IBM i

Instructional AJAX videos

Generating an AJAX response to RPG or PHP requests
Building an AJAX program is a lot like building a dynamic HTML page says Profound Logic founder, Alex Roytman, but you output text or data interchange format (XML, Javascript object notation) instead of HTML. Hany Elemary, Web developer and analyst from Profound Logic, demonstrates how to output a product description in plain text in response to an AJAX request that provides a product ID on the IBM i using PHP. Alex Roytman demonstrates the same procedure using RPG.

Using AJAX libraries
In a follow-up to a earlier video in which viewers were directed to use the AJAX library, Profound Logic’s David Russo, the main developer and architect of the company’s JavaScript AJAX library explains how to use AJAX libraries.

The team at Profound Logic is interested in getting feedback on what you would like them to cover in future videos. Leave your comments here or contact them directly.

RPG decidedly not dead, say Search400.com readers

On June 29, 2009, many Search400.com readers received an email that got them a little stirred up. I sent out our newsletter and presented an article on EGL and a blog on RPGAAS. This is what I wrote:

So is EGL the new high-definition, flat-screen replacement to that old vacuum-tube television? Is RPG really that outdated? Is there a dearth of RPG programmers available, requiring shops to consider the RPGAAS offering? I ask for reader input partly out of sheer curiosity but also out of a desire to serve the informational and educational interests of readers. If RPG is outdated, what do you need to know about instead? Send me your feedback.

Eleven readers were compelled to write back, and not too surprisingly, none of them sung the praises of the fall of RPG. Instead, most made ardent defenses of RPG as a useful and necessary programming language.

Marc Hall wrote:

I don’t believe RPG is outdated. It has become much more like a scientific language since the introduction of procedures, local variables, and pointers. ILE makes reusability easy, with modules and service programs. RPG seems like a very relevant language and I enjoy it. If there are people suggesting that RPG is outdated, why do they say so?

Bob Mizner wrote:

First, let me say that I reject the argument that there is a dearth of RPG programming talent available. This argument fails to understand the dynamics of supply and demand market forces. There is a dearth of RPG positions available to skilled RPG programmers. Don’t believe it? Post a job opening for an RPG programmer offering a competitive salary with benefits; I promise you, within hours you will have a pile of resumes to choose from. I personally know of several traditional RPG programmers who are currently either looking, or have “settled” for other work.

AS/400 shops stopped hiring after Y2K for a number of reasons, but a scarcity of programming talent was not one of them. Younger people who were educated in the 80’s and 90’s on Wintel platforms – and, in some cases, on Unix and Linux, because, after all, that’s what they learned on in college – moved into decision making positions, and lacked a fundamental understanding of what the IBM midrange platform was doing for the organization. [They] made strategic decisions to move off the platform onto newer, sexier platforms that were graphic and Web-enabled, and which made them feel more comfortable. They walked through the organization and saw all these green text-based screens, and wondered why their internal platform wasn’t capable of colorful graphics and Web-based applications that communicated to their customers and supply chain? And when they questioned their staff as to why those kinds of apps were not available, they got answers ranging from “IBM doesn’t support that” or “it’s expensive and difficult to do” on an AS/400-based server. Which is far from the truth …

I personally know of an AS/400 shop who has Web-enabled all of their internal, home-grown applications. Remote locations were able to ditch expensive frame-relay communication networks in favor of DSL lines into each of their 50+ remote locations, domestic and international. Was it expensive? It was, in fact, a fraction of the cost of moving off the AS/400 platform onto something Windows-based, rewriting legacy apps, and installing and maintaining all new Windows-based hardware and networks.

