RE: webfacing and competing products

> From: fergal.o'flynn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> We have up to 10 people writing RPG to extract data and some add new
> screens etc. They test these programmes in a test environment and when
> happy move them to Live. I had thought that they could test these in batch
> and convert the DSPF and test them in a browser. I had hoped that the
> development could be done in WDSc, but I see a problem when you want to do
> something simple like a  DSPFD etc. You'd have to look at the results in
> your spool files.

You can submit DSPFD to batch and look at the spooled file via OpsNav.  You
can write your own DSPFD utility in RPG and convert it.  You can use OpsNav
to display the description.

The ultimate answer is that you can do all the things you used to do, but
you will have to change how you do them.


> Operators at the moment use the system screens for monitoring the system
> and setting up user profiles etc. I had thought that Ops Nav could do this
> for us.

Correct.  And you can have one console up with no problems.  How many
operators do you need creating user profiles at the same time?


> This has been my BIG problem with all these webfacing / PSC/400 tools. Yes
> you can convert your DSPFs and run your system in batch. But what
> do you do
> when you want to develop a new function involving 5 RPG programmers and
> lots of new DSPFs. I don't really want to go down the road of having two
> iSeries etc.

This is not a problem with the tools, it's a problem with the fact that you
want to continue developing green screen applications.  IBM is trying to get
you to develop server-based applications, where the bulk of the processing
is dnoe by a server program and the interface layer is very thin.  If done
correctly, one programmer can design the screens and do the interactive
testing, while several other programmers develop the business logic as
servers that can be called.  This is the right architecture in the long run,
and that's what IBM has been pushing us to.  If you want to continue to
design and develop old-style monolithic green screen applications, then you
are going to have to pay the interactive tax.

Joe