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PowerBuilder: Article

Creating A Distributed Power-Builder PDF Generator

Creating A Distributed Power-Builder PDF Generator

By Gerald Giggs, Scott Heffron Article Rating:

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*e %ur%ose o0 tis %roect was to create a 2eb-based custo&-0or&s generation syste&tat would allow ad&inistrators to add re%orts to teir re3uested %ac.age, and users to

select re%orts4 $everal &odulari5ed %ieces were included witin its s%ectru& and eac

one needed to be connected 0or te a%%lication to wor. e00ectively4 *ese %ieces were

tree dis%arate database syste&s4

*e user inter0ace sould be troug a browser, and te %ages can6t be boo.&ar.ed4 Data

validation and data auto0illing &ust be real ti&e4 A &essaging syste& was needed so te

wor.0low %rocess wouldn6t alt4 *is syste& ad to allow users to s%eci0y te re%ortstey wanted %ac.aged togeter4 *e re%ort %ac.age ad to be %resented to te user

troug a 2eb inter0ace, stored 0or 0uture re0erence and %rotected by a %assword4 *is

article 0ocuses on ow we used PowerBuilder to create te re%ort server and C7( obect4

*e %roect re3uire&ents were based on te 0ollowing issues:

14 Re%orts on te 2eb never %rint out te way te user wants te& to4!4 *e user wants to ca%ture in0or&ation at a %articular &o&ent4

"4 *e user wants to save te re%ort 0or viewing4#4 *e user wants to con0igure di00erent re%ort co&binations4

4 *e user wants to be selective in te re%orts e or se %re%ares and %laces in te

%ac.age4

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*e PowerBuilder Data2indow allowed us to sow e8actly wat users would get in a

%rintout4 2e created te Data2indows so tey6d 0it on a %age4 2e can cange te

retrieval argu&ents on te 0ly and re&ove certain Data2indow obects4 *o getin0or&ation 0ro& several sources and %resent te data on one %age, te a%%lication &ust

be connected to 7racle, Access and DB! data sources4

Architecture

*e %ieces o0 tis %roect range 0ro& te user inter0ace, 2eb server %rocesses anddistributed PowerBuilder service to database connections4 96ll %rovide an overview o0

tese di00erent %ieces4

2e used ColdFusion to generate te 2eb-based user inter0ace4 2e needed to dyna&ically %o%ulate *(; obects wit data stored in te database, connect to di00erent databases

and co&&unicate wit C7( obects4 2e used , C7( obects and te re%ort server4

Because we used te 2indows !''' server, te 2eb server was 99$4 *wo &aor logicaldatabases were used 0or tis a%%lication: &aster and control4 *e &aster database

contained te user data, wic was stored on an 7racle database4 *e control databasecontained di00erent re%ort and argu&ent-retrieval in0or&ation 0or eac re%ort accessed by

te re%ort server4 2e used Access 0or te control database4 2e also used a DB! database

0or &essaging te wor.0low %ortion o0 te a%%lication4

Note: *e &aster and control databases can be con0igured on te sa&e &acine and beon te sa&e database4 Figure 1 sows te a%%lication arcitecture4

Distributed PB

Distributed PowerBuilder lets you serve PowerBuilder 0unctionality 0or oter %rogra&s touse4 *o %rovide so&e level o0 0ault tolerance we ensured, troug a utility called?srvany,? tat tis could be con0igured as a service4 *is %rogra& can be created as a

service using anoter utility, ?instsrv?4 7nce it6s a service, you can &odi0y its registry

settings to run anoter %rogra&4 7ne li&itation is tat you can6t s%awn anoter window0ro& te ?service? a%%lication4 9t6s i&%ortant tat te a%%lication %ro%erties are

con0igured so te syste& is te owner o0 te a%%lication, since no one will be logged onto

te &acine in te nor&al state4 *e only oter ting to consider is tat te a%%lication&ust be %ut into a listening &ode wen launced4 7ur a%%lication starts in a &ini&i5ed

state4 *e distributed PowerBuilder a%%lication was really serving only one obect, wic

ad several 0unctions callable 0ro& anoter a%%lication =see Figure !>4

*e C7( &odule, created using PowerBuilder +, was te glue tat allowed ColdFusionto tal. wit distributed PowerBuilder4 As a distributed PowerBuilder client, te C7(

