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Database Systems:
IBM SystemBuilder - SB+Server
U2 SB+ - Powerful Tools With a Future
SystemBuilder continues to incorporate the latest technology. Recent releases have added support for ActiveX Controls, moving towards a component-based, distributed architecture. Additional enhancements have included GUI objects such as Tab Folders, Dynamic Combo Boxes, Multivalue Scrollbars and Multivalue Grid Control support. SB+'s SBX navigation system simplifies visual development and introduces a menuing system for end-users familiar with the Windows Explorer metaphor. Additionally, OLE and VBScript are supported in SBClient, while this functionality is now exposed in SB+ via new paragraph statements.

Your data is secure with SB+. The latest Transaction Processing semantics now incorporated into SB+ guarantee recoverability up to the latest committed transaction in supported platforms.

Not only is your data secure, but so is the future of your application. New features being added to SB+ and SBClient - including encapsulation as a Microsoft COM Server - mean that SB+ foreground processes (GUI screens and reports) and background processes (periodic and batch processes) may be invoked from other visual environments such as Internet Explorer, Delphi, Visual Basic and Outlook via standard COM messaging. Such support for object components will ensure that your application is extensible onto emerging distributed application architectures.

The Next Step - HTML
SB+ release 5 now adds more power to your favorite 4GL by incorporating HTML functionality. Not only can SB+ processes be called from HTML, but the Report Writer can now generate reports for output in HTML format. These reports are customizable and can be saved in HTML format as well. Additionally, 2nd and 3rd level help is now converted to and displayed in HTML format.

SB+ can also co-exist with Ardent's Web Application Server, RedBack, to address both traditional client/server transactional applications as well as deployment on the Web via a browser for appropriate application modules. Beyond co-existence, SB+ processes are reusable from RedBack, extending the use of valuable business rules.

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Development and Deployment Flexibility
With SB+, developers choose the environments in which their software will be developed and deployed. Using the same source code, applications can be deployed in multiple system configurations, ranging from single-user notebooks, to networked PCs, to enterprise wide client/server configurations.

SB+ applications may be developed for character terminals and Windows PCs. The character and Graphical User Interfaces offer the same level of consistency and navigational control in development and runtime environments alike, and maintain compliance with industry-accepted user interface standards.

SB+ has long enjoyed success as a Rapid Application Development tool for host environments. Thousands of commercial applications have been developed worldwide using the host-based 4GL. Now, the latest technology innovations are available with SB+: automatic "GUItization," client/server development capabilities, object-oriented programming tools, and more.

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Tools For Rapid Application Development
SB+ reflects more than a decade of investment in research and development that has resulted in a comprehensive suite of tools for application development and deployment. Its robust 4GL environment integrates critical functions such as screen design, logical file definition, global dictionary management, process definition, menu design, report generation and system documentation.

SB+ allows developers to rapidly prototype screens and menus by executing the code interpretively during the design phase of the project, and then compiling the code for maximum performance prior to deployment.

Building Blocks for an Object-Oriented Approach to Effective Software Development

Processes are fundamental to creating and running SB+ applications. They can be called from menus, buttons, function keys, screens, reports, and within expressions as well as from any input prompt. SB+ itself is built from processes. Object-oriented in nature, processes help to manage the growing complexity of applications by encouraging the creation of software that is reusable, extensible and maintainable.

Processes can range from the simple assignment of a variable, to a screen or report, to a UNIX, NT or Windows process, to a complex set of data entry screens. "Selection" processes illustrate the power of SB+. They may be used within applications to select records from a file and display the fields of those records in a window for further manual selection by the end user.

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Database Design Simplified
The SB+ logical file model reflects the organization and relationships of entities as they exist in the real world and is well suited to complex applications commonly developed in SB+. Logical files link several "physical" files so developers can manipulate them as one. SB+ readily handles multi-file processing and updates, allowing developers to enter, update and delete data from several files in one input screen, or view data from multiple files on an output screen or report. These reports can now be in HTML format and are fully customizable.
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