Taking PowerBuilder to the Web

Transcript Taking PowerBuilder to the Web

Taking PowerBuilder Applications To The Web

Donald D. Clayton and Bryan Roberts Intertech Consulting, Inc.

Today’s Agenda: PB to Web Strategies



There are a number of different approaches to moving PB to the web, including:

 “Screen Scraping” with Appeon    Application Partitioning (moving business logic to middle tier) PB NVOs as Web Services providers Integrating PB Business Objects with other languages .Net

C++   Java/JSP/Struts Using the DataWindow for Web Reporting Using other PB to Web Frameworks

Traditional PB-to-the-Web Options

Complete Rewrite in Java/J2EE, HTML and JavaScript  Complete rewrite of everything taking years and costing a lot of money Complete Rewrite in .NET, HTML, and JavaScript  Complete rewrite of everything taking years and costing a lot of money PowerBuilder and EAServer in Java/J2EE, HTML and JavaScript   Reuse all DataWindows (up to 60% of avg. app) and all Business Logic NVOs (0-15% of avg. app) Rewrite user interface and navigation with JSPs and JavaScript taking months and suggest you get help on first project

Moving PB to the Web with Appeon

   Appeon ® for PowerBuilder ® Applications

– Deploy existing PB applications to the Web

Developers

– Using only PB skills, build NEW Web applications immediately with unparalleled productivity

Users

– Same rich-client GUI but running in standard IE browser

Appeon Components

3 Easy Steps to the Web for Existing Apps

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Step 1 – Analyze

Appeon scans the entire PowerBuilder application, flagging any Web browser or Appeon unsupported incompatibilities found • •

Step 2 – Modify & Test

Rewrite or remove any unsupported PB features or code using standard PB programming Test in PB IDE • • •

Step 3 – Click Deploy

Click Appeon Wizard Choose Deployment Profile and Mode Auto-Create HTML, XML, and JavaScript

3 Easy Steps for New Web Development



Step 1 – Develop

Quickly create new PowerBuilder Client/Server Windows and DataWindows using Appeon supported features •

Step 2 – Test

Test PowerBuilder application in the PowerBuilder IDE • • •

Step 3 – Click Deploy

Click Appeon Wizard Choose Deployment Profile and Mode Auto-Create Auto Create HTML, XML, and JavaScript

Traditional PB to Web Options

Two-Tier Architectures

Client Database Server

Vendor / Platform-Specific API

  User interface Some business logic   Data management Some business logic

Multitier (Distributed) Architectures

Client Application Server Database Server  User interface      Business logic Caching Load balancing  Transaction management Data location transparency Data management

Very Thin Thin Rich

Distributed Application Development Client Browser Browser Components Client/Server Application Components Middle Tier Web Server Data

File System

HTML Pages Transaction Server Page Server Templates, Scripts Enterprise JavaBeans, COM, CORBA, PB NVOs Production Data Production Data Production Data Production Data Production Data

Managing Complexity

 

Creating an enterprise system that will support diverse client types with shared business components requires

 Increased emphasis on analysis and design  Increased usage of OO techniques to manage complexity

Common Techniques include

   System Partitioning System Layering Service-based architectures

System Partitions Problem Domain Partition User Interface Partition System Management Partition

System Architecture Layers

Layering is accomplished with generalization (inheritance)

System Architecture

A Combined Perspective

Note: When designing distributed systems, always know the layer and partition you are designing for!

Service-Oriented Architectures

   

Service-based architectures are popular in distributed computing and in n-tier environments Two main components:

  Requester class Service class

The key concept here is the delegation of behavior

 Rather than the encapsulation of behavior  Results in highly specialized, task-based classes

Proxy objects are used to facilitate service-based architectures in an n-tier environment

Requester and Service Class Example

  

Requesters delegate work to services

 Contain predefined operations to and call services  Contain attributes that refer to the service classes

Service classes respond to requesters, and return results Requestor/service model follows the client/server metaphor

Requester Class Service Class

Web Services

Web Services Technologies 101



What are Web services ?



Made up of standards that describe business processes

     Self describing Searchable in a registry of services Sync or Async Loosely coupled and cross platform Reusable

Web Services Technologies 101

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Web services benefits

 RAD     Neutral Architecture & language Leverage current investment Accessed through many different client types

Technologies 101

High Level Architecture Provider Registry Service Client

   Provider creates and publishes service A client searches a registry for that service The client is able to connect and call the service

Technologies 101

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Protocols involved – Web Services Stack

WSFL UDDI WSDL SOAP XML TCP/IP, HTTP etc

Emerging Layers Core Layers

Web Services Technologies 101

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TCP/IP, HTTP

 Common Internet Transport Protocols  Web services not tied to any one protocol

Web Services Technologies 101

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XML

 E

tensible

arkup

anguage   Widely accepted format to exchange data & semantics Core building block for every layer in the Web services stack

Sample XML Schema

XML Element to DW Column Mapping

Technologies 101

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SOAP

 Simple Object Access Protocol, 

Represents a

   light-weight, wire-level protocol for messaging & RPC communications 

Based on XML

Web Services Technologies 101

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SOAP Message



Envelope comprised of

  Header Body 

Body comprised of

    Requests Responses Status Attachments Envelope Header Body Requests Response Status Attachments

Web Services Technologies 101

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WSDL Document

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Comprised of

     Data types Message/method Port Binding Service Document Data Types Message Port Binding Service Interface Implementation

Web Services Technologies 101

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UDDI



Universal Description, Discovery and Integration

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SOAP-based Web service

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Allows

  Providers to register services Clients to lookup services 

Uses WSDL to describe services

Web Services Technologies 101

Provider

UDDI

Lookup

Client

Creating Web Services with PowerBuilder

Component Development

Jaguar Manager PowerBuilder Generate Stubs and Skeletons Component / User Object Deploy Component Component Proxy Create Component Proxy

Web Service Client

Create Web Service Proxy from WSDL

Web Service Development

Web Service Proxy EA Server WSDL Internet Expose Component as Web Service Eclipse

EAServer 5.1

PB Clients Java Clients HTML Clients Web Services Enterprise Application Server PB EJB Corba ActiveX Application Integrator Security IIOP Stored Procs CICS

Topics

   

Distributed Architecture Issues Role of a Jaguar Component Transaction Server (CTS) Jaguar CTS Environment

    Server Components Packages Repository

Architectures for Building Web Applications

Role of the Server Application



Component instantiation and lifecycle

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To efficiently manage:

Database connections Transactions Threads Security

Jaguar CTS Environment

IIOP requests

Class Libraries

TDS requests 9000 HTTP requests 7878 8080

Jaguar Manager Jaguar Server

Package

Repository

Components

Required Expertise Business Developers Lifecycle GUI Developers System Developers

HTML DataWindow Web Browser Web Server Page Server HTML