Re: Impressions of EGL - Part Duex

[Joe Pluta <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pete Helgren wrote:
> Taking the EGL tour has, so far, been helpful.  I might just use EGL in 
> the interim as a web services integration tool and then slowly move my 
> applications to use the UI tools later.  I'll learn more about that in a 
> couple of weeks when I finish the course.
>   
Pete, have you tried creating a web service with EGL?  That's definitely 
something that ought to make a light go on.  Using EGL to expose RPG 
business  logic as web services, and then testing those services with 
the built-in Web Services Explorer, is quite productive.

Then when you decide to do your UI research, you have to look at the 
Rich Web Services technology.  That's what we used for the RSDC 
scheduler.  That's what will take your applications to a level that is 
pretty much at the very cutting edge of today's web technologies.

I do find it interesting though that you note there's nothing there you 
couldn't do yourself.  Have you tried dropping a field or a record or an 
array of records onto a web page?  The fact that the data from the EGL 
fields is automatically passed to the page with no work on your part, 
that's what I find lacking in any tagging approach, be it JSP or CGI.  
In the other techniques, you have to specify the linkage; with the JSF 
tooling in EGL it's automatic.  I've done JSP for years, and even though 
beans make it a little easier, it's definitely lacking the auto-binding 
of EGL and JSF.  And of course there's nothing like it in any of the CGI 
approaches.

Also, RBD and RDi can be co-installed.  In fact, that's what IBM calls 
"RDi-SOA"; it's the two products in the same workbench.

Have you taken any of the distance learning courses from Jon Sayles?  
From what I understand those classes are really quite excellent.

Joe