And an extract utility

Universal Extractor. It's particularly useful for extracting files out of the custom CAB format that Installshield uses (and which PowerBuilder setup files are generated in).

Some cool PBL related utilities

I just stumbled across this site, although it's been out there for at least a few years. He's got some utilities that do ORCA like operations without requiring the use of ORCA. There's also a utility for setting the background color of command buttons.

http://robertbriggs.com/

AT&T Fast Pitch Awards

AT&T is running their Fast Pitch Awards again this year.   It's an opportunity for mobile device content developers to win up to $10,000 and have their application(s) sponsored in AT&T's mobile app distribution channel.

Some good news, and some bad news

It looks like some of the pre-conference courses for the TechWave Symposium are filling up.  The good news is that might mean that the symposium will be well attended as well.  The bad news is that you're running out of time if you were hoping to attend one of those courses.

The PowerBuilder 12.0 beta is officially on...

It includes a new infrastructure, built on the Visual Studio Isolated Shell, support for WPF and WCF, as well as fully managed code at runtime.  Joing the beta at: http://www.sybase.com/powerbuilder12beta

There is also a webcast on July 21st.

Latest meeting

Finally made a meeting of the LA Flex User Group.   They tend to hold their meetings on Wednesdays, which only works for me during the summer, so there's only about 3 meetings a year I can really attend.

There was a power outage in the area, so the first thing I learned on the way over is that few people in Los Angeles know how to perform a 4 way stop correctly.  I took surface street to avoid the nightmare of the 405.  Guess that didn't quite work out.

In any event, they had technical troubles with the presentation, so they didn't start until after I arrived late anyway.  The main event of the evening was an introduction to the beta of Flash Catalyst.  I had looked at this product earlier when it was Thermo, and I wasn't particularly impressed then.  It's come a long way.  It's like they took a 4GL and split it in half.  Catalyst is the true GUI design tool, and Flash Builder (formerly known as Flex Builder) is the 3GL coding tool you use to implement the logic behind the GUI.

Update on TechWave 2009

Registration is open, and most of the content is now listed.  It's primarily keynotes and education sessions.

TechWave 2009

There are also "business sessions", but still no word on the content.

What's interesting is that the first day of the event is now free.  You only need to pay the $200 registration fee if you plan to attend the second day.