Datatype Mappings

When you call methods from managed assemblies in PowerScript, you must use PowerBuilder datatypes in any method arguments or return values.

This table shows the mappings between .NET, C#, and PowerBuilder datatypes:

Datatype mappings in managed assembly methods
.NET datatype	C# datatype	PowerBuilder datatype
System.Boolean	boolean	Boolean
System.Byte	Byte	Byte
System.Sbyte	Sbyte	Sbyte
System.Int16	short	Int
System.UInt16	ushort	Uint
System.Int32	int	Long
System.UInt32	uint	Ulong
System.Int64	long	Longlong
System.UInt64	ulong	Unsignedlonglong
System.Single	float	Real
System.Double	Double	Double
System.Decimal	Decimal	Decimal
System.Char	Char	Char
System.String	String	String
System.DateTime	System.Datetime	Datetime

For example, suppose you want to reference a method foo with arguments that require separate int and long datatype values when you call the method in C# script. The class containing this method is defined in an assembly in the following manner:

public class MyClass

 public int foo(int a, long b);

    return a + b

In PowerScript code, you must replace the foo method datatypes with their PowerBuilder datatype equivalents (long for int, longlong for long):

long p1, returnValue

longlong p2

#IF Defined PBWINFORM Then

    MyClass instanceOfMyClass

    instanceOfMyClass = create MyClass

    returnValue = instanceOfMyClass.foo(p1, p2)

#END IF

Calling PowerScript methods from .NET assemblies

If you generate a .NET assembly or Web service from a PowerBuilder target, the generated methods can be called by a different .NET assembly or application, but these calls must be made using .NET syntax and datatypes. In the table for Datatype mappings in managed assembly methods, the datatype mapping is bidirectional, so you can call methods on the .NET assemblies you generate from PowerBuilder using the .NET equivalents for PowerScript datatypes shown in the table.

Some PowerScript datatypes do not have a one-to-one correspondence with datatypes in .NET. When you generate a .NET assembly or Web service from PowerBuilder, PowerBuilder converts these datatypes as shown in the following table. If you call methods using these datatypes from a .NET application, you must substitute the .NET datatype equivalents shown in this table:

Mappings for PowerScript datatypes unsupported in .NET
PowerBuilder datatype	C# datatype	.NET datatype
Blob	Byte [ ]	System.Byte [ ]
Date	System.Datetime	System.Datetime
Time	System.Datetime	System.Datetime