Create 64-bit native applications in PowerBuilder.
Usage
There is no special target for 64-bit native applications. To build a 64-bit application, select the platform in the Project painter General tab. If you need to deliver both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of your application, you should use separate projects and separate folders for the deployed output.
There is no IDE for 64-bit development. Design time uses the same 32-bit interface and 64-bit features display at runtime when you deploy the application. When you click the running man button, the project runs as a 32-bit application.
32-bit remains the default for new and upgraded applications.
During the deploy process, PowerBuilder checks and reports unsupported features used in the application.
New Property for Environment Object
The new ProcessBitness property identifies whether the application is a 32-bit or 64-bit process.
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Datatype -- integer
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Values -- 32 stands for 32-bit, and 64 stands for 64-bit
See the section called “Environment object” in Objects and Controls for more about the Environment object. See the section called “GetEnvironment” in PowerScript Reference to read about the GetEnvironment function.
New Datatype
The longptr datatype is 4 bytes in the 32-bit platform and 8 bytes in the 64-bit platform. In the 32-bit platform, longptr is the same as long; you can continue using long wherever longptr is required in 32-bit applications. In 64-bit applications, however, using long to hold longptr variables will lead to data truncation from 8 bytes to 4 bytes, or memory corruption if you pass a long ref variable when a longptr ref is required. If you want to move to 64-bit, use longptr wherever required. It does no harm to 32-bit.
Since PowerBuilder does not have a datatype corresponding to the C++ pointer type, and there are no pointer operations in PowerBuilder, longptr is not a full-fledged PowerBuilder datatype. You can use it to hold/pass window handles, database handles, and other objects that are essentially memory addresses. Doing complex operations on longptr type might not work. If you want to represent/compute 8-byte long integers, use longlong.
System Requirements
The design time environment requires:
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Windows SDK for Windows 10 or later
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.NET Framework 4.0 or later
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64-bit Windows OS to test (development requires only 32-bit)
The runtime environment requires:
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64-bit Windows OS
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PowerBuilder 64-bit runtime files
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64-bit third-party libraries, such as database drivers and external DLLs
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Greater than 4 GB physical memory to avoid performance issues
Limitations
There are limitations to this feature:
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To consume Web services, you must use the PowerBuilder the section called “HTTPClient object” object.
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You can use OLE and ActiveX components in your applications, but you must use the 32-bit versions in the PowerBuilder Classic IDE. At runtime you must have the correct 64-bit ActveX components installed.
Unsupported Features
These features are not supported:
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COM+ runtime
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Machine code generation
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TabletPC
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PBNI SDK for developing 64-bit PowerBuilder extensions
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Status bar
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Grid table
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Clear(true) function
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Application server support
PowerBuilder Native Interface (PBNI)
You can only use 32-bit PowerBuilder extensions in the PowerBuilder Classic IDE. For runtime, package and distribute 64-bit extension libraries with your 64-bit applications. The file names of your 64-bit extension should match the 32-bit file names, since the application references it by file name.
OrcaScript
To build 64-bit native applications with OrcaScript, use the new X64 option to build executable commands. For example:
build executable <exeName> <iconName> <pbrName> <pbdflags> <machinecode> <newvstylecontrols> x64