&odule needed a %ro8y version o0 te served obect in te distributed a%%lication4 7ur

obect na&e was n@e8%ose4 7ur %ro8y version was a co%y o0 our real version in tedistributed a%%lication but wit te code re&oved and a return call 0or eac 0unction so

you could co&%ile your C7( obect, called n@%b+co&4 *e C7( obect was created

using te C7( obect wi5ard in PB+4 2en creating C7( obects it6s i&%ortant tat


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eac o0 te 0unction6s return values, argu&ents and any e8%osed =not %rotected> instance

variables be si&%le ty%es su%%orted by te C7( s%eci0ication4 $i&%le is certainly better

in tis environ&ent4 Any 0unctions tat contain argu&ents o0 co&%le8 ty%es &ust alsoave an access declaration o0 ?%rotected?4 2it so&e e00ort tis in0or&ation can be

gleaned 0ro& te error &essage you receive wen you atte&%t to build te C7( obect4

9t6s a bit o0 a switc 0ro& nor&al PowerBuilder %rogra&&ing and you &igt 0orget to %rotect a 0ew tings4

*e C7( obect can be instantiated 0ro& any a%%lication environ&ent tat su%%orts

C7(4 9n our case it was te co&&on lin. between PowerBuilder and ColdFusion4 7nce

instantiated, you can call te 0unctions in te PB C7( obect4 *ese, in turn, call0unctions 0ro& te distributed a%%lication4 *e 0unctions we e8%osed to te C7(

inter0ace were o0@beginob, o0@addre%ort, o0@runob and o0@deleteob4

9n distributed PowerBuilder a%%lications it6s use0ul to create an ad&inistration tool to get

te status o0 %eo%le accessing te a%%lication4 Distributed PowerBuilder %rovides several

0unctions tat allow you to do tis4 7ur &anage&ent a%%lication was triggered 0ro& a button on te actual distributed PowerBuilder server container a%%lication4 9t consisted o0

a single Data2indow tat sowed one row 0or eac user accessing te server4 9t also gavete ability to ?.ill? a user on te server 0or watever ad&inistrative reason &ade sense at

te ti&e4 *is is o0ten used to get rid o0 ung %rocesses on databases and 7$s4 ung

%rocesses weren6t a big %roble&, but it was nice to &onitor te service activity4 *e &ostel%0ul distributed PowerBuilder 0unction is:

connection4getserver9n0o=connectionin0o

C97, C*7 Develo%er Resources

9t %rovides an array o0 connection in0or&ation records you can loo% troug to stu00 in aData2indow4 7ne o0 te ele&ents o0 te connection in0or&ation record is te clientid,wic disconnects using te i@connection4Re&ote$to%Connection=clientid> &etod4

Web Interface

*e client re3uire&ents 0or tis a%%lication re3uired us to use ColdFusion4 *e

a%%lication server needed to create a dyna&ic site4 *is 0unctionality allowed us tocange te


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Reort Generation

*e Data2indow de0initions E te %oint o0 tis distributed a%%lication E are noting

s%ecial4 *e a%%lication6s obective is to leverage PowerBuilder6s ability to generate clear,e00ective and %rintable re%orts4 (ost o0 our re%orts were igly 0or&atted single-%age

re%orts4 9t isn6t necessary to create any Data2indow argu&ents in te Data2indow since

any $; argu&ents are added dyna&ically at runti&e4 9t6s i&%ortant to .ee% te $;relatively si&%le so you can give yoursel0 &ore 0le8ibility wit te argu&ents4 9n our

a%%lication we ad eac re%ort ta.e te sa&e argu&ents owever, te re%ort engine was

written to su%%ort a varying nu&ber o0 argu&ents 0or eac re%ort4 9n our version tere%ort engine used a structured array to %ass argu&ents to an added re%ort4 *is is

obviously not C7( co&%liant tere0ore we ad to &a.e te C7( obect s%eci0ic to tis

a%%lication wit res%ect to te re%ort argu&ents4

9n &ost situations te 0inal PDF 0ile would be a &ulti%le %age docu&ent &ade u% o0 anu&ber o0 Data2indow re%orts4 2e andled tis by using Adobe Acrobat to %rint eac

