About building PowerBuilder targets

You can build many types of targets with PowerBuilder. For traditional client/server applications, you need to create an executable version of your target that you can deploy to users’ machines. If you are building a distributed application with PowerBuilder, you typically build a client executable file and a server component that you can deploy to a transaction server. For some types of distributed applications, you need to build proxy objects.

Using the Project painter

You use the Project painter to create and maintain PowerBuilder projects that build all these different objects. The Project painter allows you to streamline the generation of the files your target needs and to rebuild easily when you make changes. There is a wizard to help you set up each project type.

Table 34-1 lists the types of projects you can create and what you can build using the project.

Table 34-1: PowerScript target project types

Project

What it builds

Application

An executable file and optional dynamic libraries.

Automation Server

An automation server (formerly called an OLE automation server) based on a custom class user object that can be used with COM-enabled clients.

COM/COM+ Component

A COM server based on one or more custom class user objects that can be deployed to COM+ and/or used with COM-enabled clients.

EAServer Component

One or more EAServer components based on custom class user objects that are deployed to EAServer and can be used with any EAServer client or component.

EAServer Proxy

One or more proxy objects (stubs) that can be used by a PowerBuilder client to access functions in EAServer components. The EAServer components can be built with PowerBuilder or another development tool.

EJB Client Proxy

One or more proxy objects (stubs) that can be used by a PowerBuilder client to access functions in an EJB component on an application server.

Web DW Container

An EAServer component that contains your DataWindow definitions and is deployed to EAServer. It uses the interface of the generic Web DataWindow server component.

Web Service Proxy

A proxy object that can be used by a PowerBuilder client to invoke a Web service defined in a WSDL (Web Services Description Language) file.

For how to create a new project, see “Creating a project”.

Building executable files

If you are building an executable file, there are two basic ways to package the application:

Read the chapter on packaging your application for deployment in Application Techniques to get an understanding of the best way for you to package the application. Then follow the procedures in “Defining an executable application project” to implement your strategy.

Building other types of targets

For an overview of how you use the Project painter to build different types of components, see “Building components and proxies”.

Providing other resources

You might need to provide additional resources that your target uses, such as bitmaps and icons. There are two ways to provide resources:

For more information, see “Distributing resources”.

Building the workspace

You can build and deploy all the targets in your workspace using buttons on the PowerBar, pop-up menus in the System Tree, or a command line. For more information, see “Building workspaces”.