tree-sitter-powerscript

A Tree-sitter grammar for Appeon PowerBuilder 2022 R3 / PowerScript.

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Overview

This project provides a Tree-sitter parser grammar for PowerScript — the scripting language of Appeon PowerBuilder 2022 R3. It enables syntax highlighting, code navigation, and static analysis in editors that support Tree-sitter. PowerBuilder remains widely used in enterprise applications, and this grammar brings modern tooling support to its scripting language.

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Supported Language Features

• Primitive types — integer, string, boolean, blob, decimal, long, date, datetime, any, and more
• Variables — declarations with access modifiers (public, private, global), array dimensions, and initializers
• Strings — double-quoted ("...") and single-quoted ('...'), with tilde escape sequences (~", ~', ~n, ~t, ~r, hex/octal)
• Expressions — literals, identifiers, member access, function calls, binary/unary/relational operators, array literals, enum constants (AlignLeft!)
• Statements
  • if ... then ... elseif ... else ... end if
  • for ... to ... step ... next / end for
  • do while/until ... loop (pre- and post-condition)
  • choose case ... end choose
  • try ... catch ... finally ... end try
  • return, throw, create, destroy, halt, goto, call
• Top-level structures — forward ... end forward, type ... from ... end type, type variables, shared variables, global variables, forward prototypes, function, subroutine, event, on blocks

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Neovim Integration

This parser can be used with nvim-treesitter as a custom language. The setup below follows the official nvim-treesitter guide for adding custom languages.

1. Register the parser

Call get_parser_configs() to register the parser into nvim-treesitter's internal parser list. Do this before calling nvim-treesitter.configs.setup(), somewhere that runs at startup after nvim-treesitter is loaded (e.g. your treesitter config file):

require('nvim-treesitter.parsers').get_parser_configs().powerscript = {
  install_info = {
    url    = 'https://github.com/lmortimerl/tree-sitter-powerscript',
    branch = 'master',
    files  = { 'src/parser.c', 'src/scanner.c' },
    generate = true,
  },
}

require('nvim-treesitter.configs').setup({
  highlight = { enable = true },
})

Note: Use get_parser_configs(), not a direct field assignment on the module. nvim-treesitter's install command reads from an internal list returned by that function — assigning directly to the module table (e.g. require(...).powerscript = ...) will not work.

2. Detect PowerBuilder file extensions as powerscript

Add this to your Neovim config (e.g. options.lua):

vim.filetype.add({
  extension = {
    sra = 'powerscript',  -- Application
    sru = 'powerscript',  -- User Object
    srw = 'powerscript',  -- Window
    srd = 'powerscript',  -- DataWindow
    srm = 'powerscript',  -- Menu
    srf = 'powerscript',  -- Function
    srx = 'powerscript',  -- Structure
    srp = 'powerscript',  -- Pipeline
    srq = 'powerscript',  -- Query
  },
})

3. Install the parser

Inside Neovim, run:

:TSInstall powerscript

4. Add the query files

Place the highlight and locals queries under your Neovim config runtime directory — Neovim picks them up automatically:

mkdir -p ~/.config/nvim/queries/powerscript
cp queries/highlights.scm ~/.config/nvim/queries/powerscript/highlights.scm
cp queries/locals.scm     ~/.config/nvim/queries/powerscript/locals.scm

On Windows (~/AppData/Local/nvim/):

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\nvim\queries\powerscript"
Copy-Item queries\highlights.scm "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\nvim\queries\powerscript\"
Copy-Item queries\locals.scm     "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\nvim\queries\powerscript\"

Local development

To work against a local clone instead of the GitHub URL, use path instead of url (branch/revision are ignored for local paths):

require('nvim-treesitter.parsers').get_parser_configs().powerscript = {
  install_info = {
    path   = '/path/to/tree-sitter-powerscript',
    files  = { 'src/parser.c', 'src/scanner.c' },
    generate = true,
  },
}

After editing grammar.js, regenerate and reinstall:

npx tree-sitter generate

:TSInstall powerscript

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Roadmap

• Enhanced expression support (typecasting, more unary operators)
• Full SQL embedding (embedded SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE)
• Semantic analysis — type checking and symbol resolution
• Extensive test suite with real-world PowerBuilder scripts

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License

MIT — see LICENSE.

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Author: Mortimer Gibbons Contact: mkirchermeier@gmail.com Repository: https://github.com/lmortimerl/tree-sitter-powerscript