Re: net.data cgi, html

[Richard Baird <rbbaird@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael Hill wrote:
> 
> Hi Richard,
> 
> Can you tell me if the following is possible:
> 
> *       Read an AS/400 file (whether it be by RPG program or SQL embedded in
> Net.Data to retrieve Product Code, Product Description, and Quantity on
> Hand)
> *       Display it on the screen (Like an AS/400 subfile)
> *       Allow them to change say Quantity on Hand
> *       Update the AS/400 Database via either a program or SQL
> 
> This all has to be done using HTML and Net.Data.
> 
> I have no problem doing this in RPG, but HTML is a different story.

don't know how to  do it with net.data, but I can give you an idea of
how to do it using rpg.

Are you using IBMs webserver or I/nets?  the api's are different for
each but work similarly.    I do as little html as possible - weve got
guys who do that for me, but using rpg virtually requires that you store
the html on the 400 in a file that can be read by the pgm.  the trick is
to read and write the html to the browser using the api's, inserting the
as/400 data where applicable.

the first program would be called from the browser from a page with the
selection criteria.  that program would do a "get form variable" for
each of those fields entered at the browser.

that program would output the next page, inserting the "subfile" lines,
which would look something like the following, where xxxxxx is the item
number, yyyyyy is the description and zzzzz is the qty.

<tr>
  <td>Item</td>
  <td>Description</td>
  <td>Quantity</td>
<tr>
  <td>xxxxxxxx</td>
  <td>yyyyyyyy</td>
  <td><input type=text  name="xxxxxxx"  value="zzzzzzz"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td>xxxxxxxx</td>
  <td>yyyyyyyy</td>
  <td><input type=text  name="xxxxxxx"  value="zzzzzzz"></td>
</tr>

there would be a "submit button" on the page that would initiate a
"post" method to the next cgi-bin program, which would have to read the
item file in the same way as the prev program, so it would know which
items (form variable names) were on the page and "get" the form
variables one at a time.  

you "Get" the form variable by "name" which in this case is the item
number.

you then have to ensure they entered valid numeric data (html is poor at
this), and then use the data to update your file.

clear as mud?  Once you do it once, the programs just get cloned and it
becomes pretty much busy work, with mostly just tweeking the output html
(which to me is frustrating, working with seu as an editor).  Be sure
your html is clean and strait, and that you understand where the
"replacement" points and "repeating" points are before you transfer to
the 400.  

Don't use a web page development tool (such as hot metal or front page)
if you can help it.  while it makes good looking pages, it produces some
really ugly html which is very hard to manipulate using seu.

hth, rather than just confuse the issue.

regards,

rick
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