Trying to make DataWindow.Net work on .NET 3.5 and beyond

[Former Member]

Hi there!

I work as a software developer for a large Canadian company. I am seeking help from someone that could help answer my questions regarding DataWindow.Net...

Over the years the IT department of my company has developed a lot of custom homebrewed software used by our sales team to sell our products. A lot of these tools have been built in .NET using the DataWindow.Net 2.0 control created by Sybase a couple of years ago. We know that the tool has been EOL’d some time ago but, as of today, we haven’t been able to convert all the existing software to something else (we are mostly rewriting everything in .NET and leaving Powerbuilder behind). We still have some software that use this (once wonderful) technology and we fear that we might not be able to finish the conversion within the next three years.

We’ve been able to make the existing software work on the last releases of Windows by installing the .Net framework 2.0 on the targeted machines. Problem is that Microsoft has announced the end of extended support for the .Net framework 2.0 somewhere around April 2016. We fear that our software might suddenly stop working in the near future because of that. 

Our latest tests on the upcoming version of Windows 10 leave us thinking that it is still compatible with that OS when we install the .NET framework 2.0.

Now come the questions:

1) Am I right thinking that everything might still work in the next few years if we install .NET framework 3.5 on the targeted machines in the future? EOL for .NET 3.5 is scheduled for somewhere around 2020.

2) Is there any way to get a version of the DataWindow.Net tool that would be compatible with .Net 4.0? Is there a way to buy the source code to be able to retarget the tool towards .Net 4.0?

3) What other options do my company have?

I hope someone out there will be able to help me figure out the best way to make everything work until we finish our conversion work.

Regards,

[former_member190719]

If you have not done so already, you might want to post this over at the PowerBuilder Developer Center, as that is where the techies hang out.

[Former Member]

Will do! Thx a lot, Bruce!