Modernize
PowerBuilder to Web Migration
Many PowerBuilder applications still run core parts of a business. Much of their logic sits inside DataWindows, which hold the query, the validation, and the presentation in one object, and the developers who know them are getting harder to find.
Moving to the web also means redrawing the system's shape: a desktop client talking straight to the database becomes a browser, an API, and services. Through Vivify, our modernization practice, we read the PowerBuilder source into a model, generate standard TypeScript and React from it, and test the new system against the old one.
See the full approach on Modernize, or the guide for VB6 migration.
Sounds familiar?
- The people who know the PowerBuilder code are retiring or have left
- Core business rules live in DataWindows nobody wants to touch
- Users need the application in a browser, not an installed desktop client
How the conversion works
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Read the code into a model
Vivify's Code Analyzer reads the windows, DataWindows, embedded SQL, and PowerScript, and maps the business rules inside them into a model of the system. Gaps are flagged, not guessed.
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Generate TypeScript and React
Vivify's Code Transformer generates the new web application from that model by a fixed set of rules. Engineers handle the architecture, the move from desktop client to browser and API, and the pieces with no modern equivalent.
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Test side by side against the old system
The old system and the new one run on the same inputs, and the outputs are compared automatically. The tests are built from your existing test plans.
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Migrate in stages
You can move in stages, testing each one against the old system before going on. Engineers sign off on the results before anything replaces the original.
Vivify generates the new application from the model, which automates more than 90% of the conversion work. The custom pieces no automated conversion can handle are done by engineers, deliberately. How Vivify counts it.
What you get
- Standard TypeScript and React code that you own
- The automated tests, which your team keeps after handover
- No proprietary runtime underneath, and no PowerBuilder left to staff
- Documentation of the business rules, recovered from the code during analysis
How We Do It
What every project gets, whether you launch, scale, or modernize.
Reusable Infrastructure
Sign-in, messaging, data, payments, and real-time, proven in production for more than a decade. We reuse what's solved and spend the effort on what makes your product different.
Design-Led Thinking
Design comes before code. UX research and wireframes first, so what we build is something people want to use.
Security Built In
Access controls, audit trails, and careful data handling from day one, with the discipline of our HIPAA-ready healthcare work on every project.
AI-Accelerated Delivery
AI handles the repetitive work, so projects move faster and cost less. Senior engineers check everything it produces, security included.
Senior experience
Since 2014, senior leads in the US and Japan have run every project. They know where software projects go wrong, so you get fewer surprises.
Capacity when you need it
When the work grows, our extended team in Vietnam and specialists in Europe and South America add capacity. Your lead stays the same.
Common questions
What happens to our DataWindows?
They are converted, not rewritten by hand. The analysis reads the DataWindows, with the queries, validation, and business rules inside them, into the model, and the new application is generated from that model. Where something has no direct modern equivalent, an engineer picks the substitute and wires it in.
Isn't running PowerBuilder in a browser enough?
It solves delivery: users get the app in a browser. But the code is still PowerBuilder, so the hiring and maintenance problems stay. Conversion gives you standard TypeScript and React that a normal web team can work on.
Do we have to convert everything at once?
No. You can migrate in stages, testing each stage against the old system before moving on, and engineers sign off on the results before anything replaces the original.
Who owns the converted code?
You do. It's standard code with no proprietary runtime underneath, and your team keeps the automated tests after handover.
Who do we contract with, Fluxweave or Vivify?
Fluxweave. Vivify is our modernization brand. You contract with Fluxweave LLC, or with Fluxweave KK if you are in Japan, and the same team handles the conversion and the new features after it.
Replacing a legacy system?
Start with a free assessment call about your system and goals. From there, Vivify, our modernization practice, can run a fixed-scope assessment of your code.