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Teach Yourself IntraBuilder in 21 days new buy it
Author: Paul Mahar and Ken Henderson
Publication Date: Jun-96
ISBN: 1-57521-224-2


Introduction

Week 1: At a Glance

Day 1: IntraBuilder and Data Connections

Day 2: The Sample and Pre-Built Solution Applications Day 3: Forms, Part 1 Day 4: Forms, Part 2 Day 5: Reports Day 6: Scripts, Events, and Methods Day 7: Tables, Queries, and Database Administration Week 1: In Review

Week 2: At a Glance

Day 8: Designing the Shopping Cart Application

Day 9: Creating a Common Look and Feel Day 10: Querying for the Quickest Searches Day 11: Delivering the Details Day 12: Creating a Dynamic Grid for the Cart Form Day 13: Searching by Keywords Day 14: Checking Out Week 2: In Review

Week 3: At a Glance

Day 15: Customizing the IntraBuilder IDE

Day 16: Debugging and Error Handling Day 17: Reusable JavaScript Components Day 18: Using Java Applets and ActiveX Controls Day 19: External Server Objects and Functions Day 20: Mastering Object-Oriented Programming Day 21: Building Client/Server Applications Week 3: In Review

Appendix A: Answers to Quiz Questions

Appendix B: The Undocumented IntraBuilder Credits

Copyright © 1997 by Sams.net Publishing

FIRST EDITION

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. For information, address Sams.net Publishing, 201 W. 103rd St., Indianapolis, IN 46290.

International Standard Book Number: 1-57521-224-2
 

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Publisher and President Richard K. Swadley  Publishing Manager Greg Wiegand 
Director of Editorial Services Cindy Morrow  Managing Editor Mary Inderstrodt 
Director of Marketing Kelli S. Spencer  Assistant Marketing Managers Kristina Perry, Rachel Wolfe 
Acquisitions Editor Christopher Denny  Development Editor Jeffrey J. Koch 
Software Development Specialist Brad Myers Production Editors  Ryan Rader, Katherine Stuart Ewing
Copy Editor Marla Reece  Indexer Cheryl Dietsch 
Technical Reviewers Corinne Cottle, Chris Andersen, David Neff  Editorial Coordinator Katie Wise 
Technical Edit Coordinator Deborah Frisby  Editorial Assistants Carol Ackerman, Andi Richter, Rhonda Tinch-Mize 
Cover Designer Tim Amrhein  Book Designer Gary Adair 
Copy Writer Peter Fuller  Production Team Supervisors Brad Chinn, Charlotte Clapp 
Production Elizabeth Deeter, Chris Livengood, Deirdre Smith, Ian A. Smith 

Acknowledgments

To my wife, Toni, for her recommendations and dedication as my "alpha" reader. Thank you once again, for spending weekends going over chapters and examples instead of enjoying the California sun, sand, and sea. -PDM

Special thanks to Paul, Ken, Alan, and Chris for all their patience and help. I couldn't have done this without the Spirit of Christ in my heart, although the encouragement of my family and that great gang in California sure didn't hurt. -TEG

We would like to extend our thanks to all who made this possible and recognize members of the IntraBuilder development team. Randy Solton is the product architect who took us gently into the land of webs and honey. The core development team is Bruce Bundy, Bill Joy, Charles Overbeck, David Miyachi, Dondi Gaskill, Helen Bershadskaya, Hin Boen, Liz Stevenson, Peter Johnson, and Ray Kiuchi. Michael Gardner, Robert Pirani, Paul Johnson, Curt Patrick, Pete Lindberg, Ross Dembecki, Leanne Goulding, and Tony de la Lama provided the many teams an environment for creative experimentation within a framework of ever-present schedules.

Lastly, a big thanks to Chris Denny, Jeff Koch, Ryan Rader, Marla Reece, Kathy Ewing, and all at Sams.net who helped turn a mass of words and images into a book.

About the Authors

Lead Author

Paul Mahar is a developer on the IntraBuilder R&D team. Paul lives in Scotts Valley with his wife, Toni, whose editing helps bring clarity and conciseness to his writings. Paul is also the author of Visual dBASE 5.5 Unleashed, published by Sams. He has been a speaker at several Borland International Conferences and has a bachelor's degree from DeVry Institute of Technology. For Teach Yourself IntraBuilder in 21 Days, Paul wrote Chapters 8 through 14, as well as Chapters 18 and 21. If you have questions about Teach Yourself IntraBuilder in 21 Days or suggestions for future revisions, you can contact Paul at pmahar@corp.borland.com or on CompuServe at 73422,2200. For more information about this book or Paul, visit his Web site at 
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mahar/

Contributing Authors

Ken Henderson is a database developer and DBA with more than 10 years of experience. He is the author of several commercial software packages, including programmer productivity aids and software libraries. He is also a frequent speaker at industry trade shows. Currently, he is a consultant specializing in database administration and client/server architecture. Ken can be reached at 74763.2305@compuserve.com.

Ted Graham, after spending five years at Borland, is now beginning the life of an independent contractor. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with his beautiful wife, Genie, and a slightly overweight tabby cat named Chester. As a member of the IntraBuilder R&D team, Ted developed many of the prebuilt business solutions and samples that ship with IntraBuilder. Ted is the author of Chapters 16, 17, and 19 of Teach Yourself IntraBuilder in 21 Days. He is an active participant in the IntraBuilder online discussion forum (www.borland.com/intrabuilder), and he can also be reached at IBuilder@aol.com.

