SB Gogia

We make customized electronic medical record formats for physicians. We've been using multi-select list boxes to enter various choices together as part of a single column in many DataWindows in our applications. They help enter some interrelated data faster without creating an independent table and/or nested report. A review of the need, outcome, and sample code are provided with a plea that a DataWindow edit control for multi-select list boxes should be available in PowerBuilder itself. It would further enhance the wide variety of entry choices for developers. A multi-select list offers the luxury of multiple options in one object. However, the same is not available in DataWindows. Storing a multitude of options as a single column's data has always been a challenge. The previous method we used was creating a number that used exponential values for each option. T... (more)

Methods for Faster and Efficient Data Entry in DataWindows

Software that is not used is useless. Facing the challenge that doctors prefer to spend time with their patients rather than facing the monitor, we have fine-tuned methods in our DataWindow-based forms so that user entry is quick, painless, and a pleasure. These include the use of dropdown lists and DataWindows for efficient, correct and faster entries, in addition to accurately filling in text columns with limited keyboard entry. Visual guides and markers for data in relation to patient images are also provided. Keywords: PowerBuilder, DataWindow, List Select Introduction We ar... (more)

Converting from ASA to ASE

Most new users of PowerBuilder start with SQL Anywhere as the back-end database engine (formerly Adaptive Server Anywhere or ASA, and before that Watcom). With growth, a need to shift and adapt to a wider database platform is thrust on developers by customers. A recent exercise in this regard, besides re-emphasizing our past amateurishness, has also helped us make a clean, lean application. This article, besides providing insights on how to avoid basic mistakes, also has a few tips for our experienced colleagues on how to do some spring cleaning of established applications. Back... (more)

PowerBuilder: The Best Platform to Service Health Care’s Needs

We make EMR (Electronic Medical Record) Software. Being users ourselves, our development approach has been entirely from the users' perspective. The ease and simplicity of the PowerBuilder development environment deserves due credit for the relative success of our efforts. Our main developer has had no formal training in software, and still treats the development efforts as a hobby. As we are laypeople, for the most part, some ideas that we have incorporated may be considered by the more experienced as out-of-the-box thinking. Medical Records traditionally have been textual and ... (more)