Dear Valued Appeon Customer:

This letter provides notification about certain PowerServer features that will be discontinued in the upcoming PowerServer 2021 version. Discontinued features are features that are completely removed from the applicable new version of the product.

Discontinued features

  • Web browser deployment of PowerServer applications;
  • iOS deployment of PowerServer applications;
  • Android deployment of PowerServer applications;

For the avoidance of doubt, deployment of PowerServer applications to Windows OS, specifically as Installable Web Applications (IWAs), will be the primary focus of PowerServer going forward. This deployment mode will be renamed to “installable cloud app” to better represent the underlying technological and architectural enhancements Appeon is making in the newer versions of PowerServer, such as supporting cloud-native architecture.

Why are we discontinuing these PowerServer features?

We are discontinuing these features due to shifts in technology and low customer usage. Specifically, these changes were necessary so that Appeon could make underlying technological and architectural enhancements to the product for Windows OS device users, which is the majority of PowerServer customers.

Starting with PowerServer 2021, PowerScript is no longer translated to JavaScript and instead natively uses PowerScript for the UI. As such, it can support essentially 100% of PowerBuilder features and performs significantly faster, but, the deployed applications can no longer run in web browsers, or on iOS and Android devices. Also, the server runtime of PowerServer adopts a cloud-native architecture and supports the cross-OS .NET Core framework.

Appeon is committed to the PowerServer product, and moving the cloud is a strategic part of our technology roadmap for PowerBuilder customers. As such, discontinuing any features is not a decision we take lightly. We hope this tradeoff we made will greatly benefit most customers.

What is Appeon doing to help customers?

Appeon will provide long-term support for PowerServer 2020.x so customers have ample time to migrate off the discontinued features.   Such long-term support will be provided in accordance with the Appeon Standard Support policy and Appeon EOL policy to all customers with active and paid support contracts.

To migrate from web browser deployment, we recommend you promptly evaluate PowerServer 2021 and then upgrade to the new generation of PowerServer sometime before April 3, 2025. Upgrading will require some code changes since PowerServer 2021 adopts a cloud-native architecture, but typically this should represent just a few weeks of work.

To migrate from iOS or Android deployment, we have developed C# conversion tools (e.g. PowerScript Migrator and .NET DataStore) that allow you to leverage existing code to be consumed by any UI technology.  Although the language is C#, programming is centered around DataWindow technology so that development is familiar and highly productive. To move forward, we recommend you consider the following approach:

  • Use the DataWindow Converter feature of PowerBuilder 2019 R2/R3 to automatically generate standard C# POCO models from existing DataWindows;
  • Use the PowerScript Migrator feature of PowerBuilder 2019 R2/3 to migrate the business logic of your mobile app into C# REST APIs;
  • Select an appropriate mobile UI technology to manually develop the UI of your mobile app. You may use any UI technology you like, but the most popular cross-OS choices among Appeon customers are React Native (open-source), Xamarin (open-source), Flutter (open-source), or HTML5.

For more information

If you have any questions, please contact Appeon Technical Support by sending email to support@appeon.com. One of our staff will respond to your questions or direct you to someone who can assist you.


Sincerely,
Appeon Technical Support