RE: DSPF Handling (was Re: Design shift of view)

[Joe Teff <jteff19@xxxxxxx>]

> Hey, how about putting the screen format specs right in with the RPG
> code.  We could call it something fancy like "Work Station Utility" or 
>something !    :-)

>> Amen to _THAT_!  On my last platform, DSPF specs were included at the top of
>> the code much like "F" specs (and _MUCH_ more legible than DDS specs, without
>> the wasted space).  We didn't have anything as nice as SDA, but I got to the
>> point that I could lay out a screen in my head without filling out a form.
>> There _was_ no "file" to be locked, and the display was _always_ in synch 
>with
>> the program.

>>> Could we get rid of display files all together? Some type of action in SEU
>>> (like a function key) would cause SDA to be invoked. The display file code
>>> would become part of the RPG program. The compiler would generate the
>>> 5250 data stream. Writing RPG would then be more like the visual
>>> development tools (only in the fact that you work on the screen and program
>>> code at the same time).

Actually I was thinking much more in the lines of the VisualAge products. I 
don't
want DDS specs in the RPG. The concept of a bindable object is more in line with
my thinking. In fact, I would like the interface to be like the VA environment 
(use
BIFs to control color, underlines, messages, etc). That way the "screen" becomes
lower level (like MI vs RPG) and to generate a different protocol (5250 vs GUI 
for
example) is a function of the OS and not a compiler. Maybe if we had been doing
this for a few years, we would be ready for the OO world.

Joe Teff
Information Technology Consultant
IBM Certified Specialist - AS/400 RPG Programmer
Quality Data Systems
Minneapolis, MN

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