Appeon for PowerBuilder A Highly Productive Web Development Platform product brochure www.sybase.com
A Highly Productive Web Development Platform Rapid Web Application Development Appeon for PowerBuilder enables developers to rapidly build Java-based Web applications with 4GL productivity and rich user interface (UI). A complete set of PowerBuilder-equivalent visual objects and controls are available for replicating PowerBuilder UI on the Web. Thousands of PowerBuilder properties, functions, and events can be used to make the rich UI come alive. Support for even-driven and object-oriented programming models, including support for inheritance, encapsulation and polymorphism, further boosts Web development productivity. Using Appeon for PowerBuilder, enterprises can maximize the potential of their PowerBuilder source code and greatly decrease the development cycle and resources needed to build and maintain the enterprises Web applications. In a head-to-head comparison, Appeon for PowerBuilder proved to be a quantum leap ahead of ASP.NET and JSP in terms of productivity for new Web development. Using Appeon for PowerBuilder, the Microsoft.NET Pet Shop blueprint application was built with essentially 4 times fewer lines of code and with 4 times less effort. Appeon Pet World required 564 lines of code and 1 engineering week effort vs. Microsoft.NET Pet Shop s 2,314 lines of code and 4 engineering-weeks effort. In addition, the Appeon Pet World had richer user interface and functionality that was not present in the other Web applications. Lines of code used Appeon Pet World Microsoft.NET Pet Shop Sun Java Pet Store Presentation Tier 498 1,220 5,567 Middle Tier 66 795 6,187 Data Tier 0 197 197 Configuration 0 102 2,053 Total 564 2,314 14,004 2
Rich Web GUI Appeon for PowerBuilder can be used to develop Web applications with either Client/Server-style GUI or rich Web GUI. Regardless of what GUI style you choose, Appeon Web applications feature micro-refresh technology and powerful event-driven logic to eliminate the cumbersome and timeconsuming page refresh once in for all. Now, your application has windows and screens that can execute many complex functionalities on the fly. Simplifying the rich Client/Server UI and chopping up powerful functionality into many simple Web pages is a thing of the past! Powerful Client-Side Integration Integrate seamlessly with client applications, including OLE/OCX and DLLs Perform file operations at the client-side, including open, read, write, close, and delete Easy access to local Windows resources and peripherals, such as scanners and bar code readers Prints to the client printer with rich formatting, allowing for invoice and label creation Advanced Rich Client + J2EE Technologies Appeon for PowerBuilder utilizes Java technology and deploys your PowerBuilder applications to the J2EE platform. It is the perfect solution for enterprises that have investments in PowerBuilder (code and/or development skills) yet need to embrace the J2EE open standard and convert to the more scalable n-tier Web architecture. You get all the benefits of PowerBuilder with an enterprise-class architecture that will power your organization for years to come. World s Richest Web Application 3
Appeon for PowerBuilder Web Migration Solution Appeon Web Migration Solution Appeon for PowerBuilder deploys entire PowerBuilder Client/Server applications to the Web and J2EE platform while leveraging existing PowerBuilder code and development skills. From the native source code of PowerBuilder applications, Appeon for PowerBuilder can generate bona fide n-tier Web applications that precisely replicate the user interface of the original applications with HTML in standard Microsoft Web browsers. These Web applications offer the rich user experience of the original PowerBuilder applications yet deliver the superior Quality of Service (QoS) of the n-tier Web architecture and J2EE platform, as well as greater availability, scalability, and reliability. Benefits of the Appeon Web Migration Solution For Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) Transform your existing Client/Server product portfolio to the Web in just a few months Enhance your existing product portfolio with new Web products in just weeks or months Differentiate your offering with the richest and most productive Web application UI in the world Standardize on one code base for both Client/Server and Web Integrate your Web products with other desktop and Client/Server applications seamlessly Communicate with desktop hardware and peripherals unlike typical Web applications Reduce your customers application deployment/maintenance costs and headaches For PowerBuilder Enterprises Embrace the Web faster than any other option Extend the life of your mission critical applications for years to come Eliminate developer retooling costs, downtime, and on-going productivity loss Eliminate user retraining costs, downtime, and on-going productivity loss Simplify IT complexity and reduce deployment costs Minimize the risk of project delay, going over-budget, or worse For Software Developers Instantly begin embracing the Web without any learning curve Enjoy the unbeatable productivity of PowerBuilder and rich Client/Server UI in building Web applications Do the work of at least 4 typical Web developers or just work 2 hours a day and still look like a star Focus on building application business logic rather than wasting time on mundane and technical details Deploy your existing PowerBuilder projects to the Web and J2EE platform Take advantage of powerful Web technologies including Web Services, XML and JMS 4
