has notified Sybase, Inc. (the "Company") of its intention to nominate three highly qualified independent candidates for election to the board of directors at the 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. This action follows the letter and presentation sent to the Company on October 12th, 2007 that detailed specific actions Sandell believed the Company should take to improve value for all shareholders.

PblDump 1.3

Anatoly Moskovsky released version 1.3 of PblDump. The new version:

* Added extracting PBL SCC data
* Added ability to use entry time as file modification time during export(option "t")

http://sqlbatch.com/pd/

DWCFilter

The DWCFilter demo library was updated for PowerBuilder 10.5.2 Build 7564.

http://www.dwcfilter.com/

PBL Peeper 4.0.2

PBL Peeper 4.0.2 has been released, with:

* Command line parms
* takes a bare *.DBG file, loading the "current" application
* takes /INDEX by itself or /INDEX:*, both indexing everything

* File / New
* Ctrl-N shortcut added
* Tools are available from File / New

PowerBuilder 11 Conference in Peru

Covering the new features in PowerBuilder 11: .Net WinForm, .Net WebForm, .Net Web Services and .Net Assemblies

Date: December 4th. 2007
Place: San Pedro University - Chimbote Peru.
Contact: Ruben Pillaca

PBPaste 2.4.0

PBDR release version 2.4.0 of PBPaste. The new version provides support for PowerBuilder 11.

http://www.pbdr.com/software/download.htm

PowerBuilder 11 Webcasts…

Sybase is giving a number of webcasts on new features in PowerBuilder 11. The dates are as follows:

11/20/2007 -- PowerBuilder 11 Overview
12/04/2007 -- Windows Forms and Interop
12/11/2007 -- Web Forms
01/15/2008 -- Smart Client
01/29/2008 -- Web Services Deployment
02/05/2008 -- Web Services DataWindow

You can register for the webcasts at the following page.

PBBrowse 3.3.0

PBDR released version 3.3.0 of PBBrowse. This minor update features PB11 support and a number of minor enhancements and fixes.

http://www.pbdr.com/software/pbbrowse.htm

ColorCop

Every have trouble matching an existing color in a PowerBuilder app? Well help is on the way. Actually, it's been available for a long time, I'm just not sure very many people knew about it. I heard about it a while back, but only recently started using it.

ColorCop is a free third-party utility that can be used to sample a color off the screen and then provide the numeric equivalent for a number of different development tools, including PowerBuilder.

http://colorcop.net/colorcop/

There's even a Spanish language version for people whose first language is not English:

http://prall.net/tools/colorcop/colorcop_spanish.zip

TechWave 2008

Sybase has announced that TechWave 2008 will be held from August 4th through 8th, 2008. It will once again be at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. They also announced that the call for papers will be open soon.

http://www.sybase.com/techwave

PowerBuilder 11.1 / DataWindow.Net 2.5

Sybase announced new Microsoft .NET Framework-based enhancements to Sybase PowerBuilder 11, the premier 4GL rapid application development (RAD) tool and DataWindow.NET 2.5, a powerful component for .NET Framework-based environments that simplifies and accelerates the creation of data-driven applications. New features for PowerBuilder include Windows Vista support, .NET Framework incremental compile capabilities, and database driver enhancements. DataWindow .NET 2.5 has been extended with the ability for developers to use Web services as a data source, TreeView presentation styles, and integration of the design-time environment into the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 development environment.

New features include:

PowerBuilder 11.1:
- Support for Windows Vista
- Incremental Compile for the .NET Framework
- Database Driver Enhancements, including Informix 10 support

DataWindow .NET 2.5
- Web Service as a DataSource
- TreeView presentation style for WebFormsI
- Integration of the DataWindow painter into the VS IDE

Mobile Star Awards

Sybase announced that it has won seven Gold and three Silver Mobile Star Awards from MobileVillage, the 14-year leader in market development and news services about mobile technology. The annual Mobile Star Awards aim to honor and promote the best companies, products, deployments, and leaders in mobile and wireless technology. Winners are chosen by subscribers to Go Mobile, MobileVillage's free online newsletter sent to technology executives, mobile professionals, IT managers, developers, and top tech journalists.

