Re: Report API and Catalog

["Maurice O'Prey" <maurice.oprey@xxxxxxxxx>]

Nathan

I found your post very interesting. I have often wondered how to evolve RPG
into OO and whilst it is of course possible you have shown that it can be
done.

Thanks

Maurice O'Prey



-----Original Message-----
From: web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Nathan Andelin
Sent: 03 June 2008 19:34
To: Web Enabling the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: [WEB400] Report API and Catalog

> From: Aaron Bartel
> Does RPG make a good "plumbing" or "framework base" type language?

Service programs make good toolkits.  And after you've written a dozen or so
service programs you're beginning to have a good "framework".

Barbara Morris of the Toronto compiler team also showed me a technique for
implementing object oriented concepts using RPG, which I've used a lot.

For example, I use a generic service program to support combo boxes.  The
cboNew() procedure returns a pointer to a new instance of a combo box.  The
cboAddItem() procedure adds new items to a combo box.  The cboToHTML()
procedure renders a combo box as an HTML stream.  And so forth.

While object instantiation is more common in object oriented languages, it's
pretty easy to do in RPG, using data structures with basing pointers and
%alloc(), where data structure subfields are used to store object
properties.

Nathan.