Data2indow to a 0ile na&ed wit a &illisecond-level ti&e sta&%4 7nce eac 0ile ad

been %rinted, we6d &erge te PDF 0iles into a single out%ut 0ile using te ActivePDFtool.it 0ro& ActivePDF4co&4 *is as an AP9 tat can be called 0ro& PowerBuilder =see

;isting !>4 *is wor.ed &agni0icently and incurred very little overead4 2e ad to ado%t

tis &etod once we reali5ed we couldn6t o%en a %rint ob and use several Data2indow

%rint 0unctions to build te &ulti%age re%ort4 A %rint ob can6t be called 0ro& a distributeduser obect since it needs a window to be its %arent4 2e ado%ted tis window &ecanis&

initially, but 0ound it wouldn6t wor. once we &ade te distributed a%%lication an *

service4 *e ActivePDF tool.it gave us te ability to deal wit tese restrictions4

*e lin.age between te C7( obect and distributed PowerBuilder isn6t any di00erenttan calling a distributed PowerBuilder a%%lication 0ro& any non-C7( PowerBuilder

a%%lication4 Hou &ust 0irst connect to te distributed a%%lication using te connect0unction, wic results in a connection andle4 *is andle can ten be used to call te0unctions o0 te obect tat6s being served in te server a%%lication4 *e code in ;isting "

illustrates tis connection4

Storage of Reorts

$torage s%ace 0or tese re%orts is an ongoing issue4 7ne o0 te %roble&s is calculating tes%ace re3uired 0or tis ty%e o0 %roect4 ;uc.ily 0or tis one tere was %lenty o0 s%ace4 9n

&ost cases, toug, we ave to set u% a sceduling &ecanis& to run %eriodically and

re&ove any 0iles older tan a %rede0ined ti&e4 *e s%ace 0or te debugging 0iles alsoneeds to be considered4 For tis tas. we decided to delete te debug 0ile u%on success0ul

co&%letion o0 te re%ort being generated, wic allowed 0or 3uic.er debugging4 2e

e00ectively solved te %roble&s 0or te targeted re%ort and didn6t worry about te oterre%orts in te syste&4

*e re3uire&ents 0or tis %roect included aving te re%orts saved 0or te calling

a%%lication and also 0or 3uic. re0erence 0ro& a browser, wic was di00erent tan te

&ain section o0 te a%%lication tat allowed 0or no boo. &ar.ing4 2e created a se%arate


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virtual directory 0or te re%orts4 *is allows 0or browser boo. &ar.ing, were te actual

a%%lication does not allow 0or any boo. &ar.ing4 Figure " sows an e8a&%le re%ort4

Debugging Reorts !rrors *e s%ace 0or te debugging 0iles also needs to be considered4 For tis tas. we decided to

delete te debug 0ile u%on success0ul co&%letion o0 te re%ort being generated4 *iswould allow us to 0ind te %roble& re%orts 3uic.ly4 *is allowed us to e00ectively solve

0or te targeted re%ort and not worry about te oter re%orts in te syste&4

Su""ar#

Because o0 te arcitecture, adding new re%orts is a si&%le tas. E si&%ly 0ollow te rules

tat ave already been stated4 96& sure your clients won6t ave a %roble& designing newre%orts to &a.e your li0e interesting4 *is also allows you to use re%orts 0ro& your old

a%%lication and &a.e te& 2eb-ready in ours, instead o0 wee.s4 2e also de&onstrated

te ability to reuse code wit te C7( obect 0unctionality4 *is enables develo%ers to

ta.e e8isting business logic and &a.e it into distributed PowerBuilder obects4 Hour 2eb

a%%lication can call te C7( obect and use code 0ro& e8isting a%%lications4 *is %roectsowed us tat we can use te distributed PowerBuilder &ecanics to create a &ore

e00ective syste& and &aintain te code in one %lace4


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Creating a Distributed PowerBuilder PDF Generatorwritten by Scott Heffron and Gerald GiggsPBDJ 7-8 p


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!isting "# Calling t$e C%& ob'ect fro( ColdFusion


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