Sybase was recognized with the following awards:

Enterprise Software: Mobile Communications
Gold Star: Information Anywhere Mobile Email, Mobile IM
Enterprise Software: Mobile Database
Gold Star: SQL Anywhere
Enterprise Software: Mobile Developer Tool
Gold Star: M-Business Anywhere
Silver Star: PocketBuilder 2.1
Enterprise Software: Mobile Devices Management
Gold Star: Information Anywhere Mobile Management & Security
Enterprise Software: Mobile Marketing
Silver Star: AvantGo from Sybase 365
Consumer Software: Mobile Communications (Email)
Gold Star: XTNDConnect PC
Enterprise Software: Mobile Middleware
Gold Star: Information Anywhere suite
Enterprise Software: Mobile Security (AntiVirus & Firewall)
Gold Star: Information Anywhere Mobile Management & Security
Consumer Software: Mobile Web Content Aggregator / Portal
Silver Star: AvantGo from Sybase 365

Sandell Asset Management Corp

Sandell Asset Management Corp. ("Sandell") sent a letter and a presentation to Mr. John Chen, Chairman, President, and CEO of Sybase, Inc.. Sandell also disclosed beneficial ownership of 6.0% of the shares of Sybase's common stock in a Schedule 13D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. In the letter and presentation, Sandell stated its belief that Sybase's continued discounted valuation is unwarranted and urged management and the board to take immediate action to improve the Company's valuation. Specifically, Sandell outlined several low risk actions that it believes the board can take to improve the Company's valuation:

- Aggressive use of the balance sheet to repurchase shares – an immediate $500mm Dutch tender at a premium to the current market price, followed by aggressive buybacks over time
- IPO and spin-off 100% of the mobility segment -- an IPO of Sybase's mobility segment followed by a spin-off of the remaining interest to existing shareholders
- Sale of the company in whole or in part -- an evaluation of the company's strategic alternatives may indicate a sale is the most viable option

Coolmenu 2.5 Build 175

A new build of Coolmenu was released which included the following modifications:
• Crash solved when using ChangeMenu;
• Bug solved when hiding and showing menuitems on the menubar;
• Colors more Office 2003 like.

http://pbsite.milente.nl/

ISUG Hits the Road with PowerBuilder 11

Showing its strong commitment to the Sybase community, the International Sybase User Group today announced that it will be taking to the road with a series of PowerBuilder focused events under the banner "Leveraging PowerBuilder in the .NET World." These hands-on technical seminars will introduce and educate attendees on methods to use PowerBuilder both as a .NET tool and alongside other .NET tools.

Debugging web services

I thought I had posted an entry on Charles at some point. Apparently not, but Charles is a proxy that I've used in the past to help debug web services calls. At the time when I first started using it, Microsoft's Fiddler wasn't (IMO) ready for prime time. More recently I've checked out Fiddler2 and have switched over to it. If you need to debug web services, particular those involving communication over SSL, it's a quite handy tool.

Vote early and often (and quickly!)

Sybase has a number of nominations in the Mobile Star awards. Voting closes on September 25th. Look in particular for:

PBDelta and PBDoc

PowerBuilder Developer's Resource released PBDelta v5.2 and PBDoc v3.2.2. The minor release to PBDelta features PB11 target support in addition to a number of minor enhancements and fixes. The minor release to PBDoc feature PB11 target support and a number of minor enhancements and fixes.

TechWave 2007 - A few last recommendations

As I've mentioned previously, TechWave 2007 was (IMHO) one of the best TechWave's we've had in years.  Nonetheless, there is always room for improvement.  I've made some specific comments in my previous posts, but there are a few general suggestions that are the most important:

Romu Software

Romu Software updated SmartPaste, SmartJump and SmartScripter to provide support for PowerBuilder 11.

Romu Software

Romu Software added PowerBuilder 11 versions of all of it's software (SmartPaste, SmartJump, SmartScripter).

