RE: How to move forward -- MIDRANGE-L

Jeff,

Here's my first piece of advice... Only learn as much about the server
on the AS/400 as you need to know to get it running.  Once it's running
you'll seldom need to touch it.  I haven't looked at ours in over a year
and I'm the administrator.  So, don't pour a lot of energy into it.  Ask
others how to get it going (Shannon has helped here) and forget it.  

Next, get a tool to develop web pages.  Don't do them by hand at first.
Any basic tool will work such as Dreamweaver, FrontPage, etc.  If you're
like me you learn by doing.  Once you create a web page or two in one of
these tools it's easy to learn HTML by seeing what they create.  I think
graphically so I like graphical tools and not text tools.  

Working directly in HTML is almost as bad as working in assembly
language.  I do it once in a while and it's good to know how to do it,
but most good tools can keep you away from 90% of the HTML coding.

Finally, if you're serious about producing web pages that show data from
the AS/400 then get an AS/400 specific web tool.  We use Websmart here
but there are several good ones out there.  Almost all of them will give
you a 30 day trial.  Many, like Websmart, will extend that 30 days to
let you really have a chance to get acquainted.  Also, I've found that
BCD has helped me with many of the above non-Websmart issues such how to
do some Javascript, HTML and HTTP server items.  They've gone way above
the norm with getting me up and running.  If you're going to spend money
with a vendor make sure the don't limit their support to their specific
product!

Chuck
Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Crosby [mailto:jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 9:32 AM
To: Midrange Mailing List
Subject: How to move forward


Don't laugh when you read this.

After some number of fits and false starts over the past few years, I 
think I am finally at a point (meaning I have offloaded some non-IT 
tasks) to truly expand my knowledge in IT by building an internal web 
site and/or 'htmling' some internal paper reports or something along 
those lines.

I need to learn some or all of the following (I think):  HTML, XML, 
decide what to run as a webserver on an iSeries, learn how to run it and

administer it, how to generate html from some programming language, 
decide how and where to store it in the IFS, etc etc etc.

In short, I need to learn everything.  What do I start with?  Where is 
there a roadmap?  Do I need to take a college course?  Do I need to 'go 
away' to a class for a week or 2 to get started?  Do I need a bunch of 
books?  I have asked a similar question here before and was told since I

am a single person shop, to forget Java and forget Websphere.  There is 
so much out there that I have read that it is very confusing.  To give 
you an example of how confusing some of it is too me, listen to this 
question:  Since I can put .html file(s) in the IFS and open them by 
clicking on them, what does a webserver such as the http server do for
me?

Thanks.

-- 
Jeff Crosby
Dilgard Frozen Foods, Inc.
P.O. Box 13369
Ft. Wayne, IN 46868-3369
260-422-7531

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily
the opinion of my company.  Unless I say so.




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