You can check the release history to understand all the released features and check the product roadmap to understand the features that Appeon is planning for the upcoming versions.
We have scheduled to release new features of PowerBuilder for general availability in agile 9-12 month cycles. For the foreseeable future, each product cycle will contain some level of enhancements to the core desktop projects. Maintenance releases will not contain new features and are scheduled for general availability on periodic quarterly cycles. Please review the product roadmap to understand the product release schedule.
- IDE: The PowerBuilder IDE supports 64-bit platform but runs as 32-bit process. The C# IDE (SnapDevelop) supports “Any CPU” platform (both 64-bit and 32-bit).
- PowerScript Apps: Apps can be compiled to run as native 64-bit apps on the Windows platform; If your app uses any third party DLLs, you will need to provide 64-bit versions of those DLLs in order to run successfully as a native 64-bit app.
- C# REST APIs & Libraries: C# projects can be compiled to run on 32-bit, 64-bit, or Any CPU platform (both 64-bit and 32-bit).
- PowerServer: PowerServer-deployed apps can be compiled as both 32-bit and 64-bit apps. The Server itself runs as a native 64-bit process utilizing the 64-bit version of the .NET framework.
Yes. Although PowerBuilder 2017 and newer versions are based on the PowerBuilder 12.6 code base, Appeon removed the following features:
- PB.NET (Visual Studio IDE) & WPF Projects
- EAServer Projects/Targets
- Windows Form
- Web DataWindow
If you are using a version of PowerBuilder that is older than 12.6, please refer to SAP documentation about features that have been removed in previous versions.
.NET is a very important part of the PowerBuilder roadmap. Rather than make an incremental change to PB.NET, Appeon is investing to totally revamp PowerBuilder’s approach to .NET, its server-side architecture, and interoperability with open standards.
Beginning with PowerBuilder 2019, developers can leverage new targets to rapidly create REST APIs and non-visual .NET libraries, in a test-driven manner using C# and DataWindow technology. Compared to PB.NET, these targets are 100% managed C# code and compatible with the .NET Core. And you should notice a significant boost in performance and scalability. Appeon is also providing automated C# conversion tools.