PowerBuilder Foundation Classes

To get the PBLs, fork the project into your own workspace and then do a Connect to Workspace/Solution from the PowerBuilder IDE. That will download all the source and create the PBLs with the latest changes.

Once you have forked the project your copy will show you when we have made additional changes and you can sync your fork to update your copy.

PowerBuilder version

PFC 2025 is meant for PowerBuilder 2025 R2: PFC's message box and printed TreeView, and the Examples app and PEAT, show SVG images, which PowerBuilder shows from 2025 R2. PFC itself also works with PowerBuilder 2025 GA after a few changes to use PNG versions of its images; see pfc libs/images. The Examples app and PEAT need 2025 R2.

The Examples app

The pfc examples target is a catalog of small windows that each show a PFC service at work. See examples/README.md for setting it up (the EASDEMO database and the images) and for the list of examples.

Demo apps

• peat demo app (PEAT, in demoapp): a small project estimation and tracking application built with PFC, with a ribbon, a UI theme and SVG icons. See demoapp/README.md.
• openid demo: signing in with an OpenID Connect identity provider (Authentik, Microsoft Entra ID, Google), the OAuth 2.0 flows, and PFC security from the provider's groups. See openid demo/README.md.
• smtp demo: sending mail with n_smtpclient and an OAuth 2.0 token. See smtp demo/README.md.

Documentation

The PFC documentation (the User's Guide and the Object Reference, converted to Markdown and kept up to date) is in the docs repository.

Help files

The help files are PDF files, and they are not included in this repository. Download them and put them beside your application's exe:

• pfcdlg.pdf: help for the PFC dialogs, which their Help buttons open (built from the dialog help in the docs repository)
• PFCEXAMP.pdf: help for the PFC example application (Example-application-help-file)
• pfctutor.pdf: help for the PFC tutorial (PFCTUTOR-help-file-and-source)

PFC's help service (n_cst_help, started with gnv_app.of_SetHelp(True)) shows a PDF help file at a topic, in a window of the application (w_helpviewer, with the Microsoft Edge WebView2 PDF viewer) or, with gnv_app.inv_help.of_SetViewer(gnv_app.inv_help.PDFVIEWER), in the user's PDF viewer. A topic is a named destination in the PDF file: topic_<number> for a help topic number, or a name, such as the PFC dialogs' w_find. Compiled HTML Help (.chm) files are still shown with ShowHelp.

Building from the command line

tools\build.ps1 (PowerShell 7) refreshes the PBLs from the source in ws_objects, the same as the IDE's refresh, and then builds targets with PowerBuilder 2025's PBAutoBuild, without opening the IDE. Close PowerBuilder first, because the IDE keeps the PBLs open.

pwsh -File tools\build.ps1                                          # refresh and build the PEAT demo
pwsh -File tools\build.ps1 -Target "peat demo app,security administrator"
pwsh -File tools\build.ps1 -All -Full                               # every target, full compilation
pwsh -File tools\build.ps1 -NoBuild                                 # only refresh the PBLs

The exe and PBDs go to build\<target>\. The script exits with 0 on success, 1 if the refresh or a build fails (compile errors are listed), and 2 if it could not start. The refresh imports every object of a target, so it takes a minute or so; the build is incremental unless you pass -Full.

The refresh uses refresh.json, a PBAutoBuild build file with a "Merging" entry for each target, which can also be run on its own: pbautobuild250 /f refresh.json.

If you would like to contribute to the project, please watch this video:

https://vimeo.com/478243534