At a Glance

During the first week, you take a tour of the various tools that comprise IntraBuilder. The first seven days provide a foundation of knowledge that you can use to build the shopping cart application during Week 2. IntraBuilder is a data-centric development tool, and these first seven chapters help you quickly create dynamic Web pages for client/server, ODBC, and native BDE tables.

The first two days get you up and running with the IntraBuilder Designer, the IntraBuilder Server, and the Borland Database Engine. The first day is an overview of the IntraBuilder Designer and a step-by-step guide for connecting to Access tables through ODBC and connecting to InterBase tables through SQL-Links. You can also use this chapter as a guide for connecting to other data sources such as Oracle, Sybase, and Microsoft SQL Server. Day 2 describes the sample files and solution applications that come with IntraBuilder. You learn how to configure a Web server to work with IntraBuilder and see how JavaScript forms can run within IntraBuilder Designer as well as through a browser.

The primary component of an IntraBuilder application is the JavaScript form. Days 3 and 4 show you how to create your own JavaScript forms. Day 3 includes an overview of the Form Expert, the Form Designer, and many of the components you can place on a JavaScript form. Advanced layout features and multiple page forms are topics for Day 4.

Day 5 introduces you to JavaScript reports. You learn about the Report Expert, the Report Designer, and how to create groups and summary fields within the Report Designer.

On Day 6, you learn about the Method Editor, Script Editor, and Script Pad. These tools assist you with the writing of JavaScript methods. This chapter also describes application partitioning through client-side and server-side JavaScript.

NOTE

This book does not contain a tutorial or reference for the JavaScript language. For more information about the JavaScript language, refer to Chapter 2 of the IntraBuilder Language Reference. Sams.net also publishes several JavaScript books including Teach Yourself JavaScript in a Week (ISBN: 1-57521-073-8) and JavaScript Unleashed (ISBN: 1-57521-118-1)

The first week wraps up with a discussion of tables, queries, and database administration. On Day 7, you learn the pros and cons of various data sources including the native BDE tables, ODBC, and SQL-Link connections. You also learn how to create new tables using the Table Expert and Table Designer.