Defining an executable application project – PB Docs 2018

Executable file name

Specify a name for the executable. The name must
have the extension EXE. If you do not want the executable saved
to your current directory, click the Browse (…) button next to
the box to navigate to a different directory.

Resource file name

(Optional) Specify a PowerBuilder resource file
(PBR) for your executable if you dynamically reference resources
(such as bitmaps and icons) in your scripts and you want the
resources included in the executable file instead of having to
distribute the resources separately.

You can type
the name of a resource file in the box or click the button next
to the box to browse your directories for the resource file you
want to include.

For more about PBRs, see Distributing
resources.

Prompt for overwrite

Select this if you want PowerBuilder to prompt you
before overwriting files. PowerBuilder overwrites any files it
creates when building your application.

Windows classic style

Select this to add a manifest file to the
application that specifies the appearance of the controls as an
application resource. When a user runs the application on
Windows XP with the Windows XP style for controls set in the
control panel, all PowerBuilder windows, DataWindow controls
that mirror standard Windows controls, and other controls,
display with the new style.

Rebuild

Specify either Full or Incremental to indicate
whether you want PowerBuilder to regenerate all objects in the
application libraries before it creates the executable and
dynamic libraries. If you choose Incremental, PowerBuilder
regenerates only objects that have changed, and objects that
reference any objects that have changed, since the last time you
built your application.

As a precaution, regenerate
all objects before rebuilding your project.

Platform

Select if the executable can run on 32-bit or
64-bit machines.

Machine Code

Select this if you want to generate compiled code
instead of Pcode. For more information about compiled code and
Pcode, see the section called “Compiler basics” in Application Techniques.

Selecting Machine
Code enables the other code generation options in the Project
painter. They cannot be set in the wizard.

Trace Information

Select this if you want to create a trace file when
you run your compiled code executable. You can use the trace
file to troubleshoot or profile your application. For more
information on obtaining trace information, see Tracing execution.

Error Context Information

Select this if you want PowerBuilder to display
context information (such as object, event, and script line
number) for runtime errors.

Optimization

Select an optimization level. You can build your
application with no optimizations, or you can optimize for speed
or space.

Enable DEBUG symbol

Select to enable any code that you placed in DEBUG
conditional code blocks. For more information, see Using the DEBUG preprocessor
symbol.

PBC runtime parameters

Directly copy the runtime parameters which are
automatically displayed here according to the options selected,
and execute them with the PowerBuilder Complier.

For
more information about PowerBuilder Complier, see About OrcaScript or the standalone PBC
user guide (pbc.pdf) in the PBC folder after
installation.

Libraries page

The label for the PBD or DLL check box depends on
whether you are building a Pcode or machine code executable.
Select the check box to define a library as a dynamic library to
be distributed with your application.

If you are
generating Pcode, you create PBD files. If you are generating
machine code, you create DLL files. For more about dynamic
libraries, see Using dynamic
libraries.

Specify a resource file for a
dynamic library if it uses resources (such as bitmaps and icons)
and you want the resources included in the dynamic library
instead of having to distribute the resources separately. The
file name cannot be specified in the wizard.

Version page

Specify your own values for the Product Name,
Company Name, Description, Copyright, Product Version, and File
Version fields associated with the executable file and with
machine-code DLLs. These values become part of the Version
resource associated with the executable file, and most of them
display on the Version tab page of the Properties dialog box for
the file in Windows Explorer. The Product and File version
string fields can have any format.

The Product and
File version numeric fields in the “Executable version used by
installer” group box are used by Microsoft Installer to
determine whether a file needs to be updated when a product is
installed.

The four numbers can be used to represent
the major version, minor version, point release, and build
number of your product. They must all be present. If your file
versioning system does not use all these components, you can
replace the unused numbers with zeroes. The maximum value for
any of the numbers is 65535.

Security page

Use the Security tab page to generate a manifest
file (either external or embedded) and to set the execution
level of the application.To meet the certification requirements
of the Windows Vista Logo program the application executable
must have an embedded manifest that defines the execution level
and specifies whether access to the user interface of another
window is required.

For further information, see
Attaching
or embedding manifest files.

Run page

Specify command-line arguments and the
application’s working directory. The Application field displays
the name and location of the executable file and is not
editable. You can change these properties on the General
page.