Re: Panel Group help format

[Buck Calabro <Buck.Calabro@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

IBM's WebFacing doesn't do panel groups for one simple reason: it is
specifically designed to convert DDS source into .jsps and Java classes.  It
is a conversion tool not a run-time engine.  It basically uses Java to
emulate the way DDS works with an HLL like RPG.

The HLL knows only about the I/O buffer.  It doesn't see any of the 5250
data stream, just the characters in the I/O buffer.  The compiled *DSPF
object has all the formatting information embedded in it so that when I send
a buffer out to the workstation, the *DSPF wraps 5250 control characters in
and around the 'fields' within the buffer.  When this fully reconstituted
5250 datastream hits the workstation, the CPU inside the device executes the
embedded commands (position to, begin field, 'CUSTOMER NAME', end field,
position...) while placing the 'fields' on the display.  It's part of the
device independent design the S/38 embodied.  Your program code just doesn't
care about the nuances of talking to a colour display vs. a monochrome vs.
text-enabled vs. 27x132.  The system (via the *DSPF) handles that.

WebFacing replaces the *DSPF supplied formatting with Java and .jsp.  So
instead of compiling DDS into a *DSPF (once) you convert DDS into Java +
.jsp (once).  Just as the DDS compiler cannot understand UIM tags, neither
can the WF tool.  At least, not yet (I have no insight as to what plans the
WF team have.)

Screen scraping is an altogether different proposition.  There, a run-time
engine reads the fully encoded 5250 datastream and attempts to emulate the
embedded 5250 commands as HTML, etc.  The difficulty here is that HTML will
never support (nor should it) every 5250 command.  That means that there are
some 5250 situations that don't turn out very well when interpreted at
run-time.  Subfiles in windows on top of a subfile comes immediately to
mind.  Imagine reading the commands and trying to figure out whether to
create a list box, a drop-down box or an HTML table.  Ick.  Good on 'em for
how far they've got.

  --buck

"This box Rocks!" - related to 2002 NE IBM
Conference attendees by IBM's Stephanie Joy