GdTwain 1.5.0

GdPictures Software announced the release of GdTwain 1.5.0. GdTwain OCX is a TWAIN ActiveX control allow developers to acquire easily image from devices such as scanners and cameras. GdTwain OCX can be used from any 32-bit and 64-bit Windows development environment that can call ActiveX components, including Visual Basic, Realbasic, Visual C++, Delphi, Visual FoxPro, PHP, ASP, IIS, MS Word, Access, Windev, PowerBuilder, Excel, .NET environment like C#, VB.NET and many others. GdTwain OCX works with Microsoft Windows platforms: 98, NT4, ME, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista.

http://www.gdpicture.com/products/gdtwain-ocx-twain-activex-control.php

TechWave 2007 - Wrap up

All in all, this has been one of the best TechWave's I've been at in years. A lot of excitement about the products that I'm particularly interested in, and no major hiccups.

Location

We'll, I'm no big fan of Las Vegas. That being said, the Mandalay Bay was still a great place to hold the event. My only issue with them was the wireless internet. Perhaps they don't normally hold technical conferences with that many users who will be taxing the system. It appears the same main line was shared by the hotel and the conference center as well. When we were in the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, the conference center had a separate line which worked better than the hotel line. At Mandalay Bay neither appeared to work particularly well. In any event, I'm still for moving it somewhere else. If we follow past practice, it should be moving back to the East Coast. I wouldn't mind it staying on the West Coast either, I'm just real tired of Las Vegas.

GdViewer 2.8.3

GDPictures Software announced the release of version 2.8.3 of GdViewer.  GdViewer OCX is a low cost and royalty free Image and PDF Viewer ActiveX control that supports a lot of image format like bmp, tif, tiff, fax, jpg, wmf, gif, animated gif, ico, png, pdf. It can be used from any 32-bit and 64-bit Windows development environment that can call ActiveX components (Access, Visual C++, Visual Basic, Realbasic, Visual Foxpro, Delphi, .Net, MS Access, Windev, PowerBuilder etc.). With Gdviewer you can view, zoom, print, rotate, Define Display Area, zoom on area, play animated gif, display multi pages tiff files, display pdf file (optional), use Defined Zoom in or Zoom out value, use keyboard to scrool image, set antialiasing display mode, etc.

http://www.gdpicture.com/products/gdviewer-ocx-image-viewer-activex.php

TechWave 2007 - Friday

ISUG Enhancements Session

After the Continental Breakfast and the morning education sessions comes the ISUG Enhancements Session. The enhancements suggested during the session include the following. If there was a response from Sybase during the session, it is indicated as a parenthetical after the suggestion.

TechWave 2007 - Miscellaneous

TechWave Forum

Shortly after you registered for TechWave, you were sent an email inviting you to TechWave Forum, a social networking site set up for TechWave. It allows you to create profiles and matches you up with people with similar interests. You can also create groups, and it's supposed to allow file sharing, chatting, meetings, and polls. I created a PowerBuilder group, and although it got 23 members it was the group with the highest membership in the forums. I sent and received a few "introductions", which was basically the equivalent of carrying on an email conversation through the site. I only just now discovered how to do file sharing (within the group), can't see how chatting could be accomplished and it appears that polling was disabled. Jeff Pryslak asked a question in the PowerBuilder group, and only two people responded.

TechWave 2007 - Thursday

Tools Keynote

Once again, the first thing after the Continental Breakfast and the morning education session was the Tools Keynote. The butterfly chart made an appearance and there was some discussion of the evolution of application development. Then came an introduction to the new PowerBuilder 11 features entitled "PowerBuilder 11: Accelerate Your .Net Development". Like the previous keynotes, there is a recorded webcast for this one as well.

TechWave 2007 - Wednesday

Data Management Keynote

First thing Wednesday (after the Continental Breakfast and morning Education Sessions anyway) was the Data Management Keynote. As with the Mobility Keynote Tuesday, there was a Customer Panel afterwards moderated by Irfan Khan and consisting of Chris Crosby (eSpeed), John Belz (Symantec) and Mark Carrington (LoanPerformance). Also similar to the Mobility Keynote on Tuesday, the bulk of the audience slipped out during the Customer Panel. Merv Adrian (Forrester Research) spoke next. By this time we were running up close to lunch, and most of the rest of the audience slipped out. For those that left early, there is a recorded webcast.

