Re: Future of RPG

[Tommy.Holden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Zend Studio is also "free" providing you are using it in the "i" 
environment and have a valid serial number for the system


Thanks,
Tommy Holden



From:   "Mark Murphy/STAR BASE Consulting Inc." <mmurphy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To:     RPG programming on the IBM i / System i <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:   07/29/2010 10:45 AM
Subject:        Re: Future of RPG
Sent by:        rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx



Granted there is a lot to learn, but happy users don't generate as many 
service calls. 

One thing that can help is to pick a framework.  You mentioned PHP.  Try 
Zend Framework or Symfony.  Zend Framework can connect directly to DB2 on 
the i.  For Symfony you will need to use MySQL with the DB2 storage 
engine.  Zend Framework is far more complex, and far more flexible. 
Symfony will have a shorter learning curve.

Pick an IDE.  RDp provides for RPG development, and since it is built on 
eclipse, you should be able to add the PDT plug-ins for PHP development. 
SEU is really insufficient, and as I found, once I got used to using 
WDSCi, I couldn't go back to SEU.

All of this will take some time to learn, but once you do you will be more 
productive for it.

Mark Murphy
STAR BASE Consulting, Inc.
mmurphy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

-----rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: -----

To: RPG programming on the IBM i / System i <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: THarteau@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent by: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: 07/28/2010 02:31PM
Subject: Future of RPG

Hi,
        I would love to learn and do new things!  We have an ERP package 
that is written in RPG400, some old home grown programs in RPG III and 
anything new is in RPG 4 with a little bit of ILE.  New requests are 
wanted tomorrow and maintenance to existing programs need to be fixed 
yesterday.  We have 2 programmers, counting myself. Not a lot of time for 
figuring out new stuff when the old stuff is faster.
        Take this as an example, we just finished a maintenance program 
using green screen.  The user really wanted a PC like screen with drop 
down boxes and radio buttons.  Almost every entered field was validated 
against a DB2 file before updating several different master files. 
        It was done in green screen because we are missing the information 

on how to make a GUI front end work with RPG.  How can you do this 
efficiently with RPG doing most of the work?  I have taken a couple of 
hour long sessions on PHP & EGL, but how does the data go between the 
screen & the program?  I understand the syntax, but the implementation is 
what I have a problem with, and don't have the time to figure out.  How 
can passing all the fields (20+) through the IFS or something else be as 
fast as a green screen with subfiles?  I haven't looked extensively, but I 

have not seen step by step instructions on how to make a GUI screen work 
with RPG.  I have seen how to write the screen, how to write the program, 
but how is the information passed back and forth?  This may not make a lot 

of sense, but this would have been a perfect project to use new 
techniques, but I did not see a fast way to get it up and running. 

<===================================================>

Terri Harteau
Felker Brothers Corporation
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"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path 
and leave a trail." 
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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