Powerbuilder language documentation

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Where can I find documentation for the actual PowerBuilder language. I am referring to the kind of code you get when you select "Edit Source" from a right-click menu on the library painter. Not the kind of code you normally write.

Reorientation answered 8/1, 2010 at 1:16 Comment(0)

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There is no official documentation on the PowerBuilder syntax language that you see when you do Edit Source. Most that work with it have just had to use trial and error to figure it out. It has been asked before in the newsgroups about a syntax file so a parse could be built for it, but never provided. Here is a post talking about it

I believe the next version of PowerBuilder will be moving away from that syntax to a more XML based format (and moving from PBL's as binary files to a text based format).

Kevakevan answered 8/1, 2010 at 16:39 Comment(1)

the UI code is in XAML format but the code at the back end is the same as before with regard to triggers etc. – Imp 12/1, 2010 at 12:35

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The PowerScript (which is the language used in PowerBuilder) has been expanded in PB12 but should compatible with previous versions. The PowerScript syntax is in ANTLR grammar so it should be fairly easy to create a documentation from it. If this has been done yet I am not sure but I will mention it for the compiler folks (at the moment the dev team is very busy with the end phases of PB12).

Imp answered 12/1, 2010 at 12:34 Comment(3)

I would very much like to get the ANTLR grammar itself for a code analysis tool I'm working on. I've started with yacc but I'd gladly throw it all out for a definitive grammar. Also, if you can shake the grammar lose, someone will likely crank out the documentation. – Brightness 4/2, 2010 at 15:59

Personally I would have liked if the whole compiler became open source so that all those features that people want could have been implemented, but that isn't going to happen. – Imp 6/2, 2010 at 10:13

I found an Antlr v3 grammar for PowerScript by Ivan Brezina. – Brightness 20/8, 2012 at 4:42

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There is no official documentation on the PowerBuilder syntax language that you see when you do Edit Source. Most that work with it have just had to use trial and error to figure it out. It has been asked before in the newsgroups about a syntax file so a parse could be built for it, but never provided. Here is a post talking about it

I believe the next version of PowerBuilder will be moving away from that syntax to a more XML based format (and moving from PBL's as binary files to a text based format).

Kevakevan answered 8/1, 2010 at 16:39 Comment(1)

the UI code is in XAML format but the code at the back end is the same as before with regard to triggers etc. – Imp 12/1, 2010 at 12:35

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Here is the documentation http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.infocenter.dc37772.1250/html/pbgs/CHDFGFBFA.htm (choose PowerScript Reference in table of contents)

Eridanus answered 17/7, 2015 at 13:9 Comment(1)

I managed to find a direct link. – Despatch 4/8, 2017 at 16:18

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