Power PathPort

The Porting Process

A key feature of the Power PathPort approach is that the porting process is entirely automated and normally requires no new development work at all.

The process is implemented via the PathPort Workbench, which provides a GUI based point and click interface to the whole porting process. It is implemented as a Windows application running on a PC workstation designated as the porting workstation. The Workbench communicates over the network to a Tandem host resident server process (the Workbench server) which accesses the Pathway application's source code library.

Using the simple point and click interface afforded by the Workbench, a Pathway application can be converted to client/server and GUI in five easy steps:

Preprocess Source Code

All SCOBOL modules required for the new client are preprocessed on the Tandem host.

Preprocessing consists of reading the entire source code file, applying all SCOBOL copy libraries, and producing a "flat" file that incorporates all libraries.

Download Source Code

The flat files produced during the preprocessing step are downloaded to the porting workstation and incorporated into its project library.

Cross Compile

All modules are cross compiled from their legacy Screen COBOL representation into C++ source code and PowerBuilder source code.

The C++ source code represents all requester functionality with the exception of screen formats which are represented in the PowerBuilder source code.

Make Requester

The C++ source code for all desired modules is compiled using the porting workstation's C++ compiler and linked with the PathPort run time library.

The result of this process is a ready to run DLL that represents all requester functionality with the exception of GUI screen presentation.

Application GUI

The PowerBuilder source code is exported to PowerBuilder where it is combined with PathPort run time libraries to produce a ready to run executable that incorporates all GUI screen presentation functions.

Optionally, the application GUI presentation may be enhanced and customized as desired at this time. The resulting executable incorporates all GUI screen presentation functions of the new client.

For Further Details...

• Click on any of the above links to view screen shots of the porting process.
• Screen Shots shows the potential for customizing the application's GUI presentation via before and after images of a typical Pathway screen.
• A Downloadable Demo shows an actual example of how Power PathPort is applied to a Pathway application.