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"Cheat Sheet" for PowerBuilder/PFC "Help"

Online Help and Doc (The 1st Place to Look!)


Check out the Online Books...  Available on WEB...  No CD required, always up-to-date, fast access!

I know, you're thinking, oh how boring and drab...  But the truth is, many answers can simply be found right there in front of you...  And then you can save your really good questions for all the other sophisticated ways to find answers!  Give good ol' online help a try next time!

Your Best PB/PFC Friends
PowerBuilder Help pbhlp70.hlp, pbhlp60.hlp, pbhlp050.hlp
(make these super easy to access on your PC)
PowerBuilder Foundation Class (PFC) Help pbpfc70.hlp, pbpfc60.hlp, pbpfc050.hlp
(make these super easy to access on your PC)
Sybase SQL Anywhere Manual Help dbeng50w.hlp
(make this super easy to access on your PC)
Online, free, up-to-date Books http://sybooks.sybase.com/pb.html
(in titlebar as Online Doc - 7.0,6.0,5.0)
Online, free, up-to-date Infobase http://info.powersoft.com
(in titlebar as Bug?)
Online, free, Sybase Support Search http://support.sybase.com/fd_search.html
(in titlebar as SEARCHSybase)

First off, make it super easy for you to access the Help files...

To do so, simply drag the .HLP from Explorer/Find to your Start button or Desktop

To do so, specify:  winhlp32 <path>pbpfc70.hlp  (for example)

Always keep in mind that whenever you are in PB script, and if you place your cursor somewhere on a PFC function or event name, you can press Shift-F1 to go directly to the PFC help for that particular PFC function or event.  Of course this also works on native PB also.

Tip (per Steve Benfield & Boris Gasin):  You can also hook-in other Help files to work with Shift-F1.  You might want to do this if you have any additional 3rd-party object Help or some internal corporate layer object Help.  Simply add the proper :Link xx.hlp and :include xx.cnt lines to your pbhlp##.cnt file, following examples in there.

Also, to get to the PFC Help from the regular PowerBuilder Help.  (Of course Shift-F1 works.)  But, in addition, you can go to the Contents tab of the regular PowerBuilder Help.  Then, double-click on the book that says "PowerBuilder Foundation Class Library (PFC)".  That will open up to show other categories like User Objects, Windows, etc.  From there, I am sure you can figure it out.

In addition, don't forget about your courseware material (from your training classes) and the "Online Books for PowerBuilder".  BTW, a complete hardcopy set of these books can be purchased from Sybase for $95, plus shipping and handling.  Makes it very easy to thumb through and take home.  Also check out the Online Books Documentation ( http://sybooks.sybase.com/pb.html )  It's available from the WEB, free, no CD required, always up-to-date, fast access!

And, for the tricky problems, specific questions or suspect bugs, remember to query the Sybase Infobases. You have (a static) copy of these infobases on your CD’s that were included with your licensed copy of PowerBuilder…  But visit the WEB for the most up-to-date Infobase material at http://info.powersoft.com .  You can also easily search the Infobases online at http://support.sybase.com/fd_search.html .

And, last but not least, don't be afraid to look at the PFC code itself!  All of the source code is right there at your fingertips.  Plus, the PFC code is a fine example of how to code, written by the finest programming minds to be found...  And so getting to know it helps your programming skills as well.  Also, the more you know about what's under the covers, the deeper your understanding will grow.

 

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