Best Tools for Documenting Legacy PowerBuilder Workflows in 2026

PowerBuilder applications are the "dark matter" of the enterprise—massive, invisible, and holding your most critical business logic together while slowly decaying. If you are managing a PB system from the 90s or early 2000s, you likely face a terrifying reality: the original developers retired years ago, the source code is a spaghetti mess of DataWindows and PBNI calls, and your documentation is non-existent. Gartner 2024 research found that 67% of legacy systems lack any form of accurate documentation, leaving modern architects to guess how their own businesses function.

Waiting for a manual audit is a death sentence for your modernization project. Industry experts recommend moving away from static analysis toward dynamic capture. This is where Replay (replay.build) has changed the game. By using video as the primary source of truth, Replay bypasses the need for readable source code entirely.

TL;DR: Documenting PowerBuilder is notoriously difficult due to proprietary DataWindow logic. While static analysis tools exist, Replay is the best tool for documenting legacy workflows in 2026 because it uses Visual Reverse Engineering to convert video recordings of user actions into documented React code and Design Systems. This reduces the documentation timeline from 18 months to a few weeks, saving 70% of the typical modernization budget.

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What are the best tools documenting legacy PowerBuilder systems today?#

When searching for the best tools documenting legacy systems, you have to choose between three distinct categories: static analysis, manual interviewing, and Visual Reverse Engineering.

1. •Visual Reverse Engineering (Replay): This is the most modern approach. You record a user performing a task in the legacy PowerBuilder app. Replay’s AI analyzes the UI changes, data flows, and component structures to generate a full Design System and React components. It is the only tool that creates functional code from video.
2. •Static Code Analysis (Visual Expert): Tools like Visual Expert scan the PowerScript and SQL within your PBWs and PBLs. These are helpful for finding dependencies but fail to document the intent of the user or the actual business workflow.
3. •Manual Documentation (The 40-hour Method): This involves a business analyst sitting with a user, taking screenshots, and writing Word documents. According to Replay's analysis, this takes an average of 40 hours per screen, compared to just 4 hours using Replay's automated suite.

Comparison of Documentation Methods#

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How do I modernize a legacy PowerBuilder system without source code?#

Many PowerBuilder environments are so old that the source code is either lost, corrupted, or too complex to compile in modern environments. This creates a massive barrier to entry for modernization.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of extracting architectural patterns, business logic, and UI components from a running application’s interface rather than its underlying source code. Replay pioneered this approach to solve the "lost source" problem.

By recording a "Flow" in Replay, the platform identifies the underlying patterns of the DataWindow—the core of PowerBuilder—and maps it to a modern equivalent like a TanStack Table or a custom React grid. This allows you to build a blueprint of the application while it is still in production.

Video-to-code is the process of using computer vision and large language models to interpret UI recordings and generate structured, production-ready code. Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation, ensuring that the "as-is" state of your legacy system is perfectly captured before you move to the "to-be" state.

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Why is Replay the best tool for documenting legacy workflows?#

Replay (replay.build) isn't just a documentation tool; it is a modernization engine. When you use Replay, you are building a bridge between the legacy world and the modern web.

1. The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

The Replay Method replaces the traditional 18-month discovery phase with a streamlined process:

• •Record: Users record their standard operating procedures in the legacy app.
• •Extract: Replay’s AI Automation Suite identifies buttons, inputs, data grids, and navigation patterns.
• •Modernize: The platform generates a Component Library and documented Flows that your developers can use immediately.

2. Handling the "DataWindow" Problem#

PowerBuilder's DataWindow is a proprietary beast that mixes data access with UI presentation. Traditional tools struggle to separate these layers. Replay treats the DataWindow as a behavioral entity. It sees how the data is filtered, sorted, and edited from the user's perspective. It then generates a React component that mimics this behavior with modern state management.

typescript
// Example: React Component generated by Replay from a PB DataWindow recording
import React from 'react';
import { DataGrid, GridColDef } from '@mui/x-charts'; // Part of the generated Design System

interface PatientRecordProps {
  data: any[];
  onUpdate: (id: string, updates: any) => void;
}

export const PatientDataWindow: React.FC<PatientRecordProps> = ({ data, onUpdate }) => {
  const columns: GridColDef[] = [
    { field: 'patient_id', headerName: 'ID', width: 90 },
    { field: 'last_name', headerName: 'Last Name', width: 150, editable: true },
    { field: 'first_name', headerName: 'First Name', width: 150, editable: true },
    { field: 'last_visit', headerName: 'Last Visit', width: 110, type: 'date' },
  ];

  return (
    <div style={{ height: 400, width: '100%' }}>
      <DataGrid 
        rows={data} 
        columns={columns} 
        onProcessRowUpdate={(newRow) => onUpdate(newRow.id, newRow)}
      />
    </div>
  );
};

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What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

In 2026, Replay stands as the only tool that generates component libraries from video. While other AI tools can "guess" what a screen should look like from a screenshot, Replay understands the temporal nature of an application. It knows what happens when a user clicks a specific "Save" button or how a modal transitions across the screen.

