PowerBuilder 11: Windows Forms and .NET
Interoperability
Jim O‟Neil
Principal Systems Consultant
Sybase, Inc.
joneil@sybase.com
PowerBuilder 11
.NET Assemblies Overview .NET Windows Forms
(presented Nov. 20, 2007) And Interoperability
(presented Nov. 13, 2007)
Jim O‟Neil Dec. 4, 2007
Jim O‟Neil
Systems Consultant
Systems Consultant
Jim O‟Neil
Systems Consultant
Web Service
DataWindow PowerBuilder 11
.NET Web Forms
.NET Deployment
Feb. 5, 2008 Web Casts Dec. 11, 2007
David Avera David Fish
Staff Software Engineer Engineering Evangelist
.NET Web Services .NET Smart Client
Jan. 29, 2008 Jan. 15, 2008
David Fish John Strano
Engineering Evangelist Technology Evangelist
Agenda
• PowerBuilder roadmap
• Windows Forms overview
• Deploying Windows Forms applications
• Distributing Windows Forms applications
• .NET interoperability
PowerBuilder Roadmap
• Version 11 released in June 2007
• 11.1 Maintenance Release in November 2007
• Delivers on third-phase of PowerBuilder‟s .NET initiative
2008 2008 2009
PowerBuilder 11.2 PowerBuilder 11.5 PowerBuilder 12
• AJAX support for Web • Core .NET • .NET in IDE
Forms Applications enhancements • WPF/WCF support at
• EAServer .NET Client • Native DataWindow design and run-time
Support updates • Fully managed code
• Miscellaneous fixes • Updated database at deployment
support • Complete .NET
• Miscellaneous fixes interoperability
Multiple Power
Language Application
Platform And
Independence Connectivity
Support Performance
Windows Forms Overview
10
Windows Forms Definition (Microsoft)
• What is a Windows Forms application?
“Windows Forms is for creating Microsoft Windows applications on the .NET
Framework. This framework provides a modern, object-oriented, extensible
set of classes that enable you to develop rich Windows-based applications.
With Windows Forms, you are able to create a rich client application that
can access a wide variety of data sources and provide data-display and
data-editing facilities using Windows Forms controls.”
Windows Forms Application
Win32 Application System.Windows.Forms System.ComponentModel
GDI32.DLL System.Windows.
KERNEL32.DLL USER32.DLL
GDIPLUS.DLL
System.Drawing
Forms.VisualStyles
MSCOREE.DLL (CLR)
KERNEL32.DLL USER32.DLL GDIPLUS.DLL
Windows Forms Definition (English)
• What is a Windows Forms application?
Windows Forms applications are an evolution of the Win32-based
application development you know and love
• and, why should you care
– Win32 will go away, eventually
– For PowerBuilder users, Windows Forms is a prerequisite for
• Smart Client capabilities
• .NET interoperability
Deploying Windows Forms Applications
10
Developing Windows Forms Applications
• Obvious relationship to traditional PowerBuilder applications
generally means a smooth transition
– Same UI paradigms
– Same event model
• New Windows Forms
wizard quickly creates
requisite project and target
– New application
– Existing application leveraging
same code base
Windows Forms Project Object
11.1
PowerBuilder .NET Deployment
deploy CSC
PowerScript C# .NET EXE or
Source translation Assembly
save/build PB2CS
Unsupported PowerBuilder System Library
Syntax errors For .NET
features
(managed code)
DataWindow Engine
PBDs Database Interfaces
(DataWindow objects, (unmanaged code)
Pipelines, Queries)
Windows Forms Deployment
• Executable files and resources written to “Output path”
• Intermediate files written to .pbt_build directory
source code directory
.exe directory (Output path)
files supporting incremental rebuild
Unsupported Features
• “Native” PowerBuilder constructs unsupported in Windows
Forms applications
– PBNI extensions (excluding Web Services)
– Shared objects
– OLE automation server
– Tracing and profiling
– Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)
– Garbage collection functions
– EAServer client support (coming in 11.2 with EAServer 6.1)
• Use of .NET visual classes
Partially Supported Features
• “Native” PowerBuilder constructs partially supported in
Windows Forms applications
– Rich Text and OLE DataWindow styles
– In-process OLE controls (ActiveX)
• Limited event support
• Requires wrapper class generated using .NET utility
– Non TrueType fonts replaced with TrueType fonts
• Font-substitution display impact
• Unexpected cursor display (e.g., invisible in EditMask control)
– ALL visual controls are supported to varying degrees with exception of
• Other event
• IMEMode property (Japanese version only!)
