RE: Displaying Graphics

["Shaw, David" <dshaw@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jacob Christiansen [mailto:jacob.christiansen@technocrats.co.uk]
> 
> Hi All 
> 
> Does anyone know how to display graphics via a AS400 Display file.  I
> would like to be able to press a function on the screen and have a
> window appear with say, a scanned in ducoment?  Note, I am not looking
> to start a windows application on the pc but have it all controlled on
> the AS400.  I am a 5250 emulator via client access, so the monitor has
> graphics display capabilities i.e. I am not using dumb terminal.

Jacob,

To the best of my knowledge, the only way that the 5250 data stream can
display graphics is through the use of GDDM, Graphical Data Display Manager.
If you go to
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/pubs/html/as400/online/v4r4eng.htm and do a
Find on books with GDDM in their titles you'll see the two manuals involved.

To be able to display the graphics generated by GDDM, you need either a 5292
model 2 color graphics terminal (big, very expensive antique), or a good
emulation of one.  None of the various Client Access for Windows versions
includes such an emulation.  In the old Client Access for DOS product there
is the capability to do this, but your video card must emulate an IBM 8514/a
adapter and you have to load so many drivers that you can forget about doing
anything else with that PC while they're loaded.  I've been told that one of
the third-party 5250 Windows emulators is capable of displaying 5250
graphics, but I don't remember which one and I didn't verify the claim.  I
suppose you could write your own emulator - do it open source and you might
be able to get a few of the wizards hereabouts to contribute a lot of it
<grin>.

Printing GDDM is much easier than displaying it.  IPDS and AFPDS printers
can handle virtually all of it, and Host Print Transform is capable of
partial support.

Bottom line: Native AS/400 graphics are limited in capability and difficult
to support.  If you want graphics capability, it's easier to get there via
client/server apps, using something like Java, Visual Basic, Visual RPG,
etc.

Dave Shaw
Spartan International, Inc.
Spartanburg, SC
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