PowerServer Web APIs is a set of RESTful APIs contained in the ASP.NET Core application compiled from the PowerServer C# solution. The PowerServer Web APIs (or simply Web APIs, or PowerServer) contains standard REST/JSON APIs, runtime services, and database providers. It works as the back-end which provides data access and services for the installable cloud application.
PowerServer Web APIs is generated by PowerServer, to allow the PowerBuilder client apps to interact with the PowerServer backend. These APIs expose PowerBuilder DataWindows and ESQLs over the web using RESTful services, return raw data representing DataWindow result set and buffer information, in JSON format, and allow the PowerBuilder client application to process and display.
Note
PowerServer Web APIs is primarily generated for PowerBuilder client apps only but can also be made accessible to the other applications, such as Java web apps. The recommended approach for external use is to open the PowerServer C# solution in SnapDevelop, create services, controllers and then standard API interfaces using a non-PowerBuilder client template.
The ASP.NET Core application which contains the PowerServer Web APIs must work against a web server.
If you select to deploy to the local Kestrel server from the PowerBuilder IDE, the compiled files for Web APIs will be generated and stored under the "bin" folder of the ServerAPIs project in the solution (for example, %username%\source\repos\salesdemo_cloud\ServerAPIs\bin\Release\net8.0), and the static files (including the client app, launcher, and runtime) will be generated under the wwwroot folder under the ServerAPIs project (for example, %username%\source\repos\salesdemo_cloud\ServerAPIs\wwwroot).
The compiled files include the final executable (ServerAPIs.exe) and supporting files/folders (*.dll, *.json, *.pdb etc.). For how to run PowerServer Web APIs with Kestrel, refer to Kestrel.
If you select to deploy to IIS from the PowerBuilder IDE, the compiled files for Web APIs will be deployed to the specified IIS web site (for example, C:\inetpub\wwwroot\salesdemo_cloud_API).
The compiled files include the final executable (ServerAPIs.exe), supporting files/folders (*.dll, *.json, *.pdb etc.), and web.config (for IIS deployment). For how to run PowerServer Web APIs on IIS, refer to IIS (in-process hosting).
If you select to deploy to a folder from the PowerBuilder IDE, the compiled files for Web APIs will be generated in a folder (you can move this folder to the hosting environment such as IIS, Docker, Kubernetes etc.). You can also open the PowerServer C# solution in SnapDevelop and then publish the ServerAPIs project to Docker or Kubernetes.
The compiled files include the final executable (ServerAPIs.exe), supporting files/folders (*.dll, *.json, *.pdb etc.), and web.config (for IIS deployment). For how to deploy PowerServer Web APIs to Docker, Kubernetes etc., refer to Server Setup.