It was unfortunate that so many people left, because -- once again -- awards came next. First was the Special Agent 15 awards, won by Paul C. Jackson (Western and Southern Financial Group), Eduardo Serikava (Caixa) and Grigory Kagan (eSpeed). That was followed by the ISUG Journal awards, won by Paul Vero, Buck Woolley, Terry Voth and Breck Carter.

TechWave 2007 - Tuesday Afternoon / Evening

Plenary Session

After lunch came the 'plenary' sessions, one each for databases and development tools, each help concurrently. As you might expect, I went to the development tools presentation. It was rather well attended, although it was obvious over the next few days that a number of the people who would have been interested didn't know that 'plenary' meant it was open to everyone. Quite a few people didn't realize what it was and didn't attend as a result.

That's too bad, because the session, particularly the PowerBuilder "in the lab" features demo, brought back that "wow" factor we've been missing for the last few years. Fortunately, there is a recorded webcast, and the company that did the webcast did a much better job than whoever did it last year.  There was also a recorded webcast of the database plenary session.

TechWave 2007 - Tuesday Morning

Continental Breakfast

Once again a Continental Breakfast was provided Tuesday through Friday mornings. This year they apparently included a breakfast burrito. Good move, although I went out and got my own breakfast supplies and ate before coming down to the conference center. What was more important, at least to me, is that there were plenty of places serving Starbucks coffee on the way to the conference center, including one just outside the opening. There was another just outside the hotel elevators, so I usually just stopped there first.

HTC

Sybase and HTC Corp., the world's leading provider of Microsoft Windows Mobile-based smart devices, announced the formation of a global alliance. The companies are teaming on strategic business, engineering and marketing initiatives designed to deliver optimized Sybase iAnywhere mobility software on HTC devices. The alliance will focus initially on the management and security components of the Sybase Information Anywhere suite, which provides a platform for enterprise mobility. Sybase will work closely with HTC on product optimization and integration, resulting in stronger Windows Mobile device management and security options for enterprises. Last year, Harris Corporation (HRS) selected Sybase iAnywhere mobile technologies to power the 2010 U.S. Census, the largest-ever mobile software deployment. The 2010 U.S. Census will leverage the company's Information Anywhere mobile database, synchronization and mobile device management technology on HTC devices used by door-to-door census takers.

TechWave 2007 - Monday

Registration

Monday is the day I actually registered. Looks like they saved a little money by reusing some of the materials from last year's TechWave, I seem to remember this one from last year. The bean bag chairs in the registration area (where I assume the wi-fi is available) were a nice touch. The Tech Support Lab is just off the registration area. That's one of the areas where TeamSybase is hanging out. This year they have a separate Alliance lounge for customers who have Alliance support plans. The Tech Support Lab is for the rest of us. Email kiosks are available as well, as in previous TechWaves. This year the publications distribution is done from the first station in the registration area, which is much more convenient than previous years. The entrance to the exhibit hall, which is between the registration area and the wi-fi area, which is next to the Tech Support Lounge. The email kiosks are directly across from the registration area.

TechWave 2007 - Sunday

Officially the only thing going on Sunday was conference registration. However, there is a private TeamSybase/Sybase reception on Sunday evening where, among other things, new TeamSybase members are inducted. This year we added one new member: Roland Smith. Photos of the reception - along with all the other photos I've taken at TechWave - are available at:

http://public.fotki.com/brucearmstrong/techwave/2007/

Join me @ TechWave Forum

ISUG Planning North American PowerBuilder Tour

ISUG is in the early stages of planning a PowerBuilder 11 Tour in the USA and Canada for later in 2007. They are soliciting input from potential attendees. Please take a moment to answer their survey at so that they can ensure that they deliver what is important to you.

http://my.isug.com/index.php?module=survey&op=respond&sid=18

TechWave 2007 Conference Guide available

In PDF format. Includes information about who is presenting each session, in case you were waiting for that before registering for sessions.

TechWave Special Event

The special event for Thursday evening has been announced: House of Blues. We'll enjoy a buffet dinner and some rocking and rolling good times.

TechWave GO! Mobile Device Trial

Sybase is excited to offer a limited number of Sybase TechWave 2007 attendees the opportunity to try out a new HTC mobile phone this week! The mobile phones are pre-loaded with Sybase software including Information Anywhere suite that allows you to send and receive email and instant messages and access detailed conference information on-the-go.

