IBM Finally Gets Web Smart

[R.Daugherty]

Nice article on BCD WebSmart. I was doing some research this weekend and just happened to read an interview with BCD on WebSmart at a show featuring our own Chuck Ackerman as featured customer. The interview was pretty informative. It sounded like a case tool language PML that spanned the worlds of RPG back end processing to web page population. It's a shame that ILE RPG is not as clear as that in dealing with web pages or 5250 or Java GUI or any client thick or thin for that matter. Just some more DDS keywords and overriding of EXFMT ought to do it. I do think a case tool is overkill, however, although I've read Chuck's references to the productivity, and so there are lots of happy customers I'm sure. But when I wrote JOBS/400 (the only major web app I've done) I wrote in RPG and read/wrote to dataq's which could be and was read by any interface. And I just wrote in RPG, ILE RPG, and Java, depending on the program. I guess I'm saying interfacing to a web page shouldn't require a case tool, but I'm not criticizing choices made that people are happy with. There's a lot of pros and cons, including developing in ASNA and including SQL Server shops in your customer base as well as the AS/400. Takes three tier programming to do that though, so as always tradeoffs. rd

[Guest.Visitor]

IBM Finally Gets Web Smart

Ralph, WebSmart, like it's green screen predecessor, is not a case tool. It's a program generator. When a new program is created in WebSmart the user runs a wizard that in which the user selects which existing files to use in the program, how the files are related and what the program should do by choosing a template. A full featured program is then generated that includes PML and HTML. After that, the user is on their own to customize the HTML and PML. When a program is compiled the PML is converted into free format ILE RPG and compiled. The beauty of WebSmart is that there is never a need to deal with any APIs or other ugly code that talks to the web page. All type conversions (numeric to alpha, alpha to numeric) are also handled magically under the covers. And, best of all, the programs are lightning fast because all programs use native file access via RPG. The PML language itself is very intuitive as most of the commands map to a similar RPG command. The language is free format and looks like a combination of CL and JavaScript. The ability to use a GUI editor for HTML is a nice plus. Personally, I use FrontPage but any editor will work as a plug-in. And, on top of all this you get the best customer support in the industry, bar none! chuck Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer, except in this case. "Ralph Daugherty" wrote in message news:6b214683.0@WebX.WawyahGHajS... > > > Nice article on BCD WebSmart. I was doing some research this weekend and just happened to read an interview with BCD on WebSmart at a show featuring our own Chuck Ackerman as featured customer. The interview was pretty informative. > > It sounded like a case tool language PML that spanned the worlds of RPG back end processing to web page population. It's a shame that ILE RPG is not as clear as that in dealing with web pages or 5250 or Java GUI or any client thick or thin for that matter. Just some more DDS keywords and overriding of EXFMT ought to do it. > > I do think a case tool is overkill, however, although I've read Chuck's references to the productivity, and so there are lots of happy customers I'm sure. > > But when I wrote JOBS/400 (the only major web app I've done) I wrote in RPG and read/wrote to dataq's which could be and was read by any interface. And I just wrote in RPG, ILE RPG, and Java, depending on the program. I guess I'm saying interfacing to a web page shouldn't require a case tool, but I'm not criticizing choices made that people are happy with. There's a lot of pros and cons, including developing in ASNA and including SQL Server shops in your customer base as well as the AS/400. Takes three tier programming to do that though, so as always tradeoffs. > > rd

[MCWebsite.Staff]

IBM Finally Gets Web Smart

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[R.Daugherty]

IBM Finally Gets Web Smart

Thanks for the info, Chuck. If API's for web pages were used, my code wouldn't have been interface independent. Writing data to dataq's was an option for me because the product I used read the dataq and populated web pages as tags dictated, similar to JSP but proprietary. I believe BCD said in the interview that they also have similar tags to insert into the HTML. I was researching a number of things but one was on getting Eclipse and Tomcat to test generating web pages with JSP. I saw there were tags, but it is clearly a shame that tagged output from ILE that can be mapped to various tag schemes is not supported in our (real) AS/400 programming environment as part of interface independent programming. I do not include Websphere, as it is IBM's proprietary lockin to its web page server or to its "taxed" green screen interface to attempt to force people to Websphere web pages. Well, I guess I shouldn't say attempt. Looks like they've been successful forcing people off of green screens. To what, I don't know, but doesn't look like it was to something else on the AS/400. rd