What is PowerBuilder?
PowerBuilder is an object oriented development environment. It's the most efficient solution for quickly developing database-driven business applications. Its unbeatable productivity is due in part to the Datawindow, an object that automatically generates SQL Statements. PowerBuilder also includes native database drivers for Oracle, Microsoft, Sybase and IBM, as well as a powerful scripting language (PowerScript). With the compiling of the code and the partitioning of applications, PowerBuilder allows for the creation and deployment of applications for a large number of platforms on the market.
Unbeatable productivity
The productivity of PowerBuilder is the principal motor of its success. That's why a number of large organizations (governments, banks, industry...) have chosen to create large, mission-critical applications, with some in production for over 20 years.
A simple way to evaluate its productivity is to compare it to .NET and Java when rewriting applications from one technology to another. A typical order of magnitude would be:
.NET – applications desktop/Window (Winform, WPF...)
2 to 3 times longer
.NET – applications web (ASP.net, MVC, WCF...)
5 to 10 times longer
Java/Javascript – applications web
5 to 10 times longer
Visual Expert
Code Maintenance: Analyze your PowerBuilder code to better understand how it works, run impact analyses and automatically generate technical documentation.
Visual Guard
Security and Access control: combine user management, authentication, permissions and security audits in your PowerBuilder applications.
Enable
Add a multilingual interface to your PowerBuilder Application and make it available to international users in no time!
PB Ultimate Suite
Modernize your PowerBuilder Applications
Create an interface that makes your application more user-friendly and modern with little effort and minimum code.
Customization Studio
Let users make changes in PowerBuilder applications for customization purposes - Let end-users customize or update a PowerBuilder application. No development skill required.
Reporting Studio
Allow business users to create reports themselves
View reports anytime, everywhere - Desktop - Web - Mobile Deployment
Seamless integration with PowerBuilder applications
PB Protect
Protect your PowerBuilder code against reverse-engineering and decompiling
PowerGen
PowerGen gives you unprecedented flexibility and speed when building PowerBuilder applications
DW2XLS
DW2XLS is a PowerBuilder library designed for export Datawindow & Datastore to an Excel format with cell's formatting
PowerFilter
Filter all your existing DataWindows similar to Excel 2007's features.
STD Framework
A fully integrated & "object oriented" set of Classes for the following SAP/Sybase products: InfoMaker, PocketBuilder, EAServer, Appeon and PowerBuilder. The component framework greatly assists the developer making them significantly more productive!
Introduction to PB 12.6
PowerBuilder 12.6 is a major version of PowerBuilder: new functions (Dockable Windows, 64 bits, Odata…), migration of code when changing the version, new licenses required etc.
PowerBuilder 12.6 was released in 2014 and it includes all the functions meant for meant for PowerBuilder15 that were tested during the PB 15 Beta program.
PB 15 was renamed to PB 12.6, for internal reasons within SAP.
PowerBuilder 12.6 New Features
OData Support
PowerBuilder Classic and PowerBuilder .NET can use OData datasources.
OData (the Open Data Protocol) is a Web protocol for querying and updating data that provides a way to unlock your data and free it from silos that exist in applications. OData is based on REST (Representational State Transfer). It uses the standard HTTP protocol to access data using GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE.
64-Bit Windows Applications
Create 64-bit native applications in PowerBuilder Classic.
Dockable Windows
In PowerBuilder Classic, you can set docking behaviors for the sheets that open in the MDI (multiple document interface) frame window.
Migration Information
You can migrate a PowerBuilder application from any version of PowerBuilder directly to PowerBuilder Classic. You cannot migrate applications from PowerBuilder .NET to PowerBuilder Classic, or from PowerBuilder Classic to older versions of PowerBuilder. Migrate older applications to PowerBuilder Classic before you port them to PowerBuilder .NET.