TechWave Mobile - Powered by Sybase 365

Get a "leg up" at TechWave by receiving the latest conference information directly to your device or smartphone. All you need is a Windows Mobile device, Palm, BlackBerry, or phone with a mobile internet browser. With TechWave Mobile, you can access detailed conference schedules and session descriptions, keynote information, exhibit hall hours, and much more!To get TechWave Mobile, simply browse to http://tw.try.sybase.com on your mobile phone or text the letters TW to SYBASE (792273). For assistance, visit the South Pacific Registration Desk.

PowerBuilder on YouTube

It's in Spanish though.  It's associated with Ruben Pillaca's second PowerBuilder book: Cooking with PowerBuilder 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9t0w145x-Q

Calling Dot Net Components from PowerBuilder via COM wrappers - Redux

Back in August of 2006, I wrote an entry about calling .Net components from PowerBuilder using COM wrappers (i.e., CCW). Since I was basing it on a registry entry approach still, the technique demonstrated there required the component to be added to the GAC, which required (in addition to having it compiled as a COM-visible assembly) that we needed to create a strong name and sign the assembly.

Problems using ActiveX controls…

If one of the ActiveX controls on your machine has registration problems, PowerBuilder can end up being unable to use any ActiveX controls.  This manifests itself in a couple of different ways when you go to the Insert->Control->OLE... menu option and then click on the Insert Control tab.

PowerBuilder 9.x:  You will get a system fault as follows:  Faulting application pb90.exe, version 9.0.0.5507, faulting module msvcrt.dll, version 7.0.2600.2180, fault address 0x0000beab.

PowrBuilder 10.x:  PowerBuilder won't crash, and in fact the list of ActiveX controls will display.  When you drop one on the window, however, it won't behave properly.

PowerDesigner 12.5 Released

Sybase announced the availability of PowerDesigner 12.5, an all-in-one modeling and design solution for enterprises that need to build or re-engineer business applications quickly, cost-effectively and consistently. Supporting more than 60 databases and leading development environments including Sybase Workspace, Sybase PowerBuilder, Java, the Eclipse open source development environment, and Microsoft Visual Studio, Sybase PowerDesigner combines business process modeling with unified modeling language (UML) and data modeling to make possible open, cross-platform information architectures that securely deliver information anytime, anywhere.  This newest release of Sybase PowerDesigner uniquely adds the ability to include metadata from Extract Transform and Load (ETL) and data federation (EII) tools with database models ensuring more complete impact analysis of changes to the information architecture as well as better documentation support. Sybase PowerDesigner 12.5 also includes complete UML 2.0 support and makes migrating from Computer Associates (CA) ERwin data modeling solution even easier by supporting the latest releases of the CA product.

Executive Series Version 5.9 Accounting Software

Searer Business Technology announces the availability of version 5.9 of Executive Series and Director Series. Version 5.9 includes over 350 new features and enhancements across all modules as well as enhanced support for MS SQL 2005, Oracle 10, and Sybase ASE 15. Functional and operational enhancements include new and improved reports to simplify the reconciliation process. An enhanced reporting subsystem is also standard, providing easy report customizability, run-time modifications of report parameters and the ability to define drill down source document(s) from any report, including custom reports. System security has been fully extended within the reporting system to allow not only easy securing of collections of reports and individual reports, but portions of a report as well. New email functionality allows per user settings for either SMTP or MAPI email. Smart auto-fill of email addresses is also provided for easy transmission of orders, invoices, purchase orders, or any other document.

PB Code Analyzer 4.3

Ascension Labs announced the release of RC1 of version 4.3 of PB Code Analyzer.

Sybase is looking for your opinions on PowerBuilder

Sue Dunnell, the PowerBuilder Product Manager, is asking PowerBuilder developers to answer a survey to "help[] us ensure that PowerBuilder continues to meet your needs in the future". You can take the survey at:

http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB226LD7N48ZT

Plastic SCM 1.5

Codice Software announced the official release of Plastic SCM 1.5, the new version of its award winning SCM product. The new Plastic SCM release is a step ahead in product’s evolution and introduces many important new features and enhancements.  In particular, the 1.5 release has been specifically tuned to include PowerBuilder as one of the supported platforms.

