Great White North Technical Evangelist

** Hot News **

PowerBuilder 2025

PowerBuilder 2025 GA (production) version is now available to download for all valid PowerBuilder subscribers. This release brings a completely revamped development experience, designed to enhance productivity, and modernize your applications with powerful, easy-to-implement features.

Watch the video here!

PowerBuilder 2025 Feature Enhancements...

PowerBuilder

Brand-new ultra-fast compiler (alongside the standard PBL compiler)

Compilation time drastically reduced - Leverages Abstract Syntax Tree (AST), multi-threading, and concurrent processing to speed up full builds by 2–3x or more; incremental builds are even faster.
Eliminates code corruption – Separated source code storage from the P-code to prevent corruption caused by unexpected errors during compilation.
Automatic project conversion - Projects in the workspace format that utilize the standard PBL compiler can be automatically converted to the new solution format that utilizes the ultra-fast compiler.
Built-in CI/CD support - Now supports CI/CD workflows directly, making it easier to automate build, test, and deploy steps.

New solution format – PBSLN

Ultra-fast compilation - Applications using the new solution format will automatically benefit from the ultra-fast compiler.
PBL-free architecture - Source code is stored individually in plain text format instead of stored in PBL together with Pcode to facilitate version control and be more compatible with modern version control systems like Git/SVN.
Faster SCM-related processes - Source code is stored as plain text and no need to build PBLs anymore when retrieving code from the SCM server.
Optimized workflow with scripts – More flexible script editing with the ability to build without closing the Script painter, save changes even if compilation fails, and navigate errors in real time.

Updated system support and enhanced software security

Supports Windows Server 2025 for both applications deployed from PowerBuilder and PowerServer Web APIs.
Supports new database versions including PostgreSQL 17 and Informix 15.
Supports Extended Validation (EV) Code Signing Certificates to enhance software trust and integrity.

Comprehensive upgrade for a modern UI experience

Modern RibbonBar menu with zero code changes – Instantly convert traditional menus into a modern ribbon bar style while preserving structure, behavior, and functionality—no code changes required.
Supports high DPI - Automatically adapts UI elements with Per-Monitor (V2) DPI Awareness for sharper display and consistent scaling across different screen settings.
Improved multi-monitor experience - PowerBuilder IDE and apps now remember window positions and behave consistently across multi-monitor setups, improving usability and productivity.

Explore more of what’s new in PowerBuilder—see here for details.

PowerServer 2025 Feature Enhancements...

Significant build speed improvement

The ultra-fast compiler for PowerServer solutions boosts build speeds by 2–3x or more, with no need for the "Cursory (Ultra-fast) build" option.

Enhanced security

New Cloud App Launcher V3 ensures only authorized applications are launched, with added protection against malicious software.
Disables PowerServer Management APIs by default whilst provides user-specific access controls.
Added HMAC-based client message authentication to ensure request data integrity and prevent data tampering.

Flexible configuration and customization

Full support for DataWindow SQLPreview events, with the ability to enable/disable for optimal performance.
Supports post-deployment configuration to ignore server certificate through CustomizeDeploy.dll.
Supports customizing desktop shortcut names via apprun.json.
Supports specifying HTTP request headers for optimal large data transfer (application/json or multipart/form-data).
Supports deploying PowerServer project to a folder and provides the ability to select NuGet package version.

Friday, July 26, 2024

PB Birthday!

Happy 33rd birthday PowerBuilder!

Released in July 1991

Check out the latest Appeon PowerBuilder!

Friday, June 21, 2024

Crypto Example Application (2024 R2) Released!

** Hot News **

STD Foundation Classes

Updated CRYPTO Example Application released!

Version 2024 R2

Software Tool & Die Inc. are very pleased today to announce the release of an updated CRYPTO Encoding / Decoding example application for PowerBuilder, PowerClient and PowerServer 2022. This latest release of the CRYPTO application is are all written in the latest PowerBuilder 2022 R3 version and is also using the latest STD Integrated Framework (2024 R2 ) ...

The latest release of the Crypto example has had some major updates, as follows:

Updated the example using PB2021 build 1509 to PB 2022 R3 build 3356
Updated using STD Integrated Framework version 2024.2.0.395
Updated the Theme feature for the latest PB 2022 R3 themes
Incorporates the latest PB notification & Marquee App utilities
Deployment examples in 32/64bit and M-Code / P-Code
Tested the Encrypt code on W10 version 22H2 build 19045.4529
Tested the Encrypt code on W11 version 23H2 build 22631.3737
Ready for PowerClient or PowerServer 2021 deployment as well!

Click here to download the example application source code!

Enjoy!

Regards ... Chris