Background
When converting PowerBuilder 2025 applications from workspace format to solution format, users need to disable source control and create a new repository. This manual approach is for users who need to preserve source control history log.
Steps to preserve history when converting workspace to solution
- Steps for SVN
In PowerBuilder 2025 IDE, right-click on the System Tree, click Connect to Workspace to connect to the application on SVN that you want to convert to solution, and pull the latest version to your local directory.
Step 1 – Disable SVN source control
Right-click on the root node of System Tree and select Properties. Open the Properties of Workspace window and go to the Source Control tab. Change Source Control System from Subversion(SVN) to (None) and click the OK button.
Step 2 – Convert to solution
Right click on the workspace of the application and select Convert Workspace to Solution, and then wait for the conversion to complete.
Step 3 – Back up the PBL folders
Once the conversion is complete, the solution will open automatically in the PowerBuilder IDE. Right-click the root node of the solution and select Open Containing Folder. In the opened directory, locate all folders with names ending in .pbl and move them to a safe location for backup.
Step 4 – Open the _BackupFiles folder. Move the .svn and ws_objects folders to the parent directory.
Step 5 – Rename the .pbl.src folders using the SVN client
Open the ws_objects folder, locate all folders with names ending in .pbl.src, and use your SVN client (for example, via the right-click menu) to change them all from .pbl.src to .pbl.
Remove .src from the folder name:
After completing this step, use your SVN client to commit the changes to the server.
If you encounter the following error when committing, it indicates that the objects are not up to date. Please perform an update using your SVN client before committing again.
Step 6 – Overwrite the files in the *.pbl folders
Overwrite the files in each *.pbl folder with the files in the corresponding .pbl folder that you have backed up in Step 1, and then perform Commit with your SVN client.
Step 7 – Move all *.pbl folders to the parent directory using the SVN client (Key Step)
Select all *.pbl folders in the ws_objects directory, then right-click and drag them to the parent directory. From the popped-up context menu, select “SVN move versioned item(s) here”.
Select *.pbl and ws_objects folders and commit the changes using the SVN client.
If you encounter the following error when committing, it indicates that the objects are not up to date. Please perform an update using your SVN client before committing again.
Step 8 – Enable SVN source control
Open the solution in PowerBuilder IDE. Right-click on the solution and open the Properties of Solution window. On the Source Control tab, change Source Control System from (None) to Subversion(SVN).
Right -click on the solution on the System Tree and perform commit.
Step 9 – Check the history
Right-click on the solution and open the Properties of Solution window. On the Source Control tab, click the Advanced button to configure Show Log/Edit Conflicts.
Now you can check the log of each object. You should be able to view the history log after de-selecting “Stop on copy/rename”.
- Steps for Git
In PowerBuilder 2025 IDE, right-click on the System Tree, click Connect to Workspace to connect to the application on Git that you want to convert to solution, and pull the latest version to your local directory.
Step 1 – Disable Git source control
Right-click on the root node of the System Tree and select Properties. Open the Properties of Workspace window and go to the Source Control tab. Change Source Control System from Git to (None) and click the OK button.
Note: This is because a Workspace under source control does not allow the “Convert Workspace to Solution” operation. Therefore, source control must be removed before performing the conversion.
Step 2 – Convert the application to solution
Right click on the root node of the application and select Convert Workspace to Solution, and then wait for the conversion to complete.
Step 3 – Back up the PBL folders
Once the conversion is complete, the solution will open automatically in the PowerBuilder IDE. Right-click the solution and select Open Containing Folder. In the opened directory, locate all folders with names ending in .pbl and move them to a safe location for backup.
Step 4 – Open the _BackupFiles folder. Move the .git and ws_objects folders to the parent directory.
Step 5 – Rename the .pbl.src folders using the Git client
Open the ws_objects folder, locate all folders with names ending in .pbl.src, and use your Git client (for example, via the right-click menu) to change them all from .pbl.src to .pbl.
Remove .src from the folder name:
Step 6 – Overwrite the files in the *.pbl folders
Overwrite the files in each *.pbl folder with the files in the corresponding .pbl folder that you have backed up in Step 1, and then commit with your Git client.
Step 7 – Move all *.pbl folders to the parent directory using the Git client (key step)
Select all *.pbl folders in the ws_objects directory, then right-click and drag them to the parent directory.
From the popped-up context menu, select “Git Move versioned item(s) here”.
Make sure you have completed each step correctly and then use the Git client to commit all the changes.
Step 8 – Enable Git source control
Open the solution in PowerBuilder IDE. Right-click on the root node of the solution and open the Properties of Solution window. On the Source Control tab, change Source Control System from (None) to Git.
Right-click on the root node of the solution on the System Tree and commit.
Step 9 – Check the history
Right-click on the root node of the solution and open the Properties of Solution window. On the Source Control tab, click the Advanced button to configure Show Log/Edit Conflicts.
Now you can check the log of each object. You should be able to view the history log after setting “Walk Behavior” to “Follow names”.
For example, after converting to solution, the “modify object” commit that was made to the w_genapp_toolbars.srw object before converting to solution can still be seen in the source control log.
