1. Van Sederburg
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. Wednesday, 9 February 2022 18:00 PM UTC

I have an old Powerbuilder 12.5 desktop application.  It has been running fine, and I'm in the process of totally rewriting it in another language.

However, I'd like it to continue to work until I can complete that project.

Recently, some windows update must have change how accessibility works, and now the application crashes constantly with a windows error on oleacc.dll.

One person did discover that there was a 32 and 64 bit version of that dll on the machine (which makes sense) and if he re-registered the 64 bit and unregistered the 32 bit, the program would start.  However, if any accessibility feature is touched, even if not used with my application, my app will crash.

I'm guessing that ideally the pbacc125.dll needs a more recent version that is compatible, and I realize that this PB version is WAY past its end of life.  As I said, I just wanted it to keep running long enough to rewrite it.

I thought about upgrading the the lastest PB version, but that makes it a cloud app as I understand it, and my users do not want that.  A desktop application is just fine. Plus I don't want spend a lot of money on a platform I'm moving away from.

Any suggestions on a possible, at least temporary, solution for this issue?

Thank you

Van Sederburg Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Thursday, 10 February 2022 00:05 AM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # 1

Wow, I'm very impressed.

I downloaded the trial and upgraded to 2019 R2 cleanly, with no errors, and everything just works.

So I guess I'll be upgrading to ensure things keep working! Not exactly what I planed to spend today, but it's worth it to ensure that I have breathing room.

If I only knew whether it would solve the issue, but I guess if it doesn't, with an active license I'll at least be able to pursue a solution more easily. :)

Comment
  1. Van Sederburg
  2. Thursday, 10 February 2022 02:21 AM UTC
So if I add that entry in the PB.INI file, that is going to change the way the distributed application compiles, I guess? Because the pb.ini file isn't distributed right? I guess I've never needed to make any special settings in that before.
  1. Helpful
  1. John Fauss
  2. Thursday, 10 February 2022 02:46 AM UTC
You'll want to deploy a separate pb.ini file with the application that includes only the [Data Window] section in it, exactly as shown in the earlier post. The PB virtual machine (PBVM) that manages your application as it executes will read/use the setting(s) it defines. The PB IDE also uses a pb.ini file, but it typically contains settings that pertain to the development environment.
  1. Helpful 2
  1. Van Sederburg
  2. Thursday, 10 February 2022 03:27 AM UTC
Got it, thank you!

  1. Helpful
There are no comments made yet.
Van Sederburg Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Wednesday, 9 February 2022 19:00 PM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # 2

Ok, I misunderstood then. When I attempted to get a trial version, the email only says "Download your PowerBuilder Cloud Trial" and I couldn't see any way around that. Is there a "latest release" purely desktop version?  Am I requesting a trial incorrectly? I just wanted to test upgrading and see if everything still works.

When I said "if any accessibility feature is touched" I meant if you turn on the magnifying glass, or turn on speech features (like where Windows reads out button texts, etc.), it creates the problem.

I cannot reproduce the issue on any computer I have available, so I'm getting everything from users that have new machines, or Windows 11 machines.  

I do appreciate the reply though.

Comment
  1. Armeen Mazda @Appeon
  2. Wednesday, 9 February 2022 19:30 PM UTC
Yes, safe to install on same machine. It is another major version so it can co-exist no problem.

Back-up your PBLs because when you open the PBLs in version 2021 it upgrades them and then those PBLs cannot be opened in 12.5 anymore. So you need to maintain two sets of code for this test.
  1. Helpful 1
  1. Van Sederburg
  2. Wednesday, 9 February 2022 19:32 PM UTC
Thank you. I really appreciate the help. I didn't know whether to expect any replies or not. :-)
  1. Helpful
  1. Armeen Mazda @Appeon
  2. Wednesday, 9 February 2022 19:53 PM UTC
You’re very welcome.
  1. Helpful
There are no comments made yet.
Miguel Leeuwe Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Wednesday, 9 February 2022 18:43 PM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # 3

Hi,

- Upgrading to the latest or a later powerbuilder version does NOT mean it's going to be a cloud app.

- I'm not sure if I understand what you mean when you say "if any accessibility feature is touched".

- There's a setting for the PB.INI file to not use Accessibility, but I'm not sure if that one already existed for powerbuilder 12.5.

PB.INI:

[Data Window]
Accessibility=0

1 = Enable both MSAA and Microsoft UI Automation disability support.
0 = Disable both MSAA and Microsoft UI Automation (and resolves several reported bugs of later powerbuilder versions being very slow, particularly on Citrix and similar).
2 = Enable Microsoft UI Automation only
3 = Enable MSAA only

It is recommended that you either enable (value is 1, though causes a lot of slowlyness at the moment) or disable (value is 0) both technologies. If you set the value to 2 or 3 (enable only one of them), some testing tools may not work well with only UIA or MSAA, and may cause the application to malfunction or crash.

regards

Comment
  1. Van Sederburg
  2. Wednesday, 9 February 2022 19:12 PM UTC
It doesn't look like that Accessibility option is available in 12.5. At least it isn't in the pb.ini, or in System Options that I can find.
  1. Helpful
  1. Miguel Leeuwe
  2. Wednesday, 9 February 2022 19:53 PM UTC
Yes, I think you're right. The mention that the option was "added" on this page, but regretfully don't say in which version of Powerbuilder. It's Appeon, so my guess is it probably won't be before Appeon PB 2017. https://www.appeon.com/developers/get-help/knowledgebase/powerbuilder-datawindow-hangs-temporarily-after-retrieve.html
  1. Helpful
There are no comments made yet.
  • Page :
  • 1


There are no replies made for this question yet.
However, you are not allowed to reply to this question.