Datatypes for external function arguments

When you declare an external function in PowerBuilder, the
datatypes of the arguments must correspond with the datatypes as
declared in the function’s source definition. This section
documents the correspondence between datatypes in external functions
and datatypes in PowerBuilder. It also includes information on byte
alignment when passing structures by value.

Use the tables to find out what PowerBuilder datatype to use
in an external function declaration. The PowerBuilder datatype you
select depends on the datatype in the source code for the function. The first column lists
datatypes in source code. The second column describes the datatype
so you know exactly what it is. The third column lists the PowerBuilder
datatype you should use in the external function declaration.

Boolean

BOOL and Boolean on
Windows are 16-bit, signed. Both are declared in PowerBuilder as boolean.

Pointers

Table 3-9: PowerBuilder datatypes for pointers
Datatype in source code	Size, sign, precision	PowerBuilder datatype
* (any pointer)	32-bit pointer	Long
char *	Array of bytes of variable length	Blob

Windows 32-bit FAR pointers, such as LPBYTE, LPDWORD, LPINT, LPLONG, LPVOID,
and LPWORD, are declared in PowerBuilder as long datatypes. HANDLE is
defined as 32 bits unsigned and is declared in PowerBuilder as an UnsignedLong.

Near-pointer datatypes (such as PSTR and NPSTR)
are not supported in PowerBuilder.

Characters and strings

Table 3-10: PowerBuilder datatypes for characters and strings
Datatype in source code	Size, sign, precision	PowerBuilder datatype
char	8 bits, signed	Char
string	32-bit pointer to a null-terminated array of bytes of variable length	String

The Windows 32-bit FAR pointer LPSTR is
declared in PowerBuilder as string.

Reference arguments

When you pass a string to an external function by reference,
all memory management is done in PowerBuilder. The string variable
must be long enough to hold the returned value. To ensure that this
is true, first declare the string variable, and then use the Space
function to fill the variable with blanks equal to the maximum number
of characters that you expect the function to return.

Fixed-point values

Table 3-11: PowerBuilder datatypes for fixed-point values
Datatype in source code	Size, sign, precision	PowerBuilder datatype
byte	8 bits, unsigned	Byte
short	16 bits, signed	Integer
unsigned short	16 bits, unsigned	UnsignedInteger
int	32 bits, signed	Long
unsigned int	32 bits, unsigned	UnsignedLong
long	32 bits, signed	Long
unsigned long	32 bits, unsigned	UnsignedLong
longlong	64 bits, signed	LongLong

The Windows definition WORD is declared
in PowerBuilder as UnsignedInteger and the
Windows definition DWORD is declared as an UnsignedLong.
You cannot call external functions with return values or arguments
of type short.

Floating-point values

Table 3-12: PowerBuilder datatypes for floating-point values
Datatype in source code	Size, sign, precision	PowerBuilder datatype
float	32 bits, single precision	Real
double	64 bits, double precision	Double

PowerBuilder does not support 80-bit doubles on
Windows.

Date and time

The PowerBuilder datatypes Date, DateTime,
and Time are structures and have no direct
equivalent for external functions in C.

Passing structures by value

You can pass PowerBuilder structures to external C functions
if they have the same definitions and alignment as the structure’s
components. The DLL or shared
library must be compiled using byte alignment; no padding is added
to align fields within the structure.

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Powerbuilder Documentation 15.0

August 20, 2023

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