About deploying applications on UNIX
After you have built your application and created its executable
and dynamic library files, you need to set up your users’ machines
to run the application.
Typical deployment scenarios
On UNIX, you can deploy a PowerBuilder application in a variety
of ways, depending on the hardware and software configurations of
the application’s target users. Here are a couple of common
scenarios:
- Desktop
scenario Users with workstations on their desks run and display the
application there (although they probably also need to access a server
computer on the network for database services). - Xterm scenario Users run the application on a server computer on the network
but display it on X-compliant devices on their desks.
Testing your scenarios
When deploying your application, you may need to accommodate
one such scenario or maybe a mix of several. In either case, make
sure you test the application in each possible scenario before releasing
it to end users for production work.
UNIX requirements
Chapter 35, “Packaging an Application
for Deployment”, has
a checklist of the application and environmental components that
you need to provide to your users. This section describes some additional
files that you need to install and some specific constraints that
you should consider on the UNIX platform.
PowerBuilder deployment libraries
On UNIX, the PowerBuilder deployment library files are shared
libraries that contain the PowerBuilder execution system. These
files are required on user computers to enable PowerBuilder applications
to run independently (outside of the development environment).
Windows-free deployment files If you are deploying a component to Jaguar CTS, the component
cannot have graphical dependencies or dependencies on the Windows
application programming interface. You will need to deploy an alternative
set of PowerBuilder deployment files. For more information, see
the online Help.
Wind/U support
To support the Wind/U layer
of
PowerBuilder, you must install some additional files on your user
computers:
- The Wind/U
shared library files These files provide Microsoft Windows API services to PowerBuilder
applications. - The Wind/U Xprinter files These files provide
printing support to PowerBuilder applications. - The .WindU file Each user of a PowerBuilder application needs a copy of this
Wind/U initialization file in their home directory (just
as each developer does when building the application).
For details on the .WindU file and the settings in it that
you might want to change, see the PowerBuilder User’s
Guide
.
Environment variables
Along with installing the PowerBuilder deployment libraries
and Wind/U files, you must also set up several environment
variables on your user computers. To help with these installation
and setup chores, PowerBuilder provides a deployment
files you can use.
Database interfaces
If your application includes database access, you need to
install the appropriate database interfaces on your user computers.
By using the deployment files, you can choose any of the database
interfaces supported by PowerBuilder.
Copying the executable application
When you copy your application’s executable file
and dynamic libraries to user computers, avoid using uppercase in
pathnames. PowerBuilder is currently unable to access executable
and dynamic library files whose pathnames contain uppercase characters.
So make sure your pathnames for these files contain only lowercase
characters.
Ensuring that the application can find the files
it needs
When installing your application, you need to make sure you
place its supporting files (such as .pbd, .bmp, .cur, .ini, and
.hlp files) where it can find them. If the application uses specific
paths to point to these files, you must install them in those paths.
If the application refers to these files simply by name (which is
more common), then you need to know where it will search for them.
You can use the UNIX ldd command to list the libraries your application needs.
The search order that PowerBuilder applications use on UNIX
is:
- The current directory
- The user’s home directory
- The directories in the PATH environment variable
For how to use a PowerBuilder resource file
(PBR) to make sure the deployed application can find its supporting
files, see the PowerBuilder User’s Guide
.