For more information, see www.plasticscm.com/xsfront.aspx

PocketBuilder 2.1 Now Available

Sybase released PowerBuilder 2.1, which contains:

* Windows Mobile 5 and 6 support
* Microsoft Vista support
* Native interop with the new ARM based emulators
* Full SQL Anywhere 10 and UltraLite 10 support (but NOT UltraLite-MobiLink-10 - but soon)
* updated documentation
* ALL the PB-11 IDE enhancements
o system tree updates (sorting, icons, double-clicking (my favorite))
o source control updates (some that are even scheduled for PB 11.1)
o remembering DataWindow retrieval arguments
o enhancements to the library painter
* our handly little PBLDump utility
* numerous little bug fixes here and there

An alternative to Ghostscript…

For folks who don't want to deal with deploying GhostScript (or getting their customers to), there is a reasonable alternative.  PrimoPDF has made thier PDF print driver available for free.  It also supports merging PDF files and Vista.

TechWave 2007 Session Schedule now available…

The TechWave 2007 Conference schedule is now online

Check it out at http://1bosweb3.experient-inc.com/events/SYBASE/TECHWAVE2007/Agenda/default.html

Visual Guard for PB11

Novalys has just released Visual Guard for PB11. This tool secures PowerBuilder 11 applications and supports .NET Winform and ASP .NET webforms deployment.  For more information, visit:

http://www.visual-guard.com/role-profile-user-permission/us/info/profile-user-permission-powerbuilder.htm 

PBEditor

TopWizProgramming added a sample of using the Scintilla editor within PowerBuilder to their web site.

ODBC API Sample

TopWizProgramming added an ODBC API sample to their web site.  This program allows you to use the ODBC API to get information about the structure of any database with an ODBC driver.

PowerBuilder 11 Released

Sybase announced the availability of Sybase PowerBuilder 11, the premier 4GL rapid application development (RAD) tool. Building on its strength in quickly developing data-driven applications necessary to critical business functions, PowerBuilder 11 provides PowerBuilder developers with the simplest, easiest and most cost-effective way to deploy applications on the .NET platform.  PowerBuilder 11 dramatically simplifies .NET development and is part of Sybase's plan to deliver robust support for the .NET framework. With this release, PowerBuilder 11 provides developers the flexibility to deploy applications as .NET Windows Forms, Web Forms, and .NET Smart Clients, as well as develop traditional client server business applications and Web Services.  PowerBuilder 11 continues to support integration with J2EE environments and Win32 applications. Integration with the leading development platforms provides a more open, flexible environment for developers with heterogeneous platform requirements. PowerBuilder also offers increased productivity as it enables less complex coding and shorter development cycles than applications built with 3GL level tools.

Additional PowerBuilder 11 Launch Events

Phoenix, AZ - July 10 - Cancelled
Washington DC - July 12
Irvine, CA - July 17
Salt Lake City, UT - July 19
Houston, TX (Special User Group presentation) - July 24

Register here.

PBDelta 5.2.4

PowerBuilder Developer's Resource (PBDR) released version 5.2.4 of PBDelta.  The new version includes a number of fixes:

*  Added a check to the workspace/target processing to only include targets that exist.
* Fixed a bug in the source parser, if an object name ended in structure the event control definition was not parsed correctly.
* Changed the Unicode version back to standard menus. An odd flicker on the toolbars occurred with the new contemporary menus.
* Fixed a bug in the merge routines. If the command line switch was used for mangled file names then this was not carried through to the merge. Merged objects using mangled file names should now work fine.
* Enhanced the DW Key Feature of Retrieve to show stored procedures when no select statement.
* Enhanced the DW Key Features to format the retrieve statement based on the type of retrieve. A manually typed retrieve should be restored to how it was typed, a PBSELECT will be formatted using rules to make it easier to read.
* Changed the DW Key Features default preference to be switched on.
* Added a one time check to the startup to ask if the DW Key Features should be enabled.

