Re: Help Systems' email about AFP support discontinued at 7.3 - not true ! - or is it ?

The "forms" metaphor in this case seems a bit counter intuitive, to me at
least. Forms in my mind are pre-printed documents which contain input
elements which one fills out manually and hands back to whoever is seeking
your input. Think filling our a drivers licence application and handing it
back to a clerk.

It sounds like iForms is a WYSIWYG report designer and generator which can
import data from multiple types of data sources. I've never understood why
people felt that spool files were good "data sources".

I must be missing something..., probably out of touch.


On Fri, Dec 9, 2016 at 10:33 AM, Richard Schoen <
Richard.Schoen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

When dealing with spool files, iForms can ingest an existing spool file
and turn it into a business form such as an invoice, po, check, etc.

We don't really care what created it as long as it's *SCS.

iForms can also be used to generate output reports if needed since
documents are spool file, text file, XML file or database driven but its
main usage is normally to create business forms.

Beyond doing simple spool file driven forms, it supports
header/detail/comment and other complex sub-report options so chances are
you could do some pretty complex form documents if needed.

I'm happy to talk more offline if interested in learning more but at least
for the purpose of Verns original AFP discussion we've covered it already.

Regards,


Richard Schoen
Director of Document Management
e. richard.schoen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
p. 952.486.6802
w. helpsystems.com

-----Original Message-----

------------------------------

message: 3
date: Fri, 9 Dec 2016 09:38:51 -0500
from: "Mark Murphy/STAR BASE Consulting Inc."
<mmurphy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
subject: Re: RE: Help Systems' email about AFP support discontinued at
7.3 - not true ! - or is it ?

If the existing spool file is generated by RPG or COBOL, somebody had to
write that program. Maybe I just misunderstood your initial statement. Many
of the reports I deal with would not be able to be written using the report
generators I have come in contact with. Maybe iForms is different.

Mark Murphy
Atlas Data Systems
mmurphy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


-----Richard Schoen <Richard.Schoen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: -----
To: "midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Richard Schoen <Richard.Schoen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 12/08/2016 04:56PM
Subject: RE: Help Systems' email about AFP support discontinued at 7.3 -
not true ! - or is it ?


In the words of my kids. Huh ? :-)

If you're talking about iForms, the software can read a spool file and
generate a new PDF document or output a new spool file for printing. Or
you can generate a new PDF or spool file from a database driven document
instead and eliminate RPG or COBOL altogether.

If you're talking about using an existing spool file for a form input why
can't that existing spool file be generated from RPG or COBOL ?

It's actually quite easy to generate a spool file and then generate the
form document from a CL command called from the same program or use an
output queue monitor perhaps.

If there's something you were trying to articulate please clarify.

Regards,


Richard Schoen
Director of Document Management
e. richard.schoen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
p. 952.486.6802
w. helpsystems.com


------------------------------

message: 5
date: Thu, 8 Dec 2016 14:49:30 -0500
from: "Mark Murphy/STAR BASE Consulting Inc."
<mmurphy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
subject: RE: Help Systems' email about AFP support discontinued at 7.3
- not true ! - or is it ?

Seems fair, except that existing spool file can't be generated from an RPG
or COBOL program.

Mark Murphy
Atlas Data Systems
mmurphy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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