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Simone Olianti
- PowerBuilder
- Thursday, 11 June 2026 09:20 AM UTC
Hello, first of all i would like to thank the Appeon Team for the great work on the latest PowerBuilder 2025 R2 release.
imho it's probably the best release that has ever been released in my experience with PowerBuilder.
we are evaluating the migration of one of our existing PowerBuilder applications to the new Solution mode introduced in PowerBuilder 2025.
Our current architecture is based on the traditional Workspace/PBL model and works as follows:
The main application is developed in PowerBuilder.
The application is distributed as EXE + PBD files.
Some reports (DataWindow objects) are stored in a separate PBL created and maintained with InfoMaker.
This PBL is distributed together with the application.
At runtime, the application loads this external PBL using the library list, allowing our collaborators or even customers themselves to modify reports directly using InfoMaker without requiring a recompilation of the application.
This approach has worked very well for us over the years because it allows us or end users to customize reports independently from the main application.
Our concern is about the workflow after converting the project to Solution mode.
In Solution mode, DataWindow objects are stored as text files (.srd) rather than inside PBL libraries. Suppose we modify one of these reports from the PowerBuilder IDE and want to distribute the updated version to customers through the same InfoMaker PBL mechanism.
What is the recommended approach in this scenario?
Specifically:
Is there an official way to generate or update a PBL from Solution-based DataWindow objects?
Does the PowerBuilder IDE provide an export/build mechanism for this purpose?
Is ORCAScript (or another automation tool) the recommended solution?
Is the use of external InfoMaker PBL/PBD libraries for customer-customizable reports still considered a supported and recommended practice in the Solution model?
If customers have customized reports in their own PBL, is there any guidance on how updates should be managed after migrating to Solution mode?
We would appreciate understanding the intended workflow, as this use case is very common in long-standing PowerBuilder applications that rely on InfoMaker for report customization.
TIA,
simone
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