PowerBuilder 2021 introduces a new project type: PowerServer. With the PowerServer project type, PowerBuilder applications can be deployed as installable cloud applications which have the following features:
-
The installable cloud app can support almost all of the features of PowerBuilder.
The installable cloud app is the cloud version of a PowerBuilder application; it is installed on the client, and can be launched directly from the desktop. But in contrast to browser-based apps, installable cloud apps are deployed with native PowerBuilder code (rather than converted to JavaScript) and run on the client's PowerBuilder virtual machine (PBVM). Minimum code changes are required for the app deployment. The PBVM is exactly the same one used by the PowerBuilder classic client/server apps.
-
The installable cloud app runs in n-tier architecture.
The installable cloud app makes HTTP or HTTPS calls to PowerServer and then PowerServer connects to the database and executes SQL queries. PowerServer can be installed on any Web server running Windows or Linux or docker or cloud server. PowerServer contains an API server which uses standard REST APIs with REST security to handle the HTTP/HTTPS requests from the client. PowerServer also contains a data server which uses .NET DataStore to handle the data-related requests. Currently .NET DataStore supports ASE, SQL Server, Oracle, SQL Anywhere, PostgreSQL, MySQL, HANA, and SQLite.
-
The installable cloud app is installed over the Internet and automatically and incrementally updated.
To install an installable cloud app on the client machine, you access the application URL in a Web browser. You only need to use the Web browser to obtain the installable cloud app for the first time. After that, you can directly run the app from the desktop. And if any updates are available, the app will be automatically and incrementally updated.
-
The installable cloud deployment can be a full replacement for the traditional PowerServer Web solution.
The installable cloud app can be installed on a Windows client, but not on any mobile client such as iOS or Android. The installable cloud deployment option can be used as a replacement for the traditional PowerServer Web solution. But for the PowerServer Mobile solution, the user will need to manually implement the client UI logic.
Note
You must have a PowerBuilder CloudPro license in order to use the PowerServer deployment features in the PowerBuilder IDE; and you must run PowerBuilder IDE as administrator in order to use the PowerServer deployment features.
