Re: Screen designer -- WDSCI-L

If you go to the very first thread in the WDSCI-L Thread Index for the month of August, 2010, you will find it there.

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From: wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Edmund Reinhardt
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 12:06 PM
To: Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for System i & iSeries
Cc: Eric Chan
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] Screen designer

Thanks Kenneth,
I was not monitoring the list at the time you sent your original note.
But if you want to send us a list of questions/bugs/enhancement requests, we will respond to the questions and enter the bug/enhancement requests into our system for tracking.

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|"'Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for System i & iSeries'" <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx> |
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|21/10/2010 10:52 AM |
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|Re: [WDSCI-L] Screen designer |
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I had some initial difficulties with the Screen Designer in RDP 7.6 and am not sure if it's something I am doing differently that needs to be done a specific way or if I have encountered a legitimate bug. But one of the things I did encounter which made it difficult to use the tool was unexplainable loss of code for the screen I was working on. I documented some of the issues I ran across in an earlier post on this board, but really haven't been able to get back into it because of late I haven't had any project work that involved either screens or printer files to try it out.

We are looking to get formalized training in the next few months as we look to bring RDP 7.6 (and possibly by that time, RDP 8.0) into our business. I plan to have a list of questions specific to the Screen Designer to see if I am doing something wrong, if I have encountered a potential legitimate bug, or of it's a case of it's not designed to do that...but could be a nice enhancement request in the long run.

Stay tuned...

-----Original Message-----
From: wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Edmund Reinhardt
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 8:29 AM
To: Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for System i & iSeries
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] Screen designer

I worked on SDA originally so I am familiar with both feature sets.
While you are correct that multiple selection is weak in Screen Designer it has tremendous benefits over SDA, so I think it would be wise to give it another chance.
For example, if you do select a set of fields in the Design tab, you can select Align from the context menu and align them on left, right, center, bottom, top, middle, bottom, with record boundaries etc. This could have accomplished your alignment in your scenario.
Selection of a rectangular set of fields (think - - in SDA) can be done with the Marquee selection tool from the Palette. These fields can then be moved manually with the mouse as well.

Here are is small set of features that SDA does not have:

- SDA drops all formatting and comments and completely regenerates your source, Screen Designer preserves as much as it can and does not touch or move anything unless it has to.
- SDA has to move in and out of the Design Screen and the various menus to specify keywords and attributes (using the *;), Screen Designer has a powerful properties view that shows you all of the properties and lets you modify them while see their effects while you click.
- Screen Designer has an outline view that always shows you your hierarchical context as well as allowing quick navigation to the element of interest, SDA has nothing like this
- SDA and SEU are very distinct modes and a save/load has to occur when switching between them. In Screen Designer there is a single model that keeps all views in synch with every key stroke. (Try typing on the field name in the editor and see the outline view and properties view all update in real time)
- Screen Designer is fully integrated into Eclipse and uses a mouse to move/size/select, all of which are faster and more intuitive and productive (with a shorter learning curve than the green screen)
- the list goes on and on

People didn't become proficient with SDA until they learned all of the tricks (*, -, = on the Design Screen), it will take a lot less time to learn Screen Designer and it is a more powerful, integrated tool than SDA.

I hope this helps,

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|David FOXWELL <David.FOXWELL@xxxxxxxxx>
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|Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for
System i & iSeries <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx> |

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|21/10/2010 04:20 AM
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|Re: [WDSCI-L] Screen designer
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|wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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Yes, I liked being able to search a field name and then seeing instantly which record I was in.
I've created a new record by option 3 in SDA.
With the source tab I copied the fields from one record to my new record.
The workbench locked for a couple of minutes.
Then, I needed to move the block of fields I just copied to be inline with those already in the record.
This is so quick and simple in SDA.
I'm afraid I won't be using screen designer again.

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This e-mail and attachment(s) may contain information that is privileged, confidential, and/or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. If received in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete/destroy the message and any copies thereof. Although Associated Banc-Corp and/or its affiliates (collectively "Associated") attempt to prevent the passage of viruses via e-mail and attachments thereto, Associated does not guarantee that either are virus-free, and accepts no liability for any damage sustained as a result of any such viruses. Any federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used or referred to in the promoting, marketing, or recommending of any entity, investment plan or agreement, nor is such advice intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by a taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Tax Code