1. PowerBuilder 11: Windows Forms and .NET Interoperability
Jim O’Neil
Principal Systems Consultant
Sybase, Inc.

2. PowerBuilder 11 Overview Web Service DataWindow
(presented Nov. 20, 2007)
Jim O’Neil
Systems Consultant
.NET Assemblies
(presented Nov. 13, 2007)
Jim O’Neil Systems Consultant
.NET Windows Forms
And Interoperability
Dec. 4, 2007
Jim O’Neil
Systems Consultant
Web Service DataWindow
Feb. 5, 2008
David Avera
Staff Software Engineer
PowerBuilder 11
.NET Deployment
Web Casts
.NET Web Forms
Dec. 11, 2007
David Fish
Engineering Evangelist
.NET Web Services
Jan. 29, 2008
David Fish
Engineering Evangelist
.NET Smart Client
Jan. 15, 2008
John Strano
Technology Evangelist

3. Agenda PowerBuilder roadmap Windows Forms overview
Deploying Windows Forms applications
Distributing Windows Forms applications
.NET interoperability

4. PowerBuilder Roadmap Version 11 released in June 2007
11.1 Maintenance Release in November 2007
Delivers on third-phase of PowerBuilder’s .NET initiative
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

5. 2008 PowerBuilder 11.2 2008 PowerBuilder 11.5 2009 PowerBuilder 12
AJAX support for Web Forms Applications
EAServer .NET Client Support
Miscellaneous fixes
2008
PowerBuilder 11.5
Core .NET enhancements
Native DataWindow updates
Updated database support
Miscellaneous fixes
2009
PowerBuilder 12
.NET in IDE
WPF/WCF support at design and run-time
Fully managed code at deployment
Complete .NET interoperability
Language
Independence
Application
Connectivity
Multiple
Platform
Support
Power
And
Performance
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

6. Windows Forms Overview10
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

7. 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.Drawing
System.Windows. Forms.VisualStyles
System.ComponentModel
KERNEL32.DLL
USER32.DLL
GDI32.DLL GDIPLUS.DLL
MSCOREE.DLL (CLR)
KERNEL32.DLL
USER32.DLL
GDIPLUS.DLL

8. 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

9. Deploying Windows Forms Applications10
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

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

11. Windows Forms Project Object
11.1

12. Windows Forms Project Object
General tab: build type, output directory
Resource files: images, INI files, etc.
Library Files
PBL files containing DataWindows, Pipelines, Queries
External library files (DLLs, OCXs) referenced by application
Version: file, program, and .NET assembly version
Post-build: post deployment shell commands
Security: embed manifest specifying execution level
Run: run/debug application command line and arguments

13. PowerBuilder .NET Deployment
PowerScript
Source C#
translation
.NET EXE or
Assembly
CSC
deploy
PBDs (DataWindow objects, Pipelines, Queries)
Syntax errors
save/build
Unsupported
features
PB2CS
PowerBuilder System Library
For .NET
(managed code)
DataWindow Engine
Database Interfaces
(unmanaged code)
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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!)

17. 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
w_2
w_3
IF y = 7 THEN GOTO a
IF x = 10 THEN
y = 5
a: z = 2
ELSE
y = 8
z = 3
END IF
w_1::EVENT foo()
Win32
.NET

18. 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

19. 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

20. Distributing Windows Forms Applications10
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

21. Distributing Windows Forms Applications
Required files
Runtime packager
Smart Client

22. Required Files .NET Framework 2.0 Microsoft Runtime Files
PowerBuilder System Library for .NET
PowerBuilder Runtime Dynamic Link Libraries
Application files

23. 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

24. Required Files Microsoft Runtime Files msvcr71.dll msvcp71.dll
atl71.dll

25. Applications using graphs Applications using DataWindows/DataStores
Required Files
PowerBuilder System Library for .NET
Sybase.PowerBuilder assemblies
Strongly-named so installable to Global Assembly Cache (GAC)
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Common.dll
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Core.dll
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Interop.dll
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Win.dll
All Windows Forms applications
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Graph.Win.dll
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Graph.Core.dll
Sybase.PowerBuilder.Graph.Interop.dll
Applications using graphs
Sybase.PowerBuilder.DataWindow.Win.dll
Sybase.PowerBuilder.DataWindow.Interop.dll
Applications using DataWindows/DataStores
…using EditMasks
…using RichText
…using Web Services

26. 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

27. 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.)

28. Runtime Packager

29. 2. Application specific files
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

30. “Publish” application to a central location
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!!

31. .NET Interoperability 10
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

32. .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

33. 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

34. 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”] = )
Capability to reference .NET constructs
Namespaces
Interfaces
Enumerations
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

35. 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
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

36. Adding .NET References
Add references to .NET assemblies via Target Properties
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

37. .NET Assemblies in System Tree
Enumeration
Class and methods

38. .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
Sybase Analyst Event August 2003

39. Upcoming PowerBuilder Events
ISUG “Leveraging PowerBuilder in the .NET World”
Day-long, hands-on training event
Multiple cities in North America through December
Visit for details
Sybase web casts
Web Forms (Dec 11th)
Smart Client (Jan 15th)
Web Services Deployment (Jan 29th)
Web Services DataWindow (Feb 5th)
Visit to sign-up!!
Final Week of Tour!
Dec. 11 – Orlando
Dec. 12 – DC (Dulles)
Dec. 13 – Atlanta

40. Q&A