If there is a dearth of anything, it is in ISV’s offering native ERP solutions to businesses. There are a dwindling number of solutions providers who have stayed with the platform; most have developed comparable, competing apps using .Net or other development tools. RPG programmers have had to learn Java, .Net, or now PHP in order to remain employed. Rational tools? EGL? It’s all just additional buzzwords to facilitate IBM’s move away from RPG. IBM sees the writing on the wall, all these young decision-makers wanting graphic and Web-enabled interfaces. So instead of placing development emphasis on making RPG-based apps more modern – perhaps by offering a native CGI for RPG – IBM moves businesses away from the platform, away from the strength of all those legacy apps written in RPG that drive business logic, to newer platforms, newer tools, newer apps written in languages that didn’t exist a decade ago. And probably won’t exist a decade from now. Which means, for businesses who invest in them by developing business logic apps, another conversion, another migration, a decade or so down the line …

Furthermore… vLegaci’s … “RPG as a Service” is nothing more than out-sourced contract development with a new name. A pig is still a pig, and calling it something different don’t make it so. I don’t buy into it as even remotely related to “cloud computing” a.k.a. capacity on demand.

Continued »

Running IBM i on the JS23 and JS43 blade servers

IBM has just released a Redbook with detailed implementation instructions for JS23 and JS43 IBM BladeCenter blade servers. The 594-page guide (yes, 594) is good both for an overall look at the IBM BladeCenter platform, as well as detailed implementation guidelines for specific operating systems (in addition to IBM i, it also has chapters on AIX, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux).

The chapter on IBM i implementation is about 100 pages.

RPG as a service

Beyond the world of IBM i, the hottest topic in IT right now is “Cloud Computing,” which is essentially a mix of platform and software-as-a-service (PaaS and SaaS) offerings that are available on-demand. So it was with a little amusement and some interest that I read the press release from vLegaci offering RPGAAS. That’s right, RPG as a service.

“… designed for companies who don’t always have an RPG programmer available, or need quick, cost-effective programming results…”

After a year of reading emails from readers inquiring about a variety of topics, I have to think that there is a market for such a product, and vLegaci’s President, Steve Kilner, says that Gartner’s findings support this supposition.

“Consensus is emerging from IT thought leaders such as Gartner Group and Capers Jones that maintaining and modernizing legacy systems gives the best possible return on IT dollars,” said Kilner. “For businesses with legacy RPG systems, the dwindling pool of RPG programmers poses the challenge of how to get unfamiliar programmers up to speed rapidly on complicated legacy code. vLegaci addresses this through the use of its innovative program comprehension tool, Codelyzer. This static and dynamic analysis tool enables new programmers to quickly assess unfamiliar RPG programs, thereby enabling the concept of a service such as RPGAAS.”

What do you think? Is this a service your company could use?

Rich Internet applications on IBM i

At COMMON in April, I met with Alex Roytman of ProfoundLogic Software, who shared the company’s Profound Logic TV initiative to share educational videos with IBM i professionals.

Last week the company released their newest video on Rich Internet applications (RIAs) for the IBM i. Roytman provides some background information on the technology and compares RIAs with traditional Web applications, and shows how RIA Libraries and Frameworks can help create powerful user interfaces with little to no coding.

The team at Profound Logic is interested in getting feedback on what you would like them to cover in future videos. Leave your comments here or contact them directly.

Web development on IBM i, what’s important to learn?

On my way to COMMON in Reno, Nev. I happened to be sitting in a seat near another attendee. He found out who I was and unleashed a series of questions about IBM i, specifically with an interest in figuring out how to prioritize the sessions he would attend at the meeting. Some reading and past initiatives had left him a bit bewildered as to what development tools he should focus on learning, and which were disappearing into the ether. I passed the questions on to a couple of our site contributors, Jim Mason and Andrew Borts, as well as COMMON attendee and Midrange.com owner and founder, David Gibbs.

Is IBM’s WebFacing Tool replaced now by HATS, or has it been de-emphasized, or is something else going on?

Borts: WebFacing is now enhanced by HATS – or Host Access Transform Services. This isn’t your mothers “Screen Scraping” software. This is a server based system that takes 3270/5250 applications (e.g., “legacy”) using a macro language with the screen’s behind them and can serve them on a multitude of clients including mobile phones, Firefox, smart phones, and more – not just Web. This option should be considered any time a legacy application needs a little kick for the user communities, giving the ability to make Web-based screens more logical for the users.

