Continuous Integration for PowerBuilder

Automate your CI/CD workflow

Jenkins, GitLab, Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions for PowerBuilder

Using an Automation Server for Continuous Integration with PowerBuilder

An automation server is meant to automate building, testing, and deploying tasks. It helps implement Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery with your PowerBuilder applications. The automation server landscape has significantly diversified in recent years.

Popular automation servers for PowerBuilder:

Creating a Continuous Integration Workflow (or Pipeline) with an automation server requires configuring several consecutive jobs/tasks. It will trigger each task as specified - for instance, when a new build is available - and provide feedback about its execution.

In some cases, a plugin is available to simplify the integration/configuration of a given tool.

Tools & Resources:

PowerBuilder 2025 and 2025 R2: Enhanced CI/CD

PowerBuilder 2025 and 2025 R2 bring major improvements that enhance CI/CD for PowerBuilder, making continuous integration faster, simpler, and more robust.

Key CI/CD Features

Feature PowerBuilder 2022 PowerBuilder 2025
Compiler Traditional PBL compiler New ultra-fast compiler
2-3x faster
Multi-threaded, AST-based compilation "Solution" format only
Source Code Storage Binary PBL proprietary files Plain text source code
Native Git/SVN compatibility
Source code / P-code separation
Git/SVN Integration Standard support Enhanced native integration
Better compatibility and performance
Source code order preservation
CI/CD Support PBAutoBuild220.exe available
Standalone, no IDE license		 PBC integrated into PBAutoBuild
"Deploy only" option. No PowerBuilder IDE or license required on the build machine
Project Conversion "workspace" projects only One-click conversion
Workspace → Solution (one-way)
"Workspace" format still supported

Project Format Flexibility

PowerBuilder 2025 supports two approaches:

  • "Solution" format: Plain text source code, compatible with the new compiler
  • Traditional "workspace" format: PBL preservation for projects requiring this approach

The format choice depends on specific technical constraints of each project.

The "Solution" format is available in the CloudPro and Professional editions. It does not support machine code, ORCAScript compilation, PBNative or SCC API, PowerServer cursory (ultra-fast) build mode, or a few PowerBuilder functions.

PowerBuilder 2025 R2 Improvements for Source Control and Builds

  • Source control history: Preserved when converting a workspace to a solution
  • Git operations: Fetch and Rebase directly in the IDE
  • Incremental builds: Automatic incremental build can be disabled when running or debugging
  • Build reports: Summary of successful, failed and skipped PBDs after deployment
  • Performance: Up to 50% lower memory usage for large solutions

PowerBuilder 2025 Tools & Resources:

Step 1: Automated Build Generation

A job can fetch the PowerBuilder code from GIT or SVN repositories (plain-text source files for the solution format, or PBLs for the workspace format). Then, using PBAutoBuild, the automation server can generate a PowerBuilder or PowerServer build.

Multi-platform Configuration

Popular automation servers support PowerBuilder:

Jenkins
  • Git, SVN and Azure Repos (Azure DevOps) plugins
  • Third-party plugin extensibility
  • Docker configurations supported
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI / Azure DevOps
  • Native repository integration
  • YAML configuration
  • Cloud and self-hosted runners

If you are using PowerBuilder 2019 or 2017, please refer to this article to learn how to use the previous tool "PowerBuilder Compiler".

Tools & Resources: 

Step 2: Automated Code Verification with Visual Expert

Your automation server can automate code verification, either by calling Visual Expert from the command line, or by using the Visual Expert plugin if you're using Jenkins.

Tools & Resources: 

Step 3: Automated Testing with AscentialTest

You can also automate the testing of your PowerBuilder and PowerServer applications, either by calling AscentialTest from the command line, or by using the Jenkins or Azure DevOps plug-ins provided by AscentialTest.

Tools & Resources: 

Conclusion

PowerBuilder 2025, refined in 2025 R2, marks a major turning point. Combined with the range of available automation servers (Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions), it gives PowerBuilder teams more options to implement robust CI/CD workflows.