A question came up on the TekTips website about setting a column in all the rows in a datawindow to the same value without looping through. In this case the writer was loading data from over one hundred Excel files and wanted to track the filename of where the data came from. At first I…
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PowerBuilder – Setting column value without looping through all rows.
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PowerBuilder – Development vs. Production Mode
You can set up a variety of helpful methods for use while developing an application which you don’t want users to get their hands on when in production. One example of this is my Window Information Service . To make this only available when running from the Powerbuilder IDE use the following steps. Set up…
PowerBuilder – PFC String service extension
Here is a simple modification to the PFC string service (n_cst_string) which will parse out an array of any datatype and returned a delimited string of the contents. The new method is a polymorph of the existing of_arraytostring. public function long of_arraytostring (any aa_array[], string as_delimiter, ref string as_string) // convert array to string array…
Sequence Numbers in SQL
Here is a link to a very good article on SQLServerCentral.com showing a technique to re-sequence items via a database stored procedure rather than on the client. It’s pretty straight forward and solves a fairly common issue I’ve addressed several times in PowerBuilder over the years.
Update Columns in Database
It’s pretty common to want to update a column (or several columns) in one table with the value(s) from another table. Here is how to do it: UPDATE Table SET Table.col1 = other_table.col1, Table.col2 = other_table.col2 FROM Table INNER JOIN other_table ON Table.id = other_table.id WHERE … The structure of this syntax is always something…
PowerBuilder – Add /Remove a Font at Runtime
Here is a way to add (and remove) a font to the user’s machine at runtime. You can also use this to check if a user has a particular font installed since the code also shows how to list all the installed fonts (need MS Word for this). Way back in my PB5 days I…
PowerBuilder – Next Key Service
As an extension of the next key stored procedure article, here is a pretty easy to implement a next surrogate key service to use with the PFC. If you don’t use the PFC it is still fairly easy to use with some modification. You can use this service anytime you want to get a sequential…
PowerBuilder – Move Frequently Chosen Items to Top of DropDownDataWindow
I’m looking at an application which basically records demographic information for a population. One of the fields listed is ‘primary language’ which has a typical dropdowndatawindow interface. I look at the options and BAM!, a huge alphabetical list (including Esperanto!). Now this application is generally used in the US so my guess is at least…
Next Key Service for Database tables
This provides for an easy way to generate key values for tables in a database when you don’t want to use a system generated value (like an IDENTITY column). The example is for MS SQLServer 2000 but could be adapted to any database which supports stored procedures. Note that this service assumes the key value…
PowerBuilder – Locating Windows folders
Here is an easy way to find the paths to the various Windows folders. oleobject lole_wshell lole_wshell = create oleobject lole_wshell.connecttonewobject( "wscript.shell") is_mydocspath = lole_wshell.SpecialFolders("MyDocuments") IF IsValid(lole_wshell) THEN Destroy lole_wshell /* other folders: AllUsersDesktop AllUsersStartMenu AllUsersPrograms AllUsersStartup Desktop Favorites Fonts MyDocuments NetHood PrintHood Programs Recent SendTo StartMenu Startup Templates */
