Editions and components

Appeon PowerServer 2017 provides the following editions for the Windows platform.

Table 2. Appeon editions

Edition

Component

Description

PB Edition

  • PowerServer Toolkit

  • PowerServer Mobile

  • Appeon Workspace

  • PowerServer (PB Edition) Help

1) PB Edition is the only one edition that includes PowerServer Toolkit.

2) PB Edition is only provided in the PowerBuilder Universal Edition.

3) PB Edition includes PowerServer Mobile only, but not PowerServer Web, therefore it's called PowerServer Mobile (PB Edition).

4) PB edition runs on the .NET IIS server only, but not on the J2EE server.

5) The PowerServer clustering service is provided.

6) Product activation is required within 30 days.

Enterprise Edition

  • PowerServer Mobile & PowerServer Web

  • Appeon Workspace

  • PowerServer Help

1) PowerServer Toolkit is not provided.

2) The PowerServer clustering service is provided.

3) Product activation is required within 30 days.

Workgroup Edition

  • PowerServer Mobile & PowerServer Web

  • Appeon Workspace

  • PowerServer Help

1) PowerServer Toolkit is not provided.

2) Product activation is required within 30 days.

Developer Edition

  • PowerServer Mobile & PowerServer Web

  • Appeon Workspace

  • PowerServer Help

1) PowerServer Toolkit is not provided.

2) The maximum number of online users is 5.

3) Product activation is required within 30 days.

Trial Edition

  • PowerServer Mobile & PowerServer Web

  • Appeon Workspace

  • PowerServer Help

1) PowerServer Toolkit is not provided.

2) Trial Edition has a 30-day time bomb.

3) The PowerServer clustering service is provided.

4) The maximum number of online user is unlimited.


PowerServer Toolkit

PowerServer Toolkit is a plug-in to the PowerBuilder IDE installed to the developer's PC. It provides a set of tools that enable the mobile and Web application generation, maintenance, and upgrades within the PowerBuilder IDE. These tools are accessed via a toolbar in the PowerBuilder IDE, which automatically loads each time PowerBuilder is started.

Note

Starting from version 2017, PowerServer Toolkit is only available in PowerServer (PB edition) which can be installed from the PowerBuilder Universal Edition installation package. PowerServer Toolkit 2017 can deploy apps to PowerServer 2017 or 2016 (in version 2016, PowerServer is called Appeon Server).

PowerServer Mobile/Web

PowerServer Mobile/Web is a set of server components that is deployed to the application server. It provides the Appeon applications with necessary run-time services such as data connectivity, DataWindow support, transaction management, and security.

PowerServer also includes AEM and PowerServer Web Component.

AEM is the management console for PowerServer Mobile/Web and the deployed applications. When you install PowerServer, AEM is automatically installed.

During the PowerServer Mobile/Web installation, the PowerServer Web Component is automatically installed to the JBoss/WildFly Web Server, therefore, if you are using one WildFly or JBoss EAP as both the Web server and the application server, you will NOT need to run the PowerServer Web Component installation.

Note

PowerServer Mobile (PB Edition) is activated differently from the other editions. For detailed instructions on activating PowerServer Mobile (PB Edition), please follow the Activating PowerServer Mobile (PB Edition) section in the Appeon License User Guide.

PowerServer Web Component

PowerServer Web Component is installed with PowerServer Web/Mobile automatically as aforementioned.

PowerServer Web Component resides in the Web server. It consists of the Web server redirector plug-in (that dispatches the user requests to the PowerServer) and a set of runtime libraries for the Web application (that supports the PowerBuilder-style UI in the Web browser).

If you use a third-party Web server (such as Apache or IIS) and/or physically separate the Web server and the PowerServer, for example, for load balancing purpose, you will need to install PowerServer Web Component to the Web server and configure the Web server with the redirector plug-in. For detailed instructions on configuring the Web server, refer to Web Server Configuration Guide.

Appeon Workspace (for Mobile only)

Appeon Workspace is installed on the mobile device to help simplify the distribution and installation of the native mobile app. It consists of a set of mobile client libraries and a graphical user interface. The mobile client libraries generate the mobile-style UI, support the PowerScript and UI logic, provide interfaces for calling the mobile SDK, and support accessing the client/offline database and running the offline mobile application. The graphical user interface allows end users to install and run the mobile application from PowerServer conveniently, so developers do not need to register their mobile applications in the online application store, and the end users do not need to install them from there.

Appeon Workspace is distributed as a native mobile app thru the online app stores (such as Apple App Store, Google Play) or over-the-air, and it is also automatically included when you package and compile the Appeon mobile application as the iOS application archive (IPA) file or Android application package (APK) file.

PowerServer Help

PowerServer Help provides easy access to all user documents. It saves time and conveniently places the help information, such as, the Appeon supported features, at your fingertips.

PowerServer Help is a Microsoft compiled HTML help (.chm) which can be installed and viewed on the Windows OS only. To view the Appeon documentation on all OS, you can visit the online web help at the Appeon web site.