Language Construct Caveats
• Partially supported syntax
– GOTO statement – disallowed when target label is out of „scope‟
– Invoking an indirect ancestor event – results in unexpected behavior
w_1
IF y = 7 THEN GOTO a
IF x = 10 THEN
y = 5 w_2
a: z = 2
ELSE w_3
y = 8 Win32 .NET
z = 3
END IF w_1::EVENT foo()
Language Construct Caveats
• Questionable practices allowed in “native” PowerBuilder
applications but disallowed in .NET deployments
– this keyword in global functions
– RETURN statement in FINALLY clause
– Overloading event signatures
– Overriding function access scope
– Object casting outside of object hierarchy
Language Construct Caveats (concluded)
• External function calls
– Generic STRUCTURE argument type unsupported
– Requirement to pass structure arguments by reference when argument
is a const pointer
– Requirement to re-initialize reference string arguments for each
invocation
Distributing Windows Forms Applications
10
Distributing Windows Forms Applications
• Required files
• Runtime packager
• Smart Client
Required Files
• .NET Framework 2.0
• Microsoft Runtime Files
• PowerBuilder System Library for .NET
• PowerBuilder Runtime Dynamic Link Libraries
• Application files
Required Files
• .NET Framework 2.0
– Redistributable package (dotnetfx.exe)
– SDK not required
– .NET Framework 3.0 extended 2.0 with additional features so fulfills the
requirement
Required Files
• Microsoft Runtime Files
– msvcr71.dll
– msvcp71.dll
– atl71.dll
Required Files
• PowerBuilder System Library for .NET
– Sybase.PowerBuilder assemblies
– Strongly-named so installable to Global Assembly Cache (GAC)
All Windows Forms applications
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Common.dll Applications using graphs
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Core.dll Sybase.PowerBuilder.Graph.Win.dll
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Interop.dll Sybase.PowerBuilder.Graph.Core.dll
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Win.dll Sybase.PowerBuilder.Graph.Interop.dll
Applications using DataWindows/DataStores …using EditMasks
Sybase.PowerBuilder.DataWindow.Win.dll
Sybase.PowerBuilder.DataWindow.Interop.dll
…using RichText
…using Web Services
Required Files
• PowerBuilder Runtime Dynamic Link Libraries
– Unmanaged code DLLs
• PBDWM110.DLL: DataWindow engine
• PBSHR110.DLL: Utility and memory management routines
• PBXERCES110.DLL: XML DataWindow import/export
• PBxxx110.DLL: Database drivers
• …
– Must reside on system path
Required Files
• Application files
– Application executable assembly (.exe)
– Configuration file (.config)
– Manifest file (.manifest)
– DataWindow libraries (.pbd)
– Resource files (images, INI files, etc.)
– Referenced external libraries (DLLs, OCXs, etc.)
Runtime Packager
Runtime Packager
• Creates MSI file containing system files relating to selected
functionality
• Registers self-registering DLLs
• Sets PATH variable
• Adds destination path to registry
• Adds PowerBuilder System assemblies to GAC
What‟s missing?
1. .NET Framework 2.0
2. Application specific files
Smart Client
“Publish” application to a central location
Access application from that location
Application installs and runs locally
Details from John Strano on Jan. 15th!!
.NET Interoperability
10
.NET Interoperability
• Support for invocation of .NET non-visual classes in
PowerBuilder .NET applications
– Windows Forms
– Web Forms
– .NET Assemblies
– Web Services
String netVersion
System.Reflection.Assembly assembly
assembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetCallingAssembly()
netVersion = assembly.ImageRuntimeVersion
Conditional Compilation Code Blocks
• New construct used to delineate .NET invocations
– #IF DEFINED PBDOTNET…
– #IF DEFINED PBWEBFORM…
– #IF DEFINED PBWINFORM…
– #IF DEFINED PBWEBSERVICE…
• Code blocks can contain…
– “Classic” PowerScript
– PowerScript extensions
• Code block contents examined only at deployment time
– No syntax checking when saving object
– Non-applicable code blocks not compiled into target image
PowerScript Enhancements Supporting Interoperability
• Parameterized constructor syntax
• Static method invocation
• Bitwise operators (viz., AND, OR, NOT, XOR)
• Non-integral array indexers
(e.g., population[“Argentina”] = 40500000)
• Capability to reference .NET constructs
– Namespaces
– Interfaces
– Enumerations
Current .NET Interoperability Restrictions
• Only non-visual classes are supported
• Generic and nullable types not supported
• Method calls allowed only on classes
• .NET types converted to equivalent PowerBuilder base types,
for example, following code will not compile in PowerBuilder
System.Int32 x
x = 5
MessageBox(“Value”, x.ToString())
• Array basis is 1 in PowerBuilder, 0 in .NET
• Limited IDE support
Adding .NET References
• Add references to .NET
assemblies via Target
Properties
.NET Assemblies in System Tree
Enumeration
Class and methods
.NET Interoperability Code Snippet
#if defined PBDOTNET then
String netVersion
System.Reflection.Assembly assembly
assembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetCallingAssembly()
netVersion = assembly.ImageRuntimeVersion
st_netVersion.text = ".NET Version: " + Right(netVersion, Len(netVersion) - 1)
#if defined PBWEBFORM then
String browserVersion
System.Web.HttpRequest request
request = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request
browserVersion = request.Browser.Browser + " " + &
String(request.Browser.MajorVersion) + "." + &
String(request.Browser.MinorVersion)
st_browserVersion.text = "Client Browser: " + browserVersion
#end if
#end if
Upcoming PowerBuilder Events
• ISUG “Leveraging PowerBuilder in the .NET World”
– Day-long, hands-on training event Final Week of Tour!
– Multiple cities in North America through December Dec. 11 – Orlando
– Visit http://www.isug.com/pb11tour for details Dec. 12 – DC (Dulles)
Dec. 13 – Atlanta
• Sybase web casts
– Web Forms (Dec 11th)
– Smart Client (Jan 15th)
– Web Services Deployment (Jan 29th)
– Web Services DataWindow (Feb 5th)
– Visit http://response.sybase.com/forms/pbregistration to sign-up!!
Q&A