About this book

Audience

You should read this book if you are involved in any phase of a client/server, distributed, or Web application development project that uses PowerBuilder®.

How to use this book

This how-to book guides you through programming techniques used to build and deploy PowerBuilder applications and components. It does this by equipping you with collections of techniques for implementing many common application features and advice for choosing those techniques best suited to your requirements.

PowerBuilder is accompanied by sample applications that illustrate some of the issues, features, and techniques you will read about. Examine the components of these applications in PowerBuilder, read the comments in the code, and experiment with real, working examples of what you are trying to learn.

For where to find the sample applications, see Chapter 1, “Using Sample Applications.”

Other sources of information

Use the Sybase Getting Started CD, the SyBooks CD, and the Sybase Product Manuals Web site to learn more about your product:

The Getting Started CD contains release bulletins and installation guides in PDF format, and may also contain other documents or updated information not included on the SyBooks CD. It is included with your software. To read or print documents on the Getting Started CD, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download at no charge from the Adobe Web site using a link provided on the CD.
The SyBooks CD contains product manuals and is included with your software. The Eclipse-based SyBooks browser allows you to access the manuals in an easy-to-use, HTML-based format.

Some documentation may be provided in PDF format, which you can access through the PDF directory on the SyBooks CD. To read or print the PDF files, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Refer to the SyBooks Installation Guide on the Getting Started CD, or the README.txt file on the SyBooks CD for instructions on installing and starting SyBooks.
The Sybase Product Manuals Web site is an online version of the SyBooks CD that you can access using a standard Web browser. In addition to product manuals, you will find links to EBFs/Maintenance, Technical Documents, Case Management, Solved Cases, newsgroups, and the Sybase Developer Network.

To access the Sybase Product Manuals Web site, go to Product Manuals.

Conventions

The formatting conventions used in this manual are:

Formatting example	Indicates
Retrieve and Update	When used in descriptive text, this font indicates: Command, function, and method names Keywords such as true, false, and null Datatypes such as integer and char Database column names such as emp_id and f_name User-defined objects such as dw_emp or w_main
variable or file name	When used in descriptive text and syntax descriptions, oblique font indicates: Variables, such as myCounter Parts of input text requiring substitution, such as pblname.`pbd` File and path names
File>Save	Menu names and menu items are displayed in plain text. The greater than symbol (>) shows you how to navigate menu selections. For example, File>Save indicates “select Save from the File menu.”
`dw_1.Update()`	Monospace font indicates: Information that you enter in a dialog box or on a command line Sample script fragments Sample output fragments

If you need help

Each Sybase installation that has purchased a support contract has one or more designated people who are authorized to contact Sybase Technical Support. If you cannot resolve a problem using the manuals or online help, please have the designated person contact Sybase Technical Support or the Sybase subsidiary in your area.