Mason: Changes in IBM product managers change strategies. To use WebFacing and HATS now you have to license the server from IBM. HATS is the default dynamic translation of 5250 screens for the Web. You can do customization of screens with WebFacing tools and deploy the customized screens.

Is the “Rational” product something I need to use, or is it more for larger projects that involve multiple people developing and testing?

Borts: Rational Software Solutions were designed to manage large software projects where change control, requirements management, and QA management are combined.

Mason: Rational products are purchased. They are also an option. You don’t need to buy them if you don’t want to. The alternative to RDI for building RPG applications is to do it the old way using SEU and the RPG compiler. The alternative to Rational Application Developer for i to build Web applications is using the free Eclipse BIRT or Web Tools suites. With these, you can do Web reporting, build Web applications, Web services etc.

Is RPG ILE also not a major emphasis anymore? I read the paper by Sharon Hoffman from 2006 that seemed to say the direction was away from RPG and toward JAVA. Does that say time would be better spent working with JAVA than RPG?

Borts: Well, yes and no. Yes, if you have the time and energy, Java is an emerging technology and anything written has some relationship to it. But, learning all the Web technologies – starting with HTML and Javascript, then after those skills are learned (not perfected) you can address the Web technologies such as AJAX applications utilizing CGI back-end software such as RPG (which can run CGI applications), Net.Data, Java (via JSP) and PHP can serve on an iSeries. Ajax allows for partial page refreshes, which makes a Web browser to act more like a PC application. RPG has had major enhancements over the past few years. We have RPG FREE, which is being used more and more (I call this language Java Junior cause it looks like Java!).

Mason: IBM doesn’t have a direction for development for System i. They have options. Sometimes they push one more than the other but there is not a clear strategic direction, just choices available. Your choices are RPG, PHP and Java.

RPG is fine for traditional RPG applications. Despite IBM’s attempts to do better, it’s not a great choice to do Web, Web services or XML applications - newer Java tools are much better.

PHP is a decent environment for building basic Web applications and more and it has good access to i5 OS features in the PHP toolkit for System i. the PHP runtime is OK.

Traditional Java development for i5 OS uses either Rational or Eclipse Web or BIRT tools and the Java Toolkit for the System i. Eclipse and the Java toolkit are both free and very good choices. Java runtime is better than PHP. Now Java development has moved ahead of other options with Groovy and Grails. New Java based on Groovy/Grails is easier to learn and faster to build many types of applications than the other choices. I’ll start covering more on Groovy/Grails for System i in search400 and the Virtual WebSphere Community Edition user group. You can find out general Groovy info and Grails info at the linked websites. I did a hands-on lab at COMMON building a Grails Web database application that created, updated, searched books and authors in a database. All students were RPG with no Web experience and completed the lab in one hour. I also do QuickWeb workshops for companies trying to make transitions to Web technologies quickly.

Gibbs: IMO, RPG and Java best work hand in hand. Java (JSP, servlets) work best for the general user interface with RPG doing the heavy lifting for database and business rules.

How many of these products cost extra? Web application Server? Rational Developer?

Borts: As far as costs, you can serve a Web page with an IBM i for free – all built in. However, many technologies are free. PHP, Net.Data, and CGI are all technologies that require no money up front to load onto the AS/400. Net.Data is actually supplied with the operating system, then RPG CGI can be downloaded from G.B. Peroti’s Web site, Easy400.net, then PHP can be installed on ANY i5 with V5R4 and above (V5R3 is back level supported, but not as many toys as Version meant for V5R4) for free – which fits into any budget. JSP pages can be served using Tomcat, which is supplied with the iSeries in the base OS. To run WebSphere, you need a paid license for the developer seat, and the server.

Mason: Rational tools cost more. The Eclipse suites (based on new Galileo base) for BIRT and Web tools are free. You also need to copy the jt400.jar file from the IFS folder. It connects Java to everything on the System i.

Your application server choices include WebSphere (billable), Apache Tomcat (free) and IBM WebSphere Community Edition (a full JEE server that is free but has options for IBM support plans if you need it for your production environments).

