Re: Looking for examples of modern i5/OS applications

[Trevor Perry <trevor@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Lukas,

For the most part, you have identified a decent design, but I think you have
over-engineered an i5/OS "modern" solution, and placed restrictions or
design requirements that are too narrow.

IMO, such a thing that meets your list does not exist. I would suggest that
there are some solutions out there that are as "modern", but are designed
differently. For the most part, the companies with i5/OS that I have seen
are in the process of "modernizing" - for example, refacing and repurposing
their applications. In these cases, the business and database layers run in
i5/OS, but the presentation layer could be browser or .NET based.

I think you should be careful in providing design guidelines that are a
little too much personal preference. Things like "no monospaced fonts" are
more personal as a requirement - while rare, these can be used effectively
in a modern interface. Most programmers will use them to solve the wrong
problem - but I would suggest that is too limiting for a comparison of
"modern" i5/OS solutions.

Ultimately, I think this is ~your~ approach to designing a "modern"
application, and I would expect there would be many people that utilize a
different approach, but are just as "modern".

Maybe you could take it to a higher level...

1) n-tier development
    - DB2 database on i5/OS
    - application layer on i5/OS
    - rich presentation layer
2) Full use of DB2 SQL database
    - triggers
    - constraints
    - commitment control
    - fully relational
3) Application layer
    - ILE
    - Reduced maintenance
4) rich user experience
    - rich controls
    - fully integrated with desktop applications
    - information analysis tools
    - increased user productivity
    - consistent, easy to use
    - Web 2.0 for user interaction

I am sure this list can be improved, since it was off the top of my head.

Trevor




On 7/21/07 2:45 AM, "Lukas Beeler" <l.beeler@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi,
>
>  
>
> I'm looking for some examples of modern, nicely done i5/OS applications.
>
>  
>
> I've seen several examples of things gone horribly wrong in the i5/OS
> world, and I haven't found applications where I would say that
> "everything was done right". So I'm looking for some positive examples.
>
>  
>
> What I (roughly) expect:
>
>  
>
> *         Modern user interface (Web 2.0, or a graphical client)
>
> *         Nice output forms (No monospaced fonts, fully graphical forms,
> graphical form designer)
>
> *         Full use of DB/2 functionality (Triggers, Commitment Control,
> etc.)
>
> *         Tight integration into i5/OS - must be an application that
> runs natively on i5/OS
>
> *         Business Logic must be running on i5/OS (not fat client apps
> which use i5/OS as a DB server)
>
> *         Client software should be written in a modern language (.NET
> or Java)
>
> *         If Client software requires configuration, it must be
> centrally manageable (i.E. using Windows Group Policies)
>
> *         Integration into other commonly used business application like
> Microsoft Office or Microsoft Exchange
>
>  
>
> Does such a thing exist?
>
>  
>
>