Requirements for Upgrading PowerBuilder Applications

The application code must be 100% PowerBuilder 2017 R3 code.

Non-PowerBuilder 2017 R3 code, including code that is defined as obsolete in PowerBuilder 2017 R3 help, must be replaced/upgraded before you can begin to use Appeon PowerServer. In addition, supported PowerBuilder 2017 R3 code is demonstrated in the PowerBuilder Help. Undocumented syntax is unsupported.

All objects that are referenced by PBLs need to be available - PBLs cannot point to objects that do not exist. If a PBL does reference an unavailable object, the Appeon Application Deployment process will crash.

Upgrading DataWindow objects to PowerBuilder 2017 R3

  • In PowerBuilder 9 and later versions, the DataWindow column name cannot be null (in PowerBuilder 8 or earlier, this was allowed). Ensure that the column names of DataWindows are not null.

  • In PowerBuilder 8 or earlier, the edit style of a DataWindow could be null. The user must make sure that after upgrading to PowerBuilder 9 or later versions, the edit styles of the DataWindows are not null.

  • In PowerBuilder 8 or earlier, the user could use the GetChild function to provide a reference to a child DataWindow in the DataWindow itself. This is unsupported in PowerBuilder 9 or later versions.

  • If an application is updated to PowerBuilder 9 or later versions, some DataWindow columns may have duplicate names. Duplicate names for columns in a DataWindow are unsupported.

  • If a DataWindow is not correctly upgraded to a PowerBuilder 2017 R3 format, the problematic DataWindow(s) will be reported with the following information: PBL > DATAWINDOW NAME.

Upgrading Menu objects to PowerBuilder 2017 R3

  • With menu inheritance, the source code in earlier versions of PowerBuilder is different from the source code in PowerBuilder 9 or later. The user must open the menu objects with inheritance in PowerBuilder 9 or later and upgrade the objects to PowerBuilder 9 or later objects.

Upgrading color specification to PowerBuilder 2017 R3

  • A color value in an earlier PowerBuilder version may map to a different color of the same value in PowerBuilder 9 or later. If you prefer the color of the earlier version, be sure to verify that the correct colors are selected when upgrading the application to a PowerBuilder 9 or later application.