If you ever have questions that you would like to get a few opinions on, don’t forget that you can ask them via IT Knowledge Exchange, or ask a question of a specific expert or send me an email and I’ll shepherd it to the appropriate folks to provide you with answers. Also, please add your input on these questions below.

COMMON board reveals financial situation at meeting of members

COMMON president, Randy Dufault presented the organization’s dire financial situation at the meeting of members on Tuesday afternoon at the COMMON 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

“If we were to do nothing at this point, at the end of 2009 COMMON would suffer an 800,000 dollar loss,” said Dufault. “Needless to say, an 834,000 loss, even though we have an incredibly healthy reserve… that would put us in a real untenable position.”

He explained that the plan for the 2010 conference would include the following changes:

• 15 session rooms (instead of the 20+ at the conference this year).
• Cut the total days of educational sessions from five to four, which cuts the number of sessions from about 500 to ~320
• Cut Expo from three days to two
• Cut out one evening social event (unless sponsorship is found)
• Reduce the size of the final “main event” (unless sponsorship is found
• Reduce lab rooms down to one
• Suspend subsidies for guest program
• Suspend Communication and Networking volunteer budget
• Suspend Leadership and Advocacy volunteer budget
• Reduce the budget for the volunteer Strategic Education Team
• Create a volunteer registration rate, no more free passes for volunteers
• Speakers with one session will be eligible for volunteer rate, and speakers with two-five sessions would get 25% off registration
• and more…

Dufault shared that even with the cuts that are planned, the projected loss would still be about $582,000 in 2009 and a lost of $139,000 in 2010.

This news was a lot to take for the members, and the feel of the meeting had already been a bit melancholy as Dufault made a gesture of remembrance for Al Barsa Jr. that he was barely able to complete and which left much of the room struggling to keep composure.

Members stepped up to the microphones and asked a host of questions, expressing thanks to the board and the COMMON staff for setting up the meeting and being so honest with them. Some shared suggestions of means to growing the interest in the meeting through college recruitment and expanded outreach efforts. Others clarified the cuts to volunteer perks and asked that the board open up more to get the community involved in coming up with more creative ideas. One Orlando, Fla., resident and COMMON member lambasted the cuts, pointing out that you can’t grow your revenue while making cuts. Some expressed concern that the value of the program would diminish with the cuts to sessions, and thus, less people would attend. All of this left members and myself thinking about what could be done differently to attract more attendance and improve the chances of the organization’s survival.

Earlier in the day I had attended the first-timer’s social meeting, which was a chance for fist-time attendees to give their feedback on the meeting and share their suggestions for improvements to the program. One thing that some people expressed was that some of the technical sessions were too advanced, and they felt lost.

Time for my two-cents: Perhaps COMMON’s education committee could take this advice and work to create specific learning tracks that would be more attractive to first-time attendees. In a coordinated effort between speakers, attendees could start at a introductory level and take classes on a specific topic area through an advanced level. Some speakers taught a series of classes this year that aimed to accomplish this, but because of scheduling and perhaps a lack of emphasis on the marketing side that this was being done, some new attendees may have missed out on this. If COMMON wants to recruit more attendees, perhaps creating these one or two-day mini-courses on a specific topic would be beneficial.

The other thought I have is a question: Is this IBM’s fault? Did their rebranding efforts and lack of effective marketing vision for the platform cause dwindling interest in educational activities around the IBM i? (What do you think?)

The last attendee to step up to the mic was Justin Porter, the cheerleader and representative to the COMMON board from YiPs (and a name you should get used to seeing in the IBM i community). Porter gave an uplifting and passionate short speech about educational outreach, encouraging IBM i professionals around the country to reach out to local colleges and universities and spread the word of i. Not a bad idea.

Scott Klement has been vlogging (that’s video blogging) from the event all week, and his video from yesterday includes the key part of Dufault’s presentation, and his own personal reaction to the announcement.

What do you think? Will you be able to attend COMMON with these changes? If you haven’t attended COMMON, why not? What would make attending worthwhile for you?