Deploying the Web ActiveX
CAB file for deployment
The PowerBuilder Setup program installs the PSDWC90.CAB
file in the SybaseSharedPowerBuilder directory.
This CAB file contains files and information the client Web browser
(Internet Explorer) needs for installing the Web ActiveX and the
Transaction Object control. The CAB file includes:
- An
Open Software Distribution information file - DLLs for the controls
The browser manages installation of the ActiveX controls using
the information in the CAB file. It installs the controls in the
system registry and maintains its Java class path. If your Web ActiveX
control uses a PSR file, you need only to tell the browser how to
find the CAB file.
To make the Web ActiveX and Transaction Object
control available to users:
-
Put the CAB file on your Web server.
-
Refer to the CAB file on the Web page in the CODEBASE
attribute of the Object element.
In a Web target, you can accomplish both goals by:
- Including the CAB file in your project and deploying
it to the Web server along with your other project files. - Specifying a value for Network Code Base in the
ActiveX object property sheet. The value is the name and relative
path for the CAB file, plus the version number. If the CAB file
is part of your PowerBuilder Web target, use the browse button to
display the Choose URL dialog box. You can then select the CAB file
on the Project page of this dialog box.
For information about specifying the correct value for CODEBASE,
see “HTML for inserting the controls
on a Web page”.
If your Web page uses a JDBC connection, the Web ActiveX has
additional deployment requirements:
- The Sun JRE 1.2 or later must be installed on the client.
Users can download the latest version of the JRE from the Sun Java
Web site at http://www.java.com:80/en/download/windows_manual.jsp (where en indicates
the English language version). - The path to the file jvm.dll (…JREinclient for
JRE 1.4 and …JREinclassic for
JRE 1.2 or 1.3) must be added to each user’s system PATH
environment variable. - The following files must be in a directory in the
client’s system PATH environment variable: pbjvm100.dlland pbshr100.dll. - The pbjdbc12100.jar file, which
contains class files required by the Web ActiveX, must be deployed
to the client. You can deploy the JAR file by referencing it in
the CODEBASE attribute of the Object element in your Web page. - Java classes required by your database vendor’s
client layer must be available on the client. They can be added
to a CAB file that is referenced in the CODEBASE attribute of the
Object element in your Web page. For example, if you are using Sybase
jConnect to connect to a database, the jconn2.jar file
should be included in the CAB file. If the client layer is provided
in a JAR file, it can be referenced directly in the CODEBASE attribute.
Deploying a new version
The version number in the value of the CODEBASE attribute
determines whether the browser downloads and installs a new version
of the ActiveX controls. The browser compares the version number
in the CODEBASE value with the version of the controls that is installed
in the system registry. If the version numbers do not match, the
browser downloads the CAB file again and installs it.
To deploy the new CAB file when you get a new
version of PowerBuilder:
-
Find the new version number by checking
the version number of any PowerBuilder DLL (as described in “HTML for inserting the controls
on a Web page”). -
Edit the Web pages that refer to the CAB file.
Change the version number in the CODEBASE attribute to match the
new number. -
Replace the CAB file on the Web server with the
new version.