Re: Future of RPG was: Open Access for RPG

Maybe I can help here.

The 5250 bridge running on Zend Server is fantastic if you want to make screen scraping apps in PHP.

IceCap on the other hand is a two edged sward:

First - it is a 5250 bridge. Very similar to the Zend Bridge but for the ILE environment . IceCap is just a simple service program you bind to you RPG / COBOL ... ILE program. That means the you can even do batch interaction with your 5250 - it dont need a web-frame work at this point.

Next - We have build a extJs based web 2.0 emulator (actually in RPGLE) that uses the service program above. We have filled it with "user exits" so you can write you own "scripting" of your 5250 app and garnish the web 2.0 with graphs, flash and what have you - and of cause in RPG.

The complete package is shipped whit a extJs based menu framework that runs both the 5250 emulator along with, "new" web 2.0 apps - that may be IceBreak, CGI, PHP or even websphere.

You can also use it the other way around - like Henrik is. He is using powerExt as the primary front-end and the just "call" 5250 - IceCap'ed apps with a URL. This trick can be done from any web-frame works; Valance, RPGUI, WebSmart, webspehre, RPGSP etc.

It is true that the IceCap web 2.0 runs on top on a IceBreak server - even the free Community Edition. You only have to purchase the IceCap package where the price tag starts as lo as 2000$ for 520 boxes.

It is also true that it is a rather new product and we are still working on it. But we have been working on it since Aaron, Nathan and Scott C. was extremely help full back in december 2008. Thanx guys - you were a great inspiration. I owe you one :)

Try to search the "WEB400" mailing list for "Niels 5250" and see how this product evolved.

Yes - it is only around two years, but we have successfully used it for simple 1-to-1 web enabling of old IBMi and S/36 !!! app's - We have made new apps for iPhones / Black Berries / Android. Used it for web-services encapsulation, and even to integrate webshops with old greenscreen apps where we did not have the source. Created new .NET apps where the core logic is RESTfull services.





Best regards


Niels Liisberg

Chief Technology Officer


System & Method
Håndværkersvinget 8, DK-2970 Hørsholm
Phone: +45 70 20 30 10
Fax: +45 70 20 30 11
Direct: +45 45 166 135
Mobile: +45 31 158 861
E-mail: nli@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: www.system-method.com and www.Icebreak.org





Den 30/07/2010 kl. 17.11 skrev Jon Paris:

Henrik said ...

What I wrote about PHP/Zend was ....

If PHP/Zend has the same 5250 functionallity as IceCap, I
could do the same in PHP/Zend.

Maybee somebody could enlighten me ?


Henrik,

You can enlighten yourself since you started the confusion.

The quote above was not what you said. It may have been what you
_meant_ to say but ...

My initial response was to a post where you said (and I quote from http://archive.midrange.com/rpg400-l/201007/msg00453.html)
"The 5250 bridge is there, however it is not a free product because
it is based on IceCap from System & Method."

I did not believe that to be a true statement which I why I queried you.

I suspect that this may be a language problem. The discussion at the
time was about Zend Bridge. Which is a component of Zend Platform (and
now Zend Server) - not a generic 5250 bridge - which is perhaps how
you interpreted it.

If that is the case perhaps we could start over? If I want to use
PowerExt, is there a free 5250 version of IceCap or similar that I
could use with it? Or do I need to purchase software to make it work?


Jon Paris

www.Partner400.com
www.SystemiDeveloper.com



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