IBM is shipping Zend Server with V7.1. For you, that means enhancements in configuration, performance, code-tracing, and more.

Written by Jeff Olen

If you've been keeping up with the evolution of PHP on the IBM i, you may have heard rumors about a new PHP server from Zend. If you've really been staying current, you may have already downloaded and installed a beta version (I did!). If not, you're in for a real treat. Included with release 7.1 of IBM i is the new Zend Server 5 for IBM i. This updated product has many advantages over Zend Core and Platform, not the least of which is the fact that Zend has taken two licensed products and combined them into a single licensed product. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Do your users get frustrated when they scroll down through tables and can't see the headers? You can fix that!

Written by Giovanni B. Perotti

Usually, when an HTML table containing many rows does not fit in the page height, a vertical scroll bar is generated on the right side of the page, allowing users to display the lower rows of the table. In scrolling down, however, the table headers are no longer visible, so users may need to scroll back up the page to check column headings. Users would by far prefer to have the column headers kept steady at the top of the screen, while the scroll bar scrolls just the table rows.

So many tools…how do you choose the one that's best for you?

Written by Duncan Kenzie

If you are embarking on a new Web development project, the first decisions you need to make are the platform and the technology. Let's assume you are committed the IBM i platform. (You should be! It's secure, scaleable, reliable, and totally capable of hosting the most modern Web apps.) So the next choice is technology. That choice has been made easier for us in the last three years, with the advent of native PHP support on the IBM i platform.

Evaluate your IBM i GUI options. Compare RPG, PHP, .NET, and Java.

Written by Tom Snyder

If you are a developer on the IBM i, you probably realize that one of the biggest demands from users is a better interface. And you've probably wondered what you should look at besides WebSphere. I know I have been pondering solutions for a long time. The problem in our shop has always been with the high reliability and superior quality of the system. That probably doesn't make sense. How could reliability and quality be a problem? Well, because of this, the system requires only a small amount of people to support a large group of users.

Experts wrestle over the best way for RPG programmers to build Web apps as one uncovers a nifty new JavaScript tool.

Written by Chris Smith

The enthusiasm that PHP has elicited in the IBM i community among those who have embraced a new language for Web development warms the heart, but not everyone is convinced that PHP is enterprise-ready.

A database access class or function might be in order.

Written by Jeff Olen

To encourage native System i developers to make the switch to PHP, the Zend Core provides some data access methods that closely resemble native file access on the System i. If you're used to using SETLL, READ, CHAIN, and UPDATE in RPG, you may find these data access methods more intuitive than other alternatives. We applaud this effort to encourage RPG developers to use PHP, but there are some things you should think about before starting down this path.