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I am looking for suggestions on the best way to rewrite something in PowerBuilder so that it can be web-compatible. I have checked out the other posts on this topic, but most of them were over 3 years ago, so I was hoping for some updated answers. I want to rewrite this because we are merging two databases, and want to put the merged version online, and one of them is in PowerBuilder. Is PowerBuilder 12.5 an option? Much appreciated!

Jeeda
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  • ?!?PowerBuilder?!? How Clinton Administration ;) I certainly wouldn't use Powerbuilder for any *new* projects, and I'm not sure how practical it is to support legacy Powerbuilder projects. I honestly think you'd have better luck with Borland Pascal, or DBase IV. IMHO... But look here, and see if there's anything that suits your needs ... and your budget: http://www.sybase.com/products/modelingdevelopment/powerbuilder – paulsm4 Jun 19 '12 at 22:49
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    @paulsm4: Unlike Borland's Pascal and DBase IV, PowerBuilder is still maintained and updated by its editor. And in some companies you can still count hundreds of PB programmers... – Seki Jun 20 '12 at 07:54
  • @Jeeda: Not sure to understand correctly. You talk about merging databases and "one of them is in Powerbuilder" ? PB is a programming language, vb-like in some way with direct embedded SQL statements support inside the PBscript statements. It is not a database. – Seki Jun 20 '12 at 07:57
  • Yes, sorry, that is what I mean. One of them is written in PowerBuilder. Essentially I am trying to figure out the best way to change this database to make it web compatible... does that make more sense? – Jeeda Jun 20 '12 at 15:00
  • We tried this option once with PB 11 and 11.5. PB need you to create a web target and the same Windows app becomes a web app and can be deployed to IIS directly from within PB. Sounds great! But the interface remains much like a Windows app as it was essentially a Windows app. The Windows became tabs in a web page and everything used AJAX to call back and run PB code in the backend to respond to the front end. So, an app with itemchanged event coded was a horrible experience. PB 12.5 is said to be better. In our case, the client wanted a better interface and we had to code it all in ASP.NET! – somnath Jun 20 '12 at 16:01
  • PowerBuilder is making a comeback. Appeon deserves 95% of the credit they are doing an AMAZING job like the old PowerCerv days. Asia, S. America are hot on PB my theory- the rest of world doesn't trust that mainstream Windows app development IDE- prefers the more proprietary PB internals. Why else would it be coming back strong over seas, and always been strong in government and military. Probably orders of magnitude saver than a pure .NET application as hackers less likely to spend time learning PBVM. My $0.02 – Rich Bianco May 10 '18 at 17:45

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I understand that you have an existing Powerbuilder application that you want to migrate to the web. There is a third party product to do that : Appeon for PowerBuilder (never tested myself).

jva
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    Thanks! This really helps. And yes, I am trying to change an existing PowerBuilder app so that it is web-compatible. I will look into this. – Jeeda Jun 20 '12 at 15:03
  • Anyone that liked PowerBuilder - and possibly misses it- owe it to themselves to get a trial version of Appeon PowerBuilder 2017 R2 as it is awesome. The website infrastructure Appeon has put in place for support/developers shows they know who helps sell the product and they treat developers like assets vs liabilities as SAP & Sybase did.Tell them I sent you- I've been promising to do evangelizing. – Rich Bianco May 10 '18 at 17:48