Defining an executable application project

Executable file name

Specify a name for the executable. The name must have the extension EXE. If you do not want the executable saved to your current directory, click the Browse (...) button next to the box to navigate to a different directory.

Resource file name

(Optional) Specify a PowerBuilder resource file (PBR) for your executable if you dynamically reference resources (such as bitmaps and icons) in your scripts and you want the resources included in the executable file instead of having to distribute the resources separately.

You can type the name of a resource file in the box or click the button next to the box to browse your directories for the resource file you want to include.

For more about PBRs, see “Distributing resources”.

Prompt for overwrite

Select this if you want PowerBuilder to prompt you before overwriting files. PowerBuilder overwrites any files it creates when building your application.

Windows classic style

Select this to add a manifest file to the application that specifies the appearance of the controls as an application resource. When a user runs the application on Windows XP with the Windows XP style for controls set in the control panel, all PowerBuilder windows, DataWindow controls that mirror standard Windows controls, and other controls, display with the new style.

Rebuild

Specify either Full or Incremental to indicate whether you want PowerBuilder to regenerate all objects in the application libraries before it creates the executable and dynamic libraries. If you choose Incremental, PowerBuilder regenerates only objects that have changed, and objects that reference any objects that have changed, since the last time you built your application.

As a precaution, regenerate all objects before rebuilding your project.

Machine Code

Select this if you want to generate compiled code instead of Pcode. For more information about compiled code and Pcode, see Application Techniques.

Selecting Machine Code enables the other code generation options in the Project painter. They cannot be set in the wizard.

Trace Information

Select this if you want to create a trace file when you run your compiled code executable. You can use the trace file to troubleshoot or profile your application. For more information on obtaining trace information, see “Tracing execution”.

Error Context Information

Select this if you want PowerBuilder to display context information (such as object, event, and script line number) for runtime errors.

Optimization

Select an optimization level. You can build your application with no optimizations, or you can optimize for speed or space.

Enable DEBUG symbol

Select to enable any code that you placed in DEBUG conditional code blocks. For more information, see “Using the DEBUG preprocessor symbol”.

Libraries page

The label for the PBD or DLL check box depends on whether you are building a Pcode or machine code executable. Select the check box to define a library as a dynamic library to be distributed with your application.

If you are generating Pcode, you create PBD files. If you are generating machine code, you create DLL files. For more about dynamic libraries, see “Using dynamic libraries”.

Specify a resource file for a dynamic library if it uses resources (such as bitmaps and icons) and you want the resources included in the dynamic library instead of having to distribute the resources separately. The file name cannot be specified in the wizard.

Version page

Specify your own values for the Product Name, Company Name, Description, Copyright, Product Version, and File Version fields associated with the executable file and with machine-code DLLs. These values become part of the Version resource associated with the executable file, and most of them display on the Version tab page of the Properties dialog box for the file in Windows Explorer. The Product and File version string fields can have any format.

The Product and File version numeric fields in the “Executable version used by installer” group box are used by Microsoft Installer to determine whether a file needs to be updated when a product is installed.

The four numbers can be used to represent the major version, minor version, point release, and build number of your product. They must all be present. If your file versioning system does not use all these components, you can replace the unused numbers with zeroes. The maximum value for any of the numbers is 65535.

Run page

Specify command-line arguments and the application’s working directory. The Application field displays the name and location of the executable file and is not editable. You can change these properties on the General page.