PowerBuilder Win32 Extension Connector

(Available from version 7.0 onwards.)

Automation Studio is designed to provide powerful and reliable screen element capturing from PowerBuilder DataWindow screen elements. The PowerBuilder extension is a sub-connector of the Win32 connector.

Connector Features

The built-in PowerBuilder Extension provides the following features:

Multi instance support

Configure the Connector

No configuration is required for the PowerBuilder Extension. This connector is enabled by default.

Capture a Screen Element

The procedure for capturing a screen element from a PowerBuilder application is the same as for all screen elements. See Capture a Screen Element.

Edit a Screen Element

The Edit Screen Element window opens after capturing a screen element. This screen allows you to customize how the screen element is treated and identified. See Edit a Screen Element.

Information specific to PowerBuilder screen elements is provided below.

Element Hierarchy

The element hierarchy for a captured element from a PowerBuilder DataWindow is as follows:

Root branch which is the PowerBuilder process
- A sequence of Win32 Form and General Win32 screen elements
  - The PowerBuilder DataWindow form screen element
    - The captured screen element

See View the Element Hierarchy.

Screen Element Types Supported

The screen element type values available differ between levels in the hierarchy.

Type	Screen Element Types
PowerBuilder DataWindow Screen Elements	PB DataWindow PB DataWindow Button PB DataWindow Edit PB DataWindow Field PB DataWindow Form PB DataWindow Grid PB DataWindow Label PB DataWindow List PB DataWindow Object PB DataWindow Table
PowerBuilder Process	Process

Recognition Properties Supported

The recognition properties available differ between levels in the hierarchy.

Recognition properties for PowerBuilder DataWindow screen elements:

Property	Description
My Object Name	The name of the DataWindow object captured that is defined in the PowerBuilder’s application.

Property	Description
My Window Class Name is	The name of the class to which the specified physical object belongs (for example, BUTTON).
My Window Children Count is	The number of child objects.
My Window Visibility is	Identifies a window based on its visibility. When the window is visible, the physical object is recognized. When the window is hidden, the physical object is destroyed until the window becomes visible again.
My Window Relative Location is	Identifies a window based on the location of its parent window. The format for this property's value is YYYYXXXX, where YYYY indicates the Y offset and XXXX indicates the X offset (including a leading zero) from the parent window. For example, the 00640078 value (see the screenshot above) indicates that the window location has an offset of (0064,0078) from its parent window.
My Window Width is	Window width in pixels.
My Window Height is	Window height in pixels.
My Window Child Id is	The window ID.
My Window Z Order is	The window position in a stack of overlapping windows. A window stack is oriented along an imaginary axis, the z-axis, extending outward from the screen. The window at the top of the z-order overlaps all other windows. The window at the bottom of the z-order is overlapped by all other windows. When an application creates a window, the system puts it at the top of the z-order for windows of the same type. You can change the z-order by activating a different window. The system positions the active window at the top of the z-order for windows of the same type. When a window comes to the top of z-order, so do its child windows.
My Window Class Z Order is	The class of the window’s position in a stack of overlapping windows.
My Window Name is	A window name where Win32 physical object is hosted.
My Window Accessible Name is	Provides accessibility support. Accessibility support enables you to identify a given screen element and to activate its default action. For example, for a button, the default action is to click the button. This feature is ideal when you have a Win32 application that has a control whose functions you cannot invoke using standard Win32 functions (for example, GUI libraries in which vendors have implemented extensions to Win32 functionality by creating additional buttons). Custom buttons created in this manner may not support a Win32 click function, thus limiting Real-Time Designer's ability to recognize them as buttons. In such cases, you can use accessibility options to generate a click event, whereas otherwise you could not.
My Child Window Class Name is	Gets the name of the class, to which the child object belongs.
My Child Window Name is	Indicates having a child with specified name.
My Child Window Accessible Name is	Indicates having a child with specified accessible name.
My Child Window Child Id is	Indicates having a child with this ID.
My Child Window Children Count is	Indicates having a child with defined children count.

Recognition properties for PowerBuilder process:

Property	Description
My Process Name is	The process name of the Win32 application in the process tree. You can use the Process Explorer utility (or the Windows Task Manager) to verify the name of the process.
My Process ID is	The ID issued by the operating system to uniquely identify an active process. For example, a text box control.
My Process Level is	The level of the process in the process tree. Enables you to handle scenarios where applications have more than one process on different levels. You can use the Process Explorer utility to verify the process level.
My Parent Process Name is	The name of the parent process (if such process exists).
My Parent Process Name is not	The name of the process, which can’t be a parent process (the process one level higher).

Main Relation Type

The element's main relation type is displayed in the Edit Screen Element window, but cannot be changed.

This section is not displayed for the PowerBuilder Process.

See Identify an Element's Main Relation Type.

Multi Instance Support

The PowerBuilder extension provides support for multiple instances of PowerBuilder DataWindow screen elements.

Multi instance support differs between levels in the hierarchy.

Type	Multi Instance Support
PowerBuilder DataWindow Screen Elements	Optional, inactive by default.
PowerBuilder Process	Active by default, cannot be deactivated.

See Set Multi Instance Behavior

Screen Element Assets

Each screen elements has its own properties, functions, and events. These are visible in the Assets Panel.

For information on screen element assets, see here.

Monitor Screen Elements in Debug Mode

When in debug mode, you can view and modify the values of a screen element's properties.

For example, the text entered in the First Name field in this sample PowerBuilder application can be viewed or modified during debug.

See Monitor Screen Elements in Execution Mode.