Re: RPG to Java Conversion

Sorry for the delayed response...busy day.

In a nutshell, what we are doing is Servlet/JSP for simple navigation and simple applications with less complex UI requirements. However, the bulk of our effort has been using Swing Applets comunicating XML over HTTP to Servlet(s), which may or may not be using existing RPG logic to return results to the Applet.

A couple of things I didn't point out in the original email were that we are enhancing existing functionality of these legacy applications while moving parts of them to Java. We are not just changing the "presentation layer". Removing 5250 Interactive Tax is a benifit, but not the driving force. We (my company) want to place more importance on an intuitive, yet robust UI. We are a software vendor, and compete with other solutions based on Windows and also Unix. UI is considered a weakness of our system (yes, this is a perceived weakness). We might have been out of business several years ago, if not for Seagull's JWalk product (screen-scraper). I don't like JWalk very much, but it served it's purpose. It gave a better impression to perspective customers than did green-screen. We have passed the limit of the JWalk product, and Java is our next step (albeit large). Applets give us the advantage of a Rich GUI without having to install/deploy/upgrage each and every PC that needs to use the software.

Ken Kennedy