Re: Forms 4.5 vs Powerbuilder

In article <3qnjjp$ckt_at_hazel.Read.TASC.COM>, Bob Ward <rjward_at_tasc.com> says:
>
>We are a ORACLE SQL*Forms IS shop and are evaluating Powerbuilder as an
>alternative to building client-server apps. Has anyone out there gone
>through this evaluation process? Would anyone like to comment on
>your company's selection of Powerbuilder over SQL*Forms.
>

Background:

I'm working on a project developing a distributed system with over ~10Gb data using Oracle 7.1.4, Oracle Forms 4.5. I'm also taking a client-server class which is giving me some Powerbuilder exposure.

Experience:

I think Forms 4.5 is actually pretty good for developing Oracle apps. It integrates pretty well with Oracle. I don't have any SQL*Forms experience, but observing other people who do, it seems that it would be easier for your people to cut over to Forms 4.5 than to pick up Powerbuilder. Powerbuilder seems to require a substantial amount of code to do things like connect to the database, which Forms handles pretty easily. The version of Powerbuilder I'm using is the latest, but it seems somewhat buggy, OTOH, Forms still has some things to work out.

If you're currently an Oracle shop and want to continue to use Oracle servers exclusively, I would say Forms is a good choice. If you need to access non-Oracle databases, you may want to go to Powerbuilder.

Matthew M. Lih
matt.lih_at_trw.com Received on Tue Jun 06 1995 - 00:00:00 CEST