A. A. Katz (Alan) is CEO of Ksoft, Inc., a custom software developer and publisher in Johnson City, NY. Alan left a 16-year career in architecture in 1983 to indulge his passion for the emerging personal computer. He spent more than a decade at ApTECH, Inc., where he authored the nationally distributed Abraxas accounting/management software. He's a proud member of Borland's TeamB; the editor of the Visual dBASE Web Magazine (http://www.wji.com/vdb/homepage.html); and the author of more than a dozen magazine articles for dBASE Advisor, DataBased Advisor, Internet and Java Advisor, and Computer Reseller News. Alan wrote Chapter 20 of Teach Yourself IntraBuilder in 21 Days. You can contact Alan at aakatz@worldnet.att.net.

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Do you have access to CompuServe or the World Wide Web? Then check out our CompuServe forum by typing GO SAMS at any prompt. If you prefer the World Wide Web, check out our site at http://www.mcp.com.

NOTE
If you have a technical question about this book, call the technical support line at 317-581-3833.
As the publishing manager of the group that created this book, I welcome your comments. You can fax, e-mail, or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn't like about this book-as well as what we can do to make our books stronger. Here's the information:
Fax: 317-581-4669
E-mail: programming_mgr@sams.samspublishing.com 
Mail: Greg Wiegand
Sams.net Publishing
201 W. 103rd Street
Indianapolis, IN 46290 

Introduction

IntraBuilder offers a vast array of classes, tools, and designers to help create dynamic Web pages. This book will help you learn how to create Web applications using IntraBuilder's visual designers and the JavaScript language. You do not need to know or learn any CGI, NSAPI, ISAPI, or even HTML to create Web applications with IntraBuilder.

This book assumes some basic knowledge of programming, Windows, and browsers. If you have ever worked with a rapid application development environment such as Visual Basic, Delphi, or Visual dBASE, you will feel right at home when using the IntraBuilder designers. If you know what a variable and a loop are, you know enough to start working with JavaScript.

Practice and Experiment

The best way to learn an application development environment is to create applications. During the course of this book, you will be instructed to create forms, reports, and scripts that demonstrate various aspects of IntraBuilder. You are encouraged to experiment with the examples and expand on them where appropriate.

Week by Week Coverage

The book is divided into three weeks, of seven chapters (or days) each. The first week describes the many tools and data connectivity features found in IntraBuilder. If you are already comfortable with RAD environments and other products that use BDE (Borland Database Engine), feel free to scan the first seven chapters with a focus on unfamiliar topics.

When you have a good feel for the tools at your disposal, you can put them into action during the second week. Days 8 through 14 guide you through the creation of a shopping cart application, from the ground up. Although you can use the files on the CD-ROM to start developing the application at any point, these chapters make more sense when read in order.

The third week covers advanced topics such as ActiveX controls and the dynamic object model. As with Week 1, you can read these chapters in any order. The topics covered in the third week assume you are familiar enough with IntraBuilder to build a simple application that uses dBASE or Paradox tables.

At the beginning of each week, you find a Week at a Glance section that describes the topics for the week. Similarly, each week ends with a summary called Week in Review. Refer to those sections for more information on the contents of each chapter.

Although the chapters are called Days and sets of seven chapters are called Weeks, do not feel compelled to work through exactly one chapter each day. Some chapters will go faster than others. If you have worked with other RAD environments, you will likely find yourself working through the first week in less than a week. Conversely, if you step through every exercise in the second week to build the shopping cart application and perform the related benchmarks, do not be surprised if you get a day or two behind. The last week is the most likely to take an actual calendar week.

Q&As and Workshops

To get the most from Teach Yourself IntraBuilder in 21 Days, be sure to try out the Q&A and Workshop sections. These sections appear at the end of each chapter. The Q&A includes answers to common questions that you might have after reading the chapter. The Workshops consist of a quiz and some exercises. Appendix A lists the answers for all quiz questions. The exercises provide ideas for further experimentation with subjects covered in the chapter.

Conventions Used in This Book

NOTE
A Note box presents interesting pieces of information related to the surrounding discussion.
 
TIP
A Tip box offers advice or teaches an easier way to do something.
 
A Warning box advises you about potential problems and helps you steer clear of rough surf.
A New Term box introduces and defines words and phrases that might be unfamiliar.

An Analysis icon identifies the explanation of a JavaScript source code listing.

The Companion CD-ROM

This book comes with a CD-ROM containing all the source code for the examples, a complete IntraBuilder shopping cart application, and a 60-day trial version of IntraBuilder Client/Server. There is a folder of source files for each day's chapter. Some folders such as the Tables folder contain files that you will use over several days. The book contains instructions on how to create most of the example files. You can use the example files to verify your work. The files also allow you to jump to any section of the book and start without creating supporting files.
TIP
I recommend using the example tables provided. The example tables are already populated with data that shows the linking and image-handling capabilities of IntraBuilder
The 60-day IntraBuilder 1.01 Client/Server Trial works as an upgrade from 1.0 and as a trial version. If the setup program locates version 1.0, it installs an upgrade with no date restrictions. The upgrade works only for the certified version of 1.0. If you installed a beta test version of IntraBuilder, you should remove it before attempting to install the Client/Server Trial.

The Client/Server edition allows you to work with SQL-Links to connect to Oracle, Sybase, DB2, Informix, InterBase, and Microsoft SQL Server. The trial CD does not contain the SQL-Link drivers. You can use the IntraBuilder trial with 32-bit SQL-Link drivers that ship with the Client/Server versions of Delphi, C++ Builder, JBuilder, or Visual dBASE 6. The SQL-Link drivers also come with the non-trial version of IntraBuilder Client/Server. 

  
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