About the Web Target development environment
When you work with the Web Target environment, you do so within
the context of a PowerBuilder workspace. Inside this workspace a
Web target includes all of the files you need to produce a Web application
(a Web site or part of a Web site). When you create or open a Web
target, a comprehensive set of Web development features is available
to you.
Web Target tools
The Web Target development environment provides the following development
and authoring features:
- System
Tree As an active resource for programming information, the System
Tree lists language elements and object models for HTML and scripting.
It lets you view the list of controls on a Web page and the properties
and methods available to them. It also lets you view components
and component methods available on EAServer servers, and custom
tag libraries that you want to use with your JSP applications. - HTML editor The primary development tool is the HTML editor. In it, you
typically use the Page view to add controls and the Source view
to edit text.
The editor lets you include lists, links and anchors, tables,
forms, images, components, and other features in your Web pages.
Table 1-1: HTML editor
viewsEditor view Description Page view A fully formatted, editable view of your
content.Source view An editable view of the tags and content. Preview view A non-editable view that lets you test
how the document should appear. - Script editor The script editor supports writing both client- and server-side
scripts. The editor is available as an integrated part of the HTML
editor or as a standalone tool.Table 1-2: Script editor
featuresEditor type Features Integrated Script editor Appears as a pane at the bottom of the
HTML editor.You can select an object or event from your current page for
scripting. Drag-and-drop programming and InstaCode help you choose
the objects and properties to include in your code.Standalone Web Script editor Appears as a separate window.You can create standalone scripts in it, and then access those
scripts from a number of pages. - Cascading Style Sheet editor You can define styles for a set of HTML files, or for individual
HTML files, by creating style definitions in the Cascading Style
Sheet editor. Quick access to styles through a tabbed dialog box
lets you create embedded and inline styles as well as separate style
sheets. - Frameset editor The Frameset editor helps you to edit and work with framesets
in a document. A Frameset wizard helps with the initial creation of
frameset documents. - Wizards PowerBuilder wizards guide you though setup tasks, such as creating
workspaces, targets, Web pages, 4GL Web pages, DataWindow elements,
script files, EAServer components, and many others. You must add
a Web target to your workspace before you can use the page or script creation
wizards. - 4GL Web pages When you develop 4GL Web pages, you can easily create page
parameters and variables (that you can bind to controls), and you
can add trace messages to your pages to facilitate debugging. On
4GL pages you can also select and code server-side events from the
integrated Script editor. - Design-time controls (DTCs) Design-time controls create basic HTML and script from information
you provide in property sheets that display when you drop a DTC
on a Web page in the HTML editor.
The Web DataWindow DTC provides an easy way to access a database from
a Web page. It displays dynamic database content in a variety of presentation
styles and supports inserts, updates, and deletes against the database. - To-Do List The To-Do List tracks your progress completing tasks for your
targets. The To-Do List for a Web target works the same way as it does
for other targets in PowerBuilder. - Deployment controllers The deployment controllers manage server-specific
coding and configuration. When you create content and scripts using
the Web Target object model, you can create one version of your
source files rather than one for each server destination. The Web target
deployment controller automatically modifies the scripts for compatibility
with the servers that you select for your Web site deployment. - Link management A Web target displays information in the Output window about
broken links from one file to another whenever you build a target.
This gives you the opportunity to fix links before you deploy the target. - Debugger The debugger lets you troubleshoot scripts by verifying syntax
and displaying information in the Output window about errors found.
You must deploy your Web site to PowerDynamo to use the debugger.
About the editors
PowerBuilder includes several editors for preparing HTML pages.
| Editor | Description |
|---|---|
| HTML editor | Provides views, which let you:
|
| Script editor | Either standalone or integrated with an HTML or JSP page. The Script editors let you:
|
| Style Sheet editor | Either global, embedded, or inline (available from property sheets of elements and controls on your page). Style Sheet editors let you:
|
| Frameset editor | Lets you define frames graphically and specify the HTML pages to display in the frames. |
Tools for editing
Several tools help you develop content in the editors.
