Re: IBM i 7.6 Development tools

WRT Vern's comment about RPG dev's trained in good display design: the
relatively limited capabilities of the 5250 environment emphasize the need
for training. When you have less to work with, you have to work harder (a
lesson a good cook knows well).

You can create a good 5250 experience by defining a standard screen layout
(including showing the record format name), using 132x27 screens, using
mixed-case field labels, terminate entry-capable field labels with a colon,
using column separators for numerics and underlines for characters, using
ENTFLDATR to highlight cursor positioning, standardizing command key usage
(especially F1 for help), restoring the cursor to the same place when
returning from a drill down, implementing context-sensitive help and not
getting sucked into IBM's idiotic design paradigm of putting command keys
in the footer (that's fine for system apps; it's wasted real estate for
user apps).

While many coders will scream, having one person design all screens helps
achieve a consistent look and feel across an app, which will make training
simpler and daily use more effective. Just because you don't need a DBA or
a librarian or a systems programmer does mean you shouldn't have one. The
midrange platform offers the ability for "vertical integration" in
programming, where one person can create tables, batch applications , and
interactive applications--and that's not always good. Such work products
tend to reflect the author's capabilities and prejudices when they should
adhere to a higher standard (preferably a well-documented standard at that).

On Wed, Apr 23, 2025 at 6:33 AM Vern Hamberg via RPG400-L <
rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

That sounds similar to ProfoundUI's Genie (I don't work there, was at a
place that uses it, if people want a web interface) - that's a
screenscraper with the ability to add the kinds of things you listed.
Genie does not use OpenAccess for RPG, while they do have another flavor
that converts RLA statements into HTML, their RPG Open Access Handler.

Gavin, are you able to break up "congested" screens into tabs, things
like that? I believe Genie can do that, also. At my previous position
there were screens with hardly any open space - hey, when were RPG
developers ever trained in good display design, right?

*Regards*

*Vern Hamberg*

IBM Champion 2025 <cid:part1.0zXmehPV.V6o06OCH@centurylink.net> CAAC
(COMMON Americas Advisory Council) IBM Influencer 2023

On 4/23/2025 8:02 AM, Gavin Inman wrote:

Yes, in it's basic form.. However, you have to ability to Add content
at will. We've taken our basic green screens and now have add
integrated Video, side bars, etc. While the basic screen is the
original application and still will be. All the added content is pure
web. Our video content is driven from pendo.io which was integrated
into the presto code. It was very easy to do.


On 4/23/2025 8:11 AM, Justin Taylor wrote:

It's a screen-scraper, so yes. I demo'd it a few years back. I'd
describe
it as 5250 in a browser, with some window dressing added.



On Tue, Apr 22, 2025 at 8:40 PM Raul Alberto Jager Weiler <
raul.jager@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have never tried it, but opinions I read about it is that the web
interface created "acts very much like green screen"

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