Because workspaces and targets were not available in PowerBuilder prior to version 8, you must use the Existing Application wizard to create targets for applications that you built with PowerBuilder 7 or earlier PowerBuilder versions. A source control project in PowerBuilder 7 (or earlier PowerBuilder versions) was associated with a single application.
Beginning with PowerBuilder 8, source control is associated with a workspace that can have multiple targets and applications.
If you keep a copy of your old version of PowerBuilder, you can check out your application object and all other objects from source control to a work PBL. By checking out the objects in the older version of PowerBuilder, you make sure that no one else makes changes to the objects before you migrate them to the current version of PowerBuilder.
You should decide on a directory hierarchy before you migrate. PowerBuilder 7 and earlier versions required you to keep all source-controlled files in a single directory. Beginning with PowerBuilder 8, you can create subdirectories to contain each PBL in your library list. Although this is not required, it is useful in that it keeps objects from different PBLs separated in source control subprojects.
You must also decide whether to add a new target to an existing PowerBuilder workspace or to a new workspace that you create specifically for the target. You can then use the Existing Application target wizard to create a new target from the local copies of your registered PBLs (making sure to select all the supporting PBLs for your application on the Set Library Search Path page of the wizard). When you run the wizard, PowerBuilder prompts you to migrate the PBLs you select.
After you have run the wizard and migrated all the source-controlled PBLs, you can define the source control connection profile for the workspace to point to the old source control project if you want to maintain it, or to a new source control project if you do not. You can then check in or add the migrated objects to source control and delete the work PBL containing the older versions of the objects. You do not need a separate work PBL in PowerBuilder 9 or later.
To migrate a source control project using the
Existing Application wizard:
From your old version of PowerBuilder, check out your objects to a work PBL.
Decide on a new file hierarchy for the libraries in your application library list.
You can keep all the libraries in the same directory if you want, but it can be advantageous to create separate subdirectories for each library in the list. If you plan to share libraries among different targets, you should structure the directories so that the common libraries are in the local root path of every target that uses them.
Create a new workspace in the new version of PowerBuilder, or open an existing workspace in the new version of PowerBuilder.
Create a new target using the Existing Application wizard.
In the wizard, point to the PBL with an Application object and add all the helper PBLs to the library search path.
PowerBuilder prompts you to migrate the PBLs.
Click Yes to migrate each library in the path.
Create a source connection profile for the workspace that points to the old source control project or to a new project.
Check in the migrated objects to source control if you are using the old source control project, or add the migrated objects to source control if you are using a new source control project.
Delete the work PBL whenever you want.
