PowerBuilder-Components-Example

This application demonstrates the utilization of PowerBuilder 2025 R2's .NET Assembly integration features such as: object instantiation, function calling with automatic native-type conversion and callback invocation to implement features not available in PowerBuilder (e.g. FTP File Transfer, QR Code generation, and more).

Project Structure

This project is composed of two entities, the PowerBuilder Workspace and a C# Solution (GitHub URL: https://github.com/Appeon/PowerBuilder-Components-Example/). They are structured as follows:

.
├── C# Solution
│   ├── Appeon.Windows.PBInterop
│   ├── BarcodeGeneration
│   ├── CSharpFunctions
│   ├── ClassesDemo
│   ├── DdeTools
│   ├── DdeTools.Common
│   ├── DdeTools.DdeClient
│   ├── DdeTools.DdeServer
│   ├── DdeTools.PowerBuilderAdapter
│   ├── DdeTools.PowerBuilderAdapter.Common
│   ├── DdeTools.PowerBuilderAdapter.DdeClient
│   ├── DdeTools.PowerBuilderAdapter.DdeServer
│   ├── FtpClientWrapper
│   ├── FunctionsDemo
│   ├── OpenAITools
│   ├── PbExtensions
│   ├── PbExtensions.Windows
│   ├── PowerBuilderEventInvoker.DotNet
│   ├── PowerBuilderEventInvoker.DotNetFramework
│   ├── ProcessTools
│   ├── QRCodeDecoder
│   ├── QRCoderWrapper
│   ├── QRDecoderWrapper
│   ├── ScreenTools
│   ├── ScreenToolsWrapper
│   ├── SmsMessaging.Common
│   ├── SmsMessaging.Twilio
│   ├── ScreenToolsWrapper
│   ├── SysInfoTools
│   └── XmlEditor
└── Example Components App
    └── Components App

Requirements

Running this project requires the following pieces of software to be present on the machine:

1. PowerBuilder 2025 R2
2. .NET Framework 4.8 Runtime
3. .NET 8 Runtime

Setting up the project

Most examples don't rely on any external components (i.e. database connection) and are able to run as-is, with the following exceptions:

1. FTP - Requires access to an FTP server.
2. Get OS Info - Requires to be run as Administrator.

Running the Project

To run the application:

1. Open the Example Components App\componentsapp.pbw workspace on PowerBuilder.

2. Run the project.

3. Use the RibbonBar buttons to open the different views. Each view focuses on a different feature of the .NET Assembly Integration and provides examples.

Sections

The following are the singular views in the demo and the C# project and class they rely on.

Functions

Demonstrates the passing of arguments to C# functions, both by value and by reference.

Classes

This view demonstrates how to handle the return values of functions/methods that return objects.

Callbacks

This view sets up a callback that is then passed to the .NET Assembly, that is then called when the operation finishes.

QR Code

Utilizes QrCoder, a popular C# QR Code generation library and wraps it around a compatibility layer to make it usable from PowerBuilder.

Barcode

Uses barcodelib to generate barcodes of several standards and uses them in PowerBuilder

FTP

Transfer files to and from an FTP server by making use of C#'s FluentFTP Library.

XML Editor

Open, manipulate and save XML documents by using C#'s native XMLDocument object hierarchy.

DDE

Use NDDE on C# to communicate with applications using the DDE protocol. Included as well is a replacement implementation for PowerBuilder's DDE features, which were deprecated starting from version 2022 R2 and an example of using it.

OpenAI

Make use of OpenAI's Completions and Image Generation features through a C# OpenAI library.

Send SMS

Sends SMS messages by using Twilio's C# APIs.

Get OS Info

Uses Windows's Management Instrumentation's APIs to retrieve device and process information.

C# Solution Description

The following are the C# solutions located in the .NET folder and their respective role:

• Appeon.Windows.PBInterop - Contains C# bridges to Windows APIs.
• BarcodeGeneration - Wraps barcodelib utils so it can be used from PowerBuilder
• CSharpFunctions - Demonstrates calling C# functions from PowerBuilder.
• ClassesDemo - Demonstrates working with C# classes from PowerBuilder.
• DdeTools - Contains the Factory object for the DdeClient and DdeServer objects.
• DdeTools.Common - Common code for all the DdeTools hierarchy.
• DdeTools.DdeClient - Client side of the DDE Communication module and its PowerBuilder wrapper.
• DdeTools.DdeServer - Server side of the DDE Communication module and its PowerBuilder wrapper.
• DdeTools.PowerBuilderAdapter - Object hierarchy for the objects that replace PowerBuilder's DDE functionality.
• DdeTools.PowerBuilderAdapter.Common - Common objects for the PB DDE Adapter.
• DdeTools.PowerBuilderAdapter.DdeClient - Adapter for the DDE Client functions.
• DdeTools.PowerBuilderAdapter.DdeServer - Adapter for the DDE Server functions.
• FtpClientWrapper - Objects for FTP file transferring and a wrapper for PB.
• OpenAITools - Objects for communicating with the OpenAI service and fetching Completions and Image Generation results.
• PowerBuilderEventInvoker.DotNet - Common code for PB Event invocation on .NET.
• PowerBuilderEventInvoker.DotNetFramework - Common code for PB Event invocation on .NET Framework.
• QRCodeDecoder - Library for QR Code generation and interpretation.
• QRDecoderWrapper - Wrapper for the QRCodeDecoder library.
• QrCoderWrapper - Wrapper for the QRCodeDecoder library.
• PbExtensions - Contains a C# implementation of commonly used features not present in PB by default (such as string splitting, directory listing, and more).
• PbExtensions.Windows - Same as PbExtensions, but for Windows-only features.
• ScreenTools - Tools for taking screenshots.
• ScreenToolsWrapper - PB Wrapper for ScreenTools.
• SmsMessaging.Common - Interface abstraction for a very simplistic messaging service
• SmsMessaging.Twilio - Twilio implementation of the messaging service
• SysInfoTools - Tools for retrieving system process and resource utilization percentage.
• XmlEditor - Tools for handling XML documents and its nodes.