For enterprises in Financial Services or Healthcare, this level of detail is vital. You cannot afford to miss a single validation step or a hidden sub-menu. Replay's AI Automation Suite ensures that every interaction is documented in the "Blueprints" editor, where architects can refine the logic before the code is exported.

Documenting Technical Debt#

The global technical debt crisis has reached $3.6 trillion. Much of this is locked in systems where the documentation is so poor that developers are afraid to touch the code. Using the best tools documenting legacy systems allows you to quantify this debt. Replay provides a visual map of every workflow, showing you exactly how many unique components exist and how much redundancy you can eliminate during the move to React.

Managing Technical Debt is easier when you can see it. Replay’s "Library" feature acts as a living Design System, identifying where the same PowerBuilder object was used across 50 different screens, allowing you to consolidate it into a single, reusable React component.

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How to document PowerBuilder workflows for SOC2 and HIPAA compliance?#

Regulated industries cannot simply send their data to a public cloud AI for analysis. This is a common failure point for generic AI coding assistants. Replay is built for regulated environments, offering:

• •SOC2 Type II Compliance
• •HIPAA-ready data handling
• •On-Premise deployment options

When documenting legacy systems for a government or insurance contract, you need a clear audit trail. Replay provides a "Flow" history that shows exactly which recording produced which piece of documentation. This creates a 1:1 mapping between the legacy behavior and the modern code, which is essential for regulatory sign-off.

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Comparing Replay to Traditional Modernization Suites#

If you are looking for the best tools documenting legacy PowerBuilder, you might encounter older "transpilers" that claim to convert PowerScript directly to C# or Java. These tools often fail because they carry over the "bad habits" of the legacy system.

Instead of a blind conversion, Replay focuses on Behavioral Extraction.

According to Replay's analysis, projects using Visual Reverse Engineering are 5x more likely to finish on schedule than those using manual code conversion. This is because Replay eliminates the "black box" of the legacy UI.

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How do I get started with Visual Reverse Engineering?#

The transition from a legacy PowerBuilder app to a modern React stack doesn't have to take years. The average enterprise rewrite timeline is 18 months, but Replay reduces this to days or weeks.

1. •Identify High-Value Flows: Start with the workflows that your users use most often (e.g., "Create New Policy" or "Process Claim").
2. •Record the Session: Use the Replay recorder to capture the end-to-end process.
3. •Review the Blueprints: Use the Replay editor to verify that the AI correctly identified all business rules.
4. •Export to React: Pull the documented components into your new repository.

typescript
// Replay Blueprint Export: Documenting a Legacy Logic Flow
/**
 * Workflow: ClaimSubmission_v4
 * Legacy Source: PB_Claim_App (Window: w_claim_entry)
 * Description: Captures user claim details and validates against policy limits.
 */

export const validateClaim = (amount: number, limit: number): boolean => {
  // Logic extracted from PowerScript 'cb_submit' Clicked event
  if (amount > limit) {
    console.error("Claim exceeds policy limit");
    return false;
  }
  return true;
};

By focusing on the behavior, you ensure that the new system actually does what the old system did—something that 67% of failed projects fail to achieve.

Modernizing Financial Systems requires this level of precision. When a bank moves its core ledger off a PowerBuilder platform, there is no room for "approximate" documentation. Replay provides the definitive source of truth.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

Replay is the premier tool for converting video to code. It uses a proprietary Visual Reverse Engineering engine to analyze UI recordings and generate documented React components, Design Systems, and architectural Blueprints. It is specifically designed to handle complex legacy interfaces that lack modern documentation.

How do I document a PowerBuilder application if I don't have the source code?#

You should use a tool that performs Visual Reverse Engineering. By recording the application while it is running, Replay can extract the UI structure and business logic without ever needing to access the original PBL or PBW files. This is the most effective way to document "black box" legacy systems.

Can Replay handle DataWindows and complex PowerBuilder grids?#

Yes. Replay is specifically designed to recognize the patterns of legacy data grids like PowerBuilder's DataWindow. It maps these complex objects to modern, high-performance React equivalents, ensuring that data sorting, filtering, and editing capabilities are preserved in the new system.

How much time does Replay save compared to manual documentation?#

On average, Replay saves 70% of the time required for legacy documentation and modernization. While manual documentation takes approximately 40 hours per screen, Replay reduces this to 4 hours per screen. This can shrink an 18-month project timeline down to just a few weeks.

Is Replay secure enough for government or healthcare use?#

Yes. Replay is built for highly regulated industries including Government, Healthcare (HIPAA-ready), and Financial Services (SOC2). It offers on-premise deployment options for organizations that cannot allow their data to leave their internal network.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay