Re: AW: Open Access to be generally available as part of the RPG compiler

[Vern Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Scott

I agree with you here, and I also make the same point that Jon does - 
the buzz has been on 5250 modernization, but that's a really big task 
that I don't want any part of. We both know of others in the 
modernization arena that have not used OA with their product line.

An obvious possibility for me is remote databases. You have put together 
great material on using JDBC - your service program could be the core of 
a nice handler - just as I've done that with our RPG2SQL product.

One of the things about OA is that you have to work in the mold of 
native file I/O - this just won't fit many of the new resources, so OAR 
is not a good thing for those.

So if you can think of getting data from somewhere as a CHAIN, you're in 
business with OAR, seems to me. And many shops have people that can do 
this. Or working with IFS files. Again, the things you've put together 
could be the engine for such a handler.

Hey, there go 2 cases that are not all that unusual - but maybe they are 
the only 2? I can't think I should believe that. But the imagination of 
this community will tell the tale.

And I think I'm all for learning new stuff. As you said, however, there 
is this huge body of code that companies just can't afford to change. 
There's no ROI in change merely for change' sake - some of the naysayers 
seem to be in the latter camp.

Regards
Vern

On 2/2/2012 2:49 PM, Scott Klement wrote:
> hi Justin,
-snip-
> So that's my opinion, RPG-OA is a great short-term, quick-fix.  It's
> better than the older technique that involves interpreting the 5250
> datastream.   But it shouldn't be your end-goal.
>
> Jon Paris constantly makes the point that RPG-OA is useful for other
> things besides just user interfaces.  He told me this more than 3 years
> ago, and I've been thinking about it since then.  I've found one or two
> cases where this makes sense -- but it's extremely unusual.  (And THAT
> is why I don't think SPECIAL files ever caught on.)
>
> -SK