Seventh annual Innovator Awards

Sybase issued a call for entries to both customers and members of its Alliance Program for the seventh annual Innovator Awards. The winner will be announced at Sybase TechWave 2007, which will be held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada, from August 6-10th, 2007. The 2007 Innovator Awards are presented to select Sybase and Sybase iAnywhere partners and customers who have demonstrated innovative use of Sybase technology as the foundation for cutting-edge applications that enable themselves, or their customers, to succeed on the frontlines of business. This year’s awards program has been expanded to include categories covering data management, business intelligence and enterprise development and modeling. Sybase and Sybase iAnywhere customers and partners who would like to nominate a company for the 2007 Innovator Awards, please visit: www.sybase.com/innovator. The ballots will close on July 11th, 2007. Winners will be announced at Sybase TechWave 2007 and will be featured on www.sybase.com.

PBSearch

TopWizProgramming announced that PBSearch was updated to support PB11 and to add several new features.

http://www.topwizprogramming.com/pbsearch.html

I’m not dead!

Not the Pink version, the Monty Python version.

Every few years somebody winds up the "PowerBuilder is dead" argument, and every few years we beat it down again. This time it's Mary Brandel of ComputerWorld and her list of the "top 10 dead (or dying) computer skills". PowerBuilder made #7 on the list, which also included:

1. Cobol (that's the way she spelled it)
2. Non-relational databases
3. Non-IP networks
4. cc:Mail
5. Cold Fusion
6. C Programming
7. PowerBuilder
8. Certified Netware Engineers
9. PC Network Administrators
10. OS/2

More PowerBuilder 11 Launch Events

These are for the US in June, with more coming in July.

TechWave 2007 Official Conference Poster Available

The TechWave 2007 official Conference poster is now available. You can obtain a free copy by sending a note to developer_news@sybase.com with your shipping address.

Survey says!

The 2006 PowerBuilder survey results are in:

http://www.visual-expert.com/us/info/survey_pb_2006_results.htm

RAPI sample

TopWizProgramming announced that the RAPI example was updated to allow interaction with PocketPC registry.

http://www.topwizprogramming.com/freecode_rapi.html

TechWave registration now open…

Although the sessions haven't been announced yet, you'd have to sign up for them later. The sessions should be available shortly after May 15th...
For more information, see: www.sybase.com/techwave/registrationinfo

TechWave 2007 Preconference Classes

Have been announced...

http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1051310

Solved Cases available again…

Well, the good news it that Sybase has finally reversed their decision from 2004. Solved Cases for non "Enterprise" products -- including PowerBuilder -- are once again accessible without a support contract.

PowerBuilder 11 Seminar

Sybase Tools User Network (STUN) will be hosting a PB11 Seminar at Sybase's Maidenhead offices on May 24th.

http://stun.org.uk/

Future events include their Autumn seminar on October and their TechSelect event in November.

Visual Expert 5.7 build 7420

Novalys released build 7420 of Visual Expert 5.7, a tool that automates impact analysis, generates source code documentation and checks code quality.  Visual Expert 5.7 analyzes both PB and Stored Procedures code (Sybase ASE, Oracle and Microsoft SQLServer supported…). It also supports PowerBuilder 11.  This new version comes with several new features such as exporting a result in an Excel file, an extremely fast string search (covering both PB and DB code), and much more…

You can read more on Visual Expert web site.  On this occasion, Novalys offers a free 3-month evaluation license.

CookieMgr

TopWizProgramming updated the CookieMgr free code sample to include support for using the EAServer ThreadManager to schedule the service.

 

http://www.topwizprogramming.com/freecode_cookiemgr.html

Collabnet Acquires SourceForge…

I think it's particularly interesting because Sybase's CodeXchange is based on Collabnet.  Wonder what new features we'll see soon.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2121677,00.asp

CoolMenu 2.5 Build 164

It was updated to work better with PB10.5 and PB11.  In addition, the drawing of disabled images has been improved.  Note that the URL for the website has also changed.
http://pbsite.milente.nl/

PowerBuilder Worldwide Survey 2007

Novalys has just launched the 2007 edition of its PowerBuilder Worldwide survey.  This survey allows members of the PowerBuilder community to share about its evolutions.  After submitting your answers, you will access the 2006 survey results:

• How long do companies intend to use PowerBuilder?


• What other development tools are used at the same time as PB?


