E. Crane Computing
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PowerGen Overview

Premier Tool
PowerGen is the essential tool for generating PowerBuilder applications. It lets you use command line functions to automate the entire build and, with PowerGen Professional, it also lets you create libraries from object source. With PowerGen, you can control your builds with predictability and reliability. It operates with PowerBuilder Versions 5.X (32-bit), 6X, 7X, 8X, 9X, 10X and 11X.

Standard Edition
PowerGen Standard Edition includes all the features to automate the PowerBuilder build process, including object regeneration, PBD and EXE creation, PBL optimization, and PBL copy. The Standard Edition is available only in downloadable form.

Professional Edition
PowerGen Professional Edition includes all functions in the Standard Edition, as well as Synchronization and Bootstrap Import functions that let you reconstruct your application from object source, automate PBL migration, and update your PBL's automatically with new or modified objects that have been extracted from your source control system. PowerGen Professional also includes new tools, Modscan and Deployment as well as E. Crane's VersionEdit and TouchPBL utilities.


Quotes from a few PowerGen customers

"PowerGen provides an easy-to-manage facility for specifying how you want to create your PowerBuilder executables." --PowerBuilder Developer's Journal

"My personal experiences with it are fantastic!!! I really can’t recommend it enough for any PFC development efforts that are trying to share the same framework libraries." - Jon Credit (Team Powersoft), CLM Concepts, Inc.

"(PowerGen) gives you significantly more control over regens/compiles and is absolutely indispensible for multiple application compiles." - Terry Voth (Team Powersoft)

"Run, don't walk, to www.ecrane.com and get a copy of PowerGen. It’s an absolute lifesaver!" -- Paul Horan, CPD VCI

"I'll echo Paul Horan’s sentiment. I don’t know how anyone responsible for PowerBuilder libraries gets along without PowerGen." -- Susan Gates, Deloitte & Touche

PowerGen Controls and Automates the Build Process

PowerGen is the essential tool to automate the building of PowerBuilder® applications. Based on a proven process for producing PowerBuilder deliverables, PowerGen can perform high-integrity object regeneration, PBL optimization and creation of PowerBuilder dynamic libraries and executables for large applications spanning multiple interdependent executables and PBD’s.

PowerGen lets you exclude third party and common libraries, when appropriate, to conserve build resources. Further, PowerGen offers an "Incremental Regeneration" capability that reduces the time for build/debug cycles without compromising build integrity.

PowerGen presents detailed feedback during the build in a scrollable output window and with status indicators showing totals and percent completed. A log file is also produced with a complete chronology of the build.

PowerGen Allows Command Line Functions to Automate the Build

PowerGen can be executed from a command line to create "batch" operations for building PowerBuilder applications. You can script an entire build and schedule it to run off-hours. When run from the command line, PowerGen returns a code indicating the success or failure of the operation.

PowerGen Synchronizes PB Applications to Source Control

PowerGen Professional's Synchronization function lets you easily keep your application PBL's up-to-date with your controlled source. The Synchronization handles all dependencies between objects in a highly reliable and efficient manner. It can also be fully automated from the command line.


PowerGen Reconstitutes Entire PB Applications from Source

Available only with PowerGen Profession Edition, a powerful feature called "Bootstrap Import" allows you to create an entire application from exported objects. This enables a rigorous approach to source and release control, since the application is "built from source" rather then relying on a set of existing PBL’s. Starting with a set of exported objects all of the libraries are created and all source imported, through a multipass operation that resolves all object dependencies. This feature is not available in the PowerGen Standard Edition.