Appeon Web Development vs. Traditional Web Development Disadvantages of Traditional Web Development Several problems are inherent in traditional Web development for J2EE or.net: Low Productivity Traditional Web development is inferior to 4GL in terms of productivity. Traditional Web applications require developers to write a large amount of code, work with multiple languages and technologies, and work at a much lower and mundane level than 4GL. A typical master-detail DataWindow can take an experienced JSP developer as much as one day to develop from scratch using typical J2EE Web development tools. Poor Maintainability Traditional Web development results in many more lines of code to do less than what Appeon does. More lines of code means more places where things can break, longer time to find that needle in the haystack, and ultimately a more painful and complex project. What makes matters worse is that various technologies (e.g. HTML, JavaScript, XML, and Java) are utilized, requiring the developer to jump from one tool and technology and frame of mind to another. Difficulty in Technical Implementation Traditional Web development lacks the rich UI and functionality of Client/Server, making it difficult to build powerful enterprise applications, such as ERP and CRM, which need much more than simple forms and submit buttons. Imagine if you could utilize EditMask, DropDownDataWindow, OLE/OCX controls, Drag and Drop, MDI windows and toolbars readily in your next Web project. Steep Learning Curve Traditional Web development requires you to learn more so you can do less than what you do today in PowerBuilder. Web standards are constantly changing so what you learn today may be obsolete tomorrow, and you need to waste time to learn yet another Web technology. On the other hand, PowerBuilder just continues to get better leveraging what you have mastered over the years for Client/Server, Web, and even Mobile application development. 5
Advantages of Appeon Web Development Appeon enables enterprises to develop powerful Web applications extremely fast and easily using existing PowerBuilder skills. The superior productivity of Appeon significantly reduces project cycles and development costs. Make your applications available to anyone, anywhere in the world, at anytime, in a highly-secure fashion. At the same time, boost your architecture s scalability by as much as 10 times and substantially lower your maintenance costs. Appeon is simply the most productive and cost effective Web development platform! 6
Appeon for PowerBuilder System Architecture and Product Components System Architecture Appeon for PowerBuilder deploys your 4GL Web project to the n-tier Web architecture and J2EE application server. The presentation tier, business tier, and data tier are logically separated. The three tiers can run on the same physical server or be separated onto multiple servers and clustered. You can take advantage of numerous security mechanisms, including SSL/HTTPS, VPN, Firewall and Web browser security. No matter how small or large your organization is, you will realize the benefits of greater availability, scalability, security, and reliability. Product Components Appeon for PowerBuilder consists of a PowerBuilder IDE plug-in and J2EE application server runtime. Appeon Developer Appeon Developer integrates seamlessly with the Sybase PowerBuilder IDE. Developers can rapidly deploy existing PowerBuilder applications to the Web or build new Web applications without having to write any HTML/JavaScript, or Java code. Appeon Server Appeon Server provides key services that make Web applications come to life: Rich User Interface DataWindows Data Connectivity Load Balancing Printing Transaction Management Security Management Web Services J2EE Server-Side Integration Windows Client-Side Integration 7
CONTACT INFORMATION For Europe, Middle East, or Africa inquiries: +31 34 658 2999 For Asia-Pacific inquiries: +852 2506 8900 (Hong Kong) For Latin America inquiries: +1 770 777 3131 (Atlanta, GA) Sybase, Inc. Worldwide Headquarters One Sybase Drive Dublin, CA 94568-7902 U.S.A 1 800 8 sybase www.sybase.com Copyright 2009 Sybase, Inc. All rights reserved. Unpublished rights reserved under U.S. copyright laws. Sybase, the Sybase logo and PowerBuilder are trademarks of Sybase, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. indicates registration in the United States. Specifications are subject to change without notice. 05/09