FWIW, I wrote a utility quite a ways back that allows you to walk through your DataWindows, and examine them to make sure that the column widths in them match the underlying tables.  If memory serves it looks at the PowerBuilder extended attributes tables, so those would need to be populated.  It highlights those where there isn't a match and a double click updates the DataWindow syntax to match them back up.  You then save the modified DataWindow syntax from the tool and export it.  It still means reviewing each DataWindow manually though.  It just makes it a lot simpler that doing it from the PB IDE.

https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/SYBPB/Column+Width+Checker

I'm not sure about PBSearch's ability to check-out the objects before changing them. I don't remember if the 'live' version (4.9.x) does that and I know for sure the 'beta' version (5.0) does not have Global Search & Replace finished.

Hi Yakov;

     Personally I would look at the LibrayExport & LibraryImport methods built into PB. Using these, I would write a utility to scan through alll your Apps DWO source and replace the targeted column sizes accordingly. Then, import & save the updated DWO source back into your Apps respective PBL's. I have written lots of these utilities for such that purpose. They are a little bit of work to code - but will save you hours, days, weeks, etc of hand refactoring.

    Just my $0.02 ..... Food for thought.

Regards ... Chris

PBSearch has Global Replace capability. From the Help:

Global Replace

The Global Replace window is opened by clicking Replace on the toolbar or choosing Global Replace from the Actions menu within the Search for a String window. You must also have chosen Show Line Where Found when performing the search.

The first step in a Global Replace is to perform the search. When the Global Replace window opens, it will give a warning message if you did not choose Match on whole words. This is because partial word changes can lead to unintended changes.

The global search replace window displays the search string at the top of the window just over the input field where you enter the replacement string.

Two lines are shown for each hit. The top lines is the current value. As you type in the Replace With field, you will see what the code will look like in the second line (the one with the »). You can scroll through all the objects to verify that the change you will be making will give you the desired result.

The Delete button allows you to remove any hits that you do not want changed. Multi-row selection is enabled to make this task easier.

It is highly recommended that you leave the Make backups checkbox checked. This option copies all the libraries that make up the application to your system temporary directory. That way if you accidentally change something you didn't want to change or the change results in compile errors, you can restore the files and try again.

Clicking the Replace button will start the change process.

The Print button allows you to print the proposed changes and review the hard copy.

I just confirmed that having a datawindow column definition smaller than the table column size will truncate the buffer column contents 

Table char 50

Column char(5)

Louisiana --> in buffer as Louis

So type=char(xxx) must match column defined size for all chars to be retained.  Refactoring dw syntax will be required