1. Miguel Leeuwe
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. Monday, 8 February 2021 10:45 AM UTC

Hi,

I've been playing with the new powerclient feature for deploying our applications and I'm really starting to like it!

When installing on our customers, we normally specify a command line argument in the shortcut to the app, to indicate which database has to be connected to. In the powerclient project, you can also set commandline arguments, separated by a "," if you have more than one. I've done a small test, which shows a messagebox with the value of the commandline and after deployment to the client the messagebox indeed shows the value correctly.
My question is though: Where is this value stored? The documentation states the following:


Commandline arguments
Specify the command line arguments for the application. The arguments must be separated by commas if there are more than one argument.
The arguments will be directly passed to the application when the application is run. And the arguments will be automatically saved and updated to the app startup icon on the desktop and the app shortcut menu in Windows start.
The arguments specified here will be passed before the arguments that are appended dynamically or manually to the application URL.

I cannot find the value anywhere, not in the shortcut, not in the registry. So if one of our employees / customers wants to change the database he's connecting to, we now need a developer to change the powerclient object (or have another one prepared) and re-deploy the project to the server. It would be easier to simply edit the shortcut. I've tried to add an argument to the shortcut itself, but that one is being ignored it seems.

Another thing I don't like too much, is the way to uninstall an application on the client. In the control panel (now "Apps and features"), the only program listed is the cloud installer. To uninstall an application, there's an uninstall shortcut next the the shortcut for the application. That does work, but normally we would remove the uninstall shortcuts, to avoid the users "accidentally" uninstalling the application. So then the only way to uninstall would be to go to %Appdata%\pbapps\applications\local......", not the easiest way of uninstalling for a novice user.

I've heard Armeen say that we are going to be able to change the installation path to something different then %appdata%, but for now (R3), I have not seen the option yet?

(I've also noticed that after the first install, windows sometimes prompts me with a dialog from "the store" saying something of having to download something, other times it doesn't).

Now that we have a lot more files (every objects is a file), I'm wondering if that could mean a 'slower' execution of the application. Also, the possibility of 'encrypting all the files', makes me ask the same question. (when I have some time I'll try to do some testing on that).

Just my initial thoughts,

regards

Accepted Answer
Armeen Mazda @Appeon Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Monday, 8 February 2021 15:49 PM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # Permalink

Hi Miguel,

Glad you like PowerClient!

CommandLine Arguments configured in the PowerClient Project are stored in the appconfig.json file under %appdata%\PBApps\Applications\PBApps\Applications\app_name\appconfig.json, but it is encrypted so no way to modify after deployment.  If you want to dynamically modify the CommandLine without redeploying, you should not set the CommandLine Arguments in the PowerCient Project and instead define CommandLine via URL: http://localhost/test/?arg1

Regarding the uninstall procedure, we cannot put it in the Control Panel.  So if we don’t provide shortcut I'm a bit confused what you suggest we do?  With the shortcut the user might accidentally uninstall but without shortcut it won’t be easy to uninstall... a paradox!

You change the installation path from the default value by creating a customized Cloud App Launcher.  Here is relevant documentation you should read: https://docs.appeon.com/pb2019r3/pbug/ch07s03.html#uploading_the_app_launcher_and_runtime_files

The app will not be slower even if it is very large.  We have properly designed this solution and we have tested this scenario against GB of PBDs.  What might slow things down is if the "Validate the application integrity" in the "Run Options" tab is enabled, which is why by default we disable.

Best regards,
Armeen

 

Comment
  1. Miguel Leeuwe
  2. Tuesday, 9 February 2021 05:52 AM UTC
lol Armeen,

Yes, the charts because pb graphics just aren't so great after so many years, the crystal reports because that's the way they like to do reports here. (regretfully)
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  1. Miguel Leeuwe
  2. Tuesday, 9 February 2021 15:48 PM UTC
Thanks for the edit Armeen!
  1. Helpful
  1. Armeen Mazda @Appeon
  2. Tuesday, 9 February 2021 15:53 PM UTC
Yes, I am a man of my word! :-)
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