Nathan... and Michael, and Aaron and Maurice and many others,
I think I started a can of worms here, but, often, throwing a grenade in the
room causes action. Let me see if I can summarize all you all said in
response to my query:
First, Nathan... I think you understand architecture like I do... something
like IBM's SAA or the like and a developer's workbench, if at all possible, to
facilitate RAD.
As to your application... it sounds somewhat like I want, probably more for my
needs near term. However, do an app architecture like you are doing, even if
you don't build it at first with all the bells and whistles, will allow for the
addition of same, later; kinda like building an aircraft airframe stronger than
it needs to be or with a modular architecture such that changes/additions are
expected.
Yes, I know you are in the i5-centric camp. I'm in the "rest of the computing
world" camp which would consider i5s if they didn't have folks constantly
saying their platform is just as good (or better) as the rest of the DB2s,
ORACLE, etc., but keep talking RPG and native database access; makes the rest
of the world cringe and run away. I'm trying to breathe new life into the
platform by modernizing its image, not keep in stuck in the past. Again, I
believe in the platform but its worst enemies and the folks that will kill it
in the marketplace are those that say they love it most.
Second, Michael, Aaron, Maurice and others,
It seems like PHP and Java allow for server side apps whereas M$ is mostly
client-side. Seems clear that Java and M$ stuff will be around for awhile,
but is PHP another PERL? Humm, not sure if IBM has fallen on the sword.
Java and .NET or ASP.NET are perhaps the most extensible and development-tool
feature rich, can create the most feature rich apps, are best for enterprise
apps for the long haul BUT
PHP is a good RAD language
It is best for me to seek out Zend for i5 PHP info/code as long I get the IBM
Zend PHP version.
For straight PHP the Zend Core is probably enough. For PHP and Java I'd have
to buy the "platform" Zend piece. The IBM Zend PHP allows for native i5 (I
assume DRDA access) and not ODBC.
For Java/IBM WebSphere, see IBM's Development Studio and lots of books... long
learning curve, more feature rich in the long run. However, WebSphere can
have performance problems unless applications are done well.
Best ASP documentation: Sams, Wrox, Apress, O'Rielly Some videos available
Best PHP: Zend and ??
If I have developed in .ASP, stay ASP. Not sure I agree with that if there is
truly a better mousetrap with a better long-run architecture.
What did I miss of import?
Thanks ever so much for making me wiser.
Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx> 5/31/2007 21:00 >>>
Dave Odom wrote:
I'm not addressing requirements for a small user group,
its the entire user community of the i5.
Okay. In that context, talking about architecture makes sense. And that could
lead to portals.
I'm presently in the process of updating the navigational aspects of a portal,
and talking about it might illustrate some of the constraints I referred to in
an earlier post about Microsoft's UI component approach to Web applications.
The top-level navigational element in my portal is called a Work Area. In the
event that you're hosting data for multiple clients on a single server, Work
Areas are a handy means of separating client data into separate libraries, and
allowing users to select a particular client Work Area prior to launching or
accessing a Web application, where the application would use the library list
for that particular client, for example.
The next-level navigational element is a Menu. Menus may contain links to
Sub-menus as well as links to Applications.
I use a horizontal navigational bar which shows the hierarchical path the user
has traversed to access an application, and the navigational bar is always
visible, no matter how many applications the user may be using concurrently. A
task bar also always visible, and with a single click, it enables users to swap
between multiple applications running concurrently.
The challenge is to provide a smooth transition as users navigate the Work Area
/ Menu lists and incrementally update the navigational and task bars as users
select Work Areas, Menus, Sub-Menus, and Application links.
If you're a developer, and accustomed to the design palette provided by Visual
Studio for Web Applications, it may not occur to you how to design or develop
the type of navigational elements I've described, or how to incrementally
update the navigational bar and task bars and enable swapping between
concurrently running applications while preserving the state of each as you
swap.
You need to think outside the box, so to speak.
Nathan.
midrange.com
