PBL(PBD) File Format

http://www.dwox.com/PBL_File_Format.txt
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I PBL File Format 2003 - 2010 I
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
Dear PB Fans out there,

these are the results of the analysis I did, written down as
a short ASCII text description (valid thru PB5-11.5).

With this knowledge you can write your own LibraryDirectory
or Export Function for PowerBuilder PBL/PBD/DLL/EXE files.

Think about the possibility; including files via PBR assignment
and extracting them during runtime. That is a nice gimmick.

Most of the terms used are the results and presumptions of my
analysis.

Thanks to:
- Kevin Cai for Bytes 17-18 of the Node-Block
- Jeremy Lakeman for Bytes 19-20, 23-24 of the Node-Block

Regards

Arnd Schmidt May 2010

[e-mail]

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I PBL File Format I
+--------------------------------------------------------------+

Rules and facts:

1.) A PBL is always made out of blocks of 512, except the Node
Block (NOD*), that has a size of 6 blocks, meaning 3072 Bytes.

2.) There is always one Header (HDR*) block,
followed by a free/used blocks bitmap (FRE*).
Then follows the first 'NOD*' block .
Theoretically this first 'NOD*' block might(!) point to a
parent node, but I have never seen that.

3.) Object Data (also SCC Informations) are always
stored in single forward linked/chained of 'DAT*'-Blocks.

The information about the offset and the length is stored in
the Header (HDR*).

4.) A PBD is a PBL.

5.) DLL and EXE files have a 'TRL*' at the end of the file.
This is pointing to the one and only 'HDR*'-Block.
Attention:
For signed DLLs (like PowerBuilder's signed DLLs in Version 11.5)
you have to recalculate the offset to the 'TRL*' Block.

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I Library Header Block (512 Byte) I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I Pos. I Type I Information I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I 1 - 4 I Char(4) I 'HDR*' I
I 5 - 18 I String I 'PowerBuilder' + 0x00 + 0x00 I
I 19 - 22 I Char(4) I PBL Format Version? (0400/0500/0600)I
I 23 - 26 I Long I Creation/Optimization Datetime I
I 29 - ff I String I Library Comment I
I 285 - 288 I Long I Offset of first SCC data block I
I 289 - 292 I Long I Size (Net size of SCC data) I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I Library Header Block - Unicode (1024 Byte) I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I Pos. I Type I Information I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I 1 - 4 I Char(4) I 'HDR*' I
I 5 - 32 I StringW I 'PowerBuilder' + 0x00 + 0x00 I
I 33 - 40 I CharW(4) I PBL Format Version? (0400/0500/0600)I
I 41 - 44 I Long I Creation/Optimization Datetime I
I 45 - ff I StringW I Library Comment I
I 559 - 562 I Long I Offset of first SCC data block I
I 563 - 566 I Long I Size (Net size of SCC data) I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I Bitmap Block (512 Byte) I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I Pos. I Type I Information I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I 1 - 4 I Char(4) I 'FRE*' I
I 5 - 8 I Long I Offset of next block or 0 I
I 9 - 512 I Bit(504) I Bitmap, each Bit represents a block I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
(512 - 8) * 8 = 4032 Blocks are referenced

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I Node Block (3072 Byte) I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I Pos. I Type I Information I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I 1 - 4 I Char(4) I 'NOD*' I
I 5 - 8 I Long I Offset of next (left ) block or 0 I
I 9 - 12 I Long I Offset of parent block or 0 I
I 13 - 16 I Long I Offset of next (right) block or 0 I
I 17 - 18 I Integer I Space left in block, initial = 3040 I
I 19 - 20 I Integer I Position of alphabetically I
I I I first Objectname in this block I
I 21 - 22 I Integer I Count of entries in that node I
I 23 - 24 I Integer I Position of alphabetically I
I I I last Objectname in this block I
I 33 - ff I Chunks I 'ENT*'-Chunks I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I Entry Chunk (Variable Length) I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I Pos. I Type I Information I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I 1 - 4 I Char(4) I 'ENT*' I
I 5 - 8 I Char(4) I PBL version? (0400/0500/0600) I
I 9 - 12 I Long I Offset of first data block I
I 13 - 16 I Long I Objectsize (Net size of data) I
I 17 - 20 I Long I Unix datetime I
I 21 - 22 I Integer I Length of Comment I
I 23 - 24 I Integer I Length of Objectname I
I 25 - ff I String I Objectname I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I Entry Chunk - Unicode (Variable Length) I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I Pos. I Type I Information I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I 1 - 4 I Char(4) I 'ENT*' I
I 5 - 12 I CharW(4) I PBL version? (0400/0500/0600) I
I 13 - 16 I Long I Offset of first data block I
I 17 - 20 I Long I Objectsize (Net size of data) I
I 21 - 24 I Long I Unix datetime I
I 25 - 26 I Integer I Length of Comment I
I 27 - 28 I Integer I Length of Objectname I
I 29 - ff I StringW I Objectname I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I Data Block (512 Byte) I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I Pos. I Type I Information I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I 1 - 4 I Char(4) I 'DAT*' I
I 5 - 8 I Long I Offset of next data block or 0 I
I 9 - 10 I Integer I Length of data in block I
I 11 - XXX I Blob{} I Data (maximum Length is 502 I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I Trailer Block (in DLL/EXE) always last block (512 Byte) I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I Pos. I Type I Information I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
I 1 - 4 I Char(4) I 'TRL*' I
I 5 - 8 I Long I Offset of Library Header ('HDR*') I
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I SCC DATA I
I Structure of status information chunks I
I in DAT*-blocks (Variable Length) I
+---------+----------------------------------------------------I
I Type I Information I
+---------+----------------------------------------------------I
I String I Libraryname (the opposite!) I
I String I Objectname I
I String I Developername I
I Char(1) I Flag I
+---------+----------------------------------------------------I

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I PB6/7 Status Flags I
+------+------+------------------------------------------------+
I Icon I Flag I Meaning I
+------+------+------------------------------------------------+
I I r I Object is registered I
I I d I Object is Checked Out (locked) I
I I s I Object (Working Copy) to be checked in I
I I u I Unknown?! After an Error occurred. I
I I I (Checked out by user <Unknown> I
I I I Could be set to 'r' with an Hex-Editor.) I
+------+------+------------------------------------------------+

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I SCC DATA chunk I
I In newer PB Versions the DAT*-blocks content starts with the I
I ansi-encoded String 'SCC*'. I
I Objectname and Version Informations are stored as I
I 0-Byte (Word) separated strings. I
+----------+---------------------------------------------------I
I Type I Information I
+----------+------------+--------------------------------------+
I 1 - 4 I Char(4) I 'SCC*' I
I 5 - xxx I Blob I Objectname (string) followed by I
I I I Null-Byte 0x00 (Word in Unicode) I
I I I indicating the string end I
I I I Version (String) followed by I
I I I Null-Byte 0x00 (Word in Unicode) I
I I I indicating the string end I
I I I Next Objectname und Versioninfo I
I I I repeatedly until the end I
+----------+------------+--------------------------------------+

DateTimes are stored in Long format in Unix representation.
Timezone is always GMT (+/- 0:00), so the datetime has to be
converted to LocalDateTime via LocalTimeZone conversation.

In the compiled object data blocks, there are at least 2 more
datetimes, starting at byte 23 and the other one at 27!
Looks like these are the modification and regeneration date...