what's new in vb 2005? -- MIDRANGE-L

Changing subject to What's New in VB from "Green Screen to GUI".

There are a lot of new features in Visual Basic 2005.  You can read all
about the new VB at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnvs05
/html/vb9overview.asp.  There is also a free VB developer's book at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/whidbey/introto2005/.

According to Forrester Research, as of 2005, Visual Basic is used by
more than half of the world's professional developers.    

So, let me tell you about the 5 things that I think make sense from an
iSeries Developer perspective if I may.

1.  Write less code.  If you are using VB to access your iSeries, you
would use data binding to make this happen.  Thanks to SqlDataSource's
ability to query a data source and bind to a control, no code is
required. In addition to querying databases, SqlDataSource can also
update databases. It can talk to any database for which a managed
provider is available, including DB2/400. SqlDataSource is part of a new
family of data source controls. Another notable member of that family is
ObjectDataSource, which enables controls to declaratively data-bind to
middle-tier data access components.  By the way, there also new JDBC
drivers included too which have been updated for the latest
specifications.
 
2.  Page Themes. If you are adding a GUI to replace a 5250 sceen, the @
Page directive's new Theme attribute applys a theme to all the controls
on the page. Alternatively, you can specify a theme in Web.config to
apply it to an entire site. 

<%@ Page Theme="ThemeName">

You can build your own themes for your company or acquire them from
third parties.

3.  Simplified form authentication.  VB 2005 provides a membership
service for managing users and credentials; login controls for logging
in users, creating new users, and more; and a role management service
for enacting role-based security. The result is that forms
authentication is easier than ever before and can often be accomplished
without writing any code.

4. Applications will have better performance and be more easily secured.
All code in fact will be faster since there is just one compiler for the
32 languages supported by Visual Studio (this includes RPG and COBOL
too).  The langauges are first converted to Microsoft Intermediate
Language (MSIL) and then compiled.  

5.  VB 6 developers will find it easier to upgrade to Visual Basic 2005.
We've seen development organizations get up to speed with development on
VB .NET in under 30 days.  

Hope this helps...


David deLisi 
Microsoft Corporation 

 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Shannon O'Donnell
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 10:41 AM
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Green screen to GUI

Interesting!

what's new in vb 2005?

-----Original Message-----
    From: "David Delisi"<daviddel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
    Sent: 9/22/05 11:54:12 AM
    To: "Midrange Systems Technical Discussion"<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
    Subject: RE: Green screen to GUI
      First, let me just remind everyone that I work for Microsoft.  
    
    I think this has been a really great discussion about moving 5250 to
GUI
    and the different approaches that people have tried.
    
    As you may be aware of, Microsoft, in conjunction with a number of
    solutions from iSeries ISVs, launched the Midrange Alliance Program
    (www.microsoft.com\midrange) to show organizations how to use .NET
    technology in conjunction with an iSeries server.  If you go to this
    home page, you will see we now offer free hands on labs for over 2
dozen
    products, including Visual Basic (the current version as well as the
new
    VB 2005 which is being launched in November), XML for Microsoft
Office,
    SQL Server 2005 BI, and more.  You run the classes through browser.
It
    is a great way to explore different technologies from Microsoft
without
    having to license or download any software.
    
    I think the VB one would be of most interest based on this
discussion. I
    have worked with quite a few companies who built new front-ends for
    iSeries back-ends using Visual Basic.  You will also find a number
of
    GUI builders which are supported by both Microsoft (via MAP) and IBM
    (via the iSeries Innovation program), such as look software, LANSA
and
    ASNA. 
    
    I hope this helps.
    
      
    David deLisi 
    Microsoft Corporation
     
    
    -----Original Message-----
    From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
    [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kyle S.
Goodwin
    Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 7:53 AM
    To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
    Subject: RE: Green screen to GUI
    
    Why not write Java client applications that run in GUI on whatever
your
    client platform is for presentation layer only?  These apps can then
    talk
    to WebSphere running on the iSeries where the actual processing
would be
    done, on the iSeries, just like it always has been.  I suppose if
you
    want
    to only write RPG and no Java on the iSeries then this isn't viable.
Is
    it possible to use WebSphere to invoke RPG things and thus provide a
    glue
    between the Java GUI and the backend RPG?
    
    Kyle S. Goodwin
    Extensicom LLC
    
    michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx said:
    > Find people that can code in it?
    >
    >> -------- Original Message --------
    >> Subject: RE: Green screen to GUI
    >> From: "Booth Martin" <booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
    >> Date: Thu, September 22, 2005 10:42 am
    >> To: "Midrange Systems Technical Discussion"
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
    >>
    >> I agree with your main thrust, but am unsure what you can do with
    other
    >> Windows languages that you can not do with VARPG?
    >>
    >> ---------------------------------
    >> Booth Martin
    >> http://www.martinvt.com
    >> ---------------------------------
    >> -------Original Message-------
    >>
    >> From: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
    >> Date: 09/22/05 01:45:29
    >> To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
    >> Subject: RE: Green screen to GUI
    >>
    >> > > It runs on the workstation.  You are correct of course, as
    >> > always.  But with
    >> > > rare exceptions, what iSeries workstation today is not
Windows?
    >> >
    >> we are are running some desktops with linux here (debian) and are
    using
    >> tn5250. worked out very good.
    >>
    >> > For the vast majority of Windows programmers, it doesn't make
    >> > sense to
    >> > learn RPG. They're already familiar with languages like C++,
    >> > or VB. Or if
    >> > they're more modern, they're working in languages like C# and
    >> > Java.  Why
    >> > would they want to convert to RPG?
    >>
    >> i fully agree with this. it simply doesn't make sense to switch
to a
    >> tool/language which can't do half the stuff you allready can do
with
    the
    >> tools/languages you have or know.
    >>
    >> i'm mostly programming java and for me VARPG is no option. too
    limited.
    >> the
    >> user knows what he can expect from a gui application because the
see
    >> things
    >> in other products. and with VARPG you just can't do it. so why
would
    i
    >> want
    >> to switch to VARPG. and i don't think that authorization and
    deployment
    >> is
    >> so easy. at our site we have hundreds of clients/users local and
    remote
    >> and
    >> i don't see a simple strategy for deployment. web applications
are so
    >> more
    >> simpler to deploy.
    >>
    >> --
    >> This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L)
    mailing
    >> list
    >> To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
    >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
    >> visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
    >> or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
    >> Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
    >> at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.
    >
    > --
    > This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L)
mailing
    > list
    > To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
    > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
    > visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
    > or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
    > Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
    > at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.
    >
    >
    
    
    -- 
    Kyle S. Goodwin
    Extensicom LLC
    
    -- 
    This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L)
mailing
    list
    To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
    To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
    visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
    or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
    Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
    at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.
    
    
    -- 
    This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L)
mailing list
    To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
    To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
    visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
    or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
    Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
    at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.