Re: Modernizing IBM i - The User Interface (Part 11)

Thanks for your feedback, Booth. And thanks for validating some of the
points made in the article.

Regarding the "locations.json" stream file, you may have missed the
abbreviated link that I embedded in the article, so I'll post the full link
here:

https://rd.radile.com/rdweb/info3/iui11/locations.json

You may notice that the stream file contains a JSON array. It consists of
"VALUE" and "TEXT" elements which correspond with the "value" and "text"
attributes of <select><option>'s referenced in the HTML page. A utility
generates the drop-down list from the JSON stream file, which yes is
located in an IFS directory.

When users select a new <option>, that triggers a request to the IBM i HTTP
server, which forwards it to the IUI100 program, which fetches the selected
"entity" from the DB table (using RPG CHAIN). The entity name and address
are returned to the browser, which is appended to the HTML table.



On Mon, Nov 21, 2016 at 12:59 PM, Booth Martin <booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Great article Nathan. Points you bring out that, to me, are important for
us RPG programmers to grapple with, understand, recognize, and accept
include:

* most everything we do in life is event-driven. Today's programming
follows that model. The days of the 5250 screen with gobs of fields
to be filled in by skilled keyboarders, and then punctuated with the
Enter key are disappearing. Keystroke by keystroke response is the
norm today.
* Much of our data is static. Not all of it of course, but much of it
changes very seldom.
* Not every application needs to be designed with millions of highly
volatile entries in mind.
* every effort made to reduce keystrokes also reduces errors and
training time. Drop down boxes, auto-fill, and cached entries are
worth the effort.

Let me see if I can repeat back to you the major flow points you are
describing:

* There exists a file named "locations.json" which resides in the
iSeries IFS and has a static list of only the school system names.
* That list is served up by an Apache server that you created.
(Probably named RDWEB? or INFO?)
* A user clicking a name in the dropdown list sends a request to the
Apache server which in turn runs a loop that sends a request to the
iSeries regular database asking for all the addresses that go with
the requested name. Those addresses are returned to the user in a
table.



On 11/21/2016 11:49 AM, Nathan Andelin wrote:

This piece shows and explains a simple application which delves into the
shift from the traditional display-file paradigm to the client-server
paradigm, and delineates benefits for end-users.

https://rd.radile.com/rdweb/info2/ibmiui11.html


Nice reading for Thanksgiving.

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