Re: What do I use?

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Tim,

> I will be creating a new system that will be GUI, no green screen,
> not web-based.

There are advantages to GUI screens...  Users love them.  They have more 
capabilities than either web or green screen.   But the programming is 
more work, and the maintenance is more work as well.

They also lock you into the Windows platform (assuming that you'll be 
using VB.NET or VARPG, that is... Java wouldn't have that problem, I guess.)

> I am trying to decide what to use. I primary work in RPG/ILE but also
> have done extensive work with VB.NET and began playing with VARPG. I
> have version 7.0 of WDSC, but have little experience using it.

Either VB.NET or VARPG would be a really easy starting point.  If you've 
already worked in VB.NET extensively, why not use that, and simply use a 
stored procedure to call an ILE RPG program on the server for database 
access?  Or even access the database directly via SQL (slower, but 
workable).

Seems like that'd make it easy to write a GUI.

> The new applications I will be writing will be using some java
> interfaces, such as for credit card processing and such.

Maybe you should write it in Java.   Or set up these interfaces as web 
services...  seems like there are a lot of options.  As to which is 
"best", I don't know.