Toolbars
There are several toolbars that include buttons for:
- Using the clipboard and searching
- Inserting HTML elements (like anchors and form controls),
invoking the table wizard, and inserting components
- Applying character formatting like bold and italic
You can manage and customize the toolbars with from the Toolbars
dialog box that you access from the Tools>Toolbars menu
item. You can turn on PowerTips or examine the icons and their commands
by clicking the Customize button to access the Customize dialog
box.
System Tree
The System Tree is an active resource. It provides a quick
reference list of programming information.
The System Tree has four tabs and lists the HTML tags, language
syntax, and object models that you use in the Web Target HTML and
Script editors. There is information for the major browsers and
scripting languages. You can view the client-side object models
for Microsoft and Netscape browsers, and syntax information for
VBScript, JavaScript, and DynaScript.
The System Tree window displays by default when you start PowerBuilder for the
first time. You can hide or display the System Tree using the System
button on the PowerBar or by selecting Window>System Tree.
For more information on using the System Tree with Web targets,
see Chapter 2, “Developing Web Applications”.
Wizards for HTML elements
PowerBuilder provides several tools to help you create the more
complex HTML elements: frame, table, and form. After you create
the element, you can edit the tags in Source view. For tables and
forms, you can add content to the element in Page view.
Frames
The Frameset wizard is available from the New dialog box.
You can graphically lay out the frames and specify an HTML or JSP
document for each frame. After you create the frameset, you can
edit the No Frames section in the editor.
If you want to change the frameset specifications, you can
make the changes in Source view or in the Frameset Properties dialog
box available from the Frames view pop-up menu.
Tables
The table wizard is available on the Table menu in either
Page view or Source view of the HTML editor. You can specify the
columns and rows, and the alignment and color attributes. You can
also add content to the cells.
After you leave the table wizard, you can edit the table content
in Page view or Source view. In Page view, you can also use the
Table menu to manipulate (insert, delete, merge, split) the table’s
rows, columns, and cells. In Source view, you directly edit the
TR and TD elements for the table.
Other Web Target wizards
Information on other Web target wizards is available elsewhere
in the Sybase documentation.
| Wizard type | Where to find information |
|---|---|
| Target wizards | Chapter 2, “Developing Web Applications” |
| Web page wizards | Chapter 3, “Working with HTML pages” |
| Style Sheet wizard | Chapter 4, “Working with Style Sheets and Framesets” |
| Deployment Configuration wizard | Chapter 11, “Building and Deploying Web Targets” |
| JavaScript Caching wizard | DataWindow Programmer’s Guide |
Design-time controls
PowerBuilder provides a design-time control, the Web DataWindow
DTC, that lets you use DataWindow objects you have created in PowerBuilder
or InfoMaker to specify data you want to display. When you insert
a Web DataWindow DTC, PowerBuilder uses the DataWindow object definition
to generate HTML and server-side scripting logic for the page.
For more information on the Web DataWindow DTC, see Chapter 10, “About the Web DataWindow Design-Time
Control”.
System options
and editor preferences
To make changes to PowerBuilder system options, select Tools>System Options
from the PowerBuilder menu.
The System Options dialog box has five tabs with options that
apply to all target types in PowerBuilder, including Web targets.
A sixth tab applies to JSP targets and allows you to add search
paths for custom tag libraries.
The Java tab page of the System Options dialog box allows
you to include search paths–in addition to the paths defined
in the system CLASSPATH variable–for applets and JavaBeans.
For information on specific fields in the System Options dialog
box, see the online Help and the PowerBuilder User’s Guide
.
Before you start developing Web content, you can set preferences
for the Web Target Script editors. For information on configuring
the Script editors, see “Formatting HTML source display” and “Setting default formats
for scripts in the Script editor”.