PowerBuilder Conversion ( Started project )

Engine for Reengineering PowerBuilder Applications to Java environment

Introduction

For many years PowerBuilder was one of the most serious and robust RAD tools for Client / Server and n-tier development. Software firms invested in PowerBuilder frameworks. Billions of PowerBuilder code lines have been written by thousands of trained developers. Reliable high-performance PowerBuilder applications are deployed worldwide. Enterprises invested in a PowerBuilder infrastructure assuming that they were investing in a platform that would remain vibrant for many years.

However the forces of the market thought otherwise. PowerBuilder is now a niche player in the application development tool market. Even PowerBuilder's attempt to make inroads in the WEB development market were not very successful. The number of new installations is diminishing. PowerBuilder professional personnel are becoming scarce.

But there are many enterprises with deployed active PowerBuilder applications. These enterprises must maintain their current systems. Every system in production has to deal with dynamic changes and enhancements. Enterprises are at a point where they have to make a strategic choice: to continue building applications in PowerBuilder where there is no future or to move to another platform. 

Remaining with PowerBuilder causes no upheavals but insures the widening of the legacy gap. Moving to another platform is probably strategically correct but there are factors to be considered. One major consideration is an enterprise's investment in legacy applications and the significant cost of a new application development. Another consideration is how to ensure a rapid and smooth migration path from one infrastructure to another without disturbing critical systems, specifically how to integrate the new with the old.

The answer is PowerBuilder to Java!

PowerBuilder to Java is a software engine toolset and methodology that will take an application coded in PowerBuilder and generate Java application source code with minimal need for programmer intrusion.

Java has proven itself to be a superior technology as an e-business application tool. Moving to Java is a strategic decision for an enterprise, a decision to make another step to the future.

An enterprise that decides it wants to migrate to an advanced friendly development environment will usePowerBuilder to Java as its migration tool. The business logic will be maintained. The investment in the object-oriented framework will not be lost. The migration will be done in stages. Changes and enhancements will be done on the new code.

This will not be a face-lift of an existing application. This will be the same complete application built on a new platform.

Conversion Methodology Framework

Complex Conversion Scheme                Direct   Conversion   Scheme

Project scope

In Scope:

• Conversion Methodology Framework.
• Java Framework for PowerBuilder Applications.
• User Interface and Business Logic definition languages.
• Restructuring utility.
• Conversion utility.

Out of scope:

• Automatic verification of incorrect PowerBuilder sources.
• Automatic conversion of legacy features like "goto" and "null" values for primitive data types.
• Automatic conversion of platform-specific procedures.
• Automatic conversion of some advanced features such as Jaguar CTS specific objects