PowerBuilder Project Analysis Prompts

Auto-detect PowerBuilder project format (Exported Solution vs Binary Workspace), read source files appropriately, and extract complete migration artifacts.

How to Use

Point your AI agent at a PowerBuilder project folder. It will auto-detect the format and read source files accordingly.

Example prompts you can give your AI agent:

Analyze this PowerBuilder project folder for FlexBase migration
Read this PowerBuilder application and extract all DataWindows, windows, and user objects
Detect the PowerBuilder format and extract migration data from this folder

PowerBuilder Project Formats

PowerBuilder projects exist in two distinct formats:

Format
What It Means
Analysis Depth

Exported Solution

.pbl entries are folders with text source files (.srd, .sru, .srw)

Full source analysis — complete extraction

Binary Workspace

.pbl entries are binary files

Limited to config/metadata files — export PBLs for complete analysis

The agent auto-detects the format and reports it to you before proceeding.


What Gets Extracted

From Exported Solutions (full analysis):

  • DataWindow definitions → domain entities with attributes and relationships

  • Window scripts → features (CRUD operations, navigation)

  • User objects → services and utilities

  • Menu/RibbonBar → module and feature structure

  • Config files → database connection, settings

  • Post-COMMIT calls → events and subscribers

From Binary Workspaces (limited):

  • Library list from .pbt → module boundaries

  • Config files, RibbonBar XML, theme JSON, README

  • Database schema (if DB access available)


Database Access

For complete extraction, provide database access via one of:

  • Connection string in the prompt

  • Config.ini in the PB app folder (auto-discovered)

  • "No database access available" for artifact-only mode

With DB access, the agent performs FK chain analysis to discover all related entities, junction tables, and lookup tables.


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