• To what extend will PowerBuilder be used for web development?

Anyone responding before the end of April 2007 will get a 3 months free copy of Visual Expert.  If you want to give your opinion click here

STUN User Group Events

Spring Seminar - 27th March 2007, Sybase office, Maidenhead
PB11 Seminar - May 2007, Emirates Stadium, London
Autumn Seminar - October 2007, Sybase office, Maidenhead
TechSelect - November 2007, location tbc
Email admin@stun.org.uk to register

PB Doc 3.2.1

PowerBuilder Developer's Resource announced the release of PBDoc v3.2.1. This minor release to PBDoc fixes a number of bugs and enhances the support for stored procedures.

DWGridXP

TopWiz Software updated their DWGridXP freeware sample code.  The program has a grid datawindow service which performs these functions:

• Autowidth columns


• Arrows over header for sorted columns


• Shaded background for sorted columns


• XP Style column headers (color change when mouse moves over header)


• Popup menu with filter & sort options

TechWave 2007 Call for Papers Deadline Extended

If you have solved a unique business or technical challenge using Sybase products, Sybase would like you to tell the thousands of TechWave 2007 attendees about it. Submit a speaker proposal by the extended deadline date of Friday, March 30, for a chance to attend TechWave for free. For more information, visit: http://www.sybase.com/techwave/conference_content.

CaseXpress Beta

Sybase has opened up a beta of the CaseXpress portion of their website.  If you have a support contract and have been frustrated by CaseXpress in the past, here's your chance to give them feedback that will make your live easier.

Learn a lesson from the Wii

I just recently (finally) upgraded to a Wii. Only had to pay about $50 over retail on an auction site to get it. Good luck trying to find one in the LA area, most stores told me it would be April before they had more. Try finding accessories once you have one too. Had to hit a half a dozen stores before I found additional controllers. It's not that nobody carries them, it's because they fly off the shelves as soon as they come in.

Certification practice exams available for free…

Ok, to be honest they're for earlier versions of the products.  But I think they're still highly valuable because:

• They'll cover 80% or more of the features of the current products


• Some people are still using older versions of the products.

The practice exams are available at:
http://dneses.education.sybase.com/assessment/default.aspx?type=practiceexamdownload

DisplayIcon

Topwiz Software updated their DisplayIcon freeware sample code. The program allows you to display icons from an .ico, .dll or .exe file on a window. This is great for your application's About window.

TechWave 2007 Call for Papers Now Open!

Would you like to share your Sybase solution with hundreds of conference attendees? If you’ve solved a unique business challenge utilizing Sybase products, Sybase would like to hear about it. This is your chance to attend Sybase’s next annual user conference for free!

• Submit an abstract - Sybase invites you to submit an abstract of a proposed session to be considered for presentation at TechWave 2007.


• Be Selected – Not all submissions are accepted. This is a terrific opportunity to have your solution showcased in front of a select group of peers.


• Network with Peers – Present at TechWave and network with hundreds of industry professionals like yourself.


• Attend for free! - If you are selected as a conference speaker, you’ll receive a complimentary conference pass valued at $1,795.

Applications must be submitted no later than Friday, March 16, 2007. You will be notified in April if you have been selected for a technical session.

For more information on the conference and how to complete an application to present please visit http://www.sybase.com/techwave/2006cfp/cfp_proposal

Specific questions can be directed to sybase.techwave@sybase.com.

SmartLock Dongle

Sabadille Systems announced the release of the SmartLock USB Hardware Lock Dongle for USA & EMEA.  The product was alreadu available in the Far East, and has now been released for USA & EMEA.  SmartLock provides software publishers with strong copy protection and therefore secure licensing. Its driverless operation provides ease-of-use and dramatically reduces support costs.  The product is supported for a wide variety of development tools, including PowerBuilder.
http://www.smart-lock.com/smartLock_en.html

Jolt Awards

Sybase SQL Anywhere is a finalist in CMP Technology's Dr. Dobb's 17th Annual Jolt Product Excellence Awards

TechWave 2007

Sybase will once again be holding its annual TechWave conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, this time at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, August 6-10th.

Visit http://www.sybase.com/techwave for the most recent information on TechWave 2007!