Re: Opinions and experiences with ReportBro -- MIDRANGE-L

Marco,

In regard to your question about required skills I'd suggest breaking that
down into 2 skill sets. One for the layout of HTML templates. The other for
the RPG code.

For the HTML part, you could probably find a WYSIWYG designer which is
comparable to the ReportBro designer that generates HTML templates that
include placeholders where data might be inserted at runtime. You might
want to provide users a standard CSS style sheet that implements shop
standards in regard to font types and sizes, but allow them to override
that with inline styling if needed.

For the RPG part, you might need to provide end-users a handful of RPG
program templates, which retrieve data and insert it into HTML templates at
runtime.

I don't really see the RPG part as needing more skills than Python and Java
alternatives. Am I missing something?

Nathan.

On Tue, Jul 6, 2021 at 3:19 AM Marco Facchinetti <
marco.facchinetti@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Nathan thanks for your time and attention.

I have nothing against HTML + CSS but what our customers appreciate and
want is the ability to modify the basic templates by entering what they
need both as data (coming from the management system) and the conditions
that control what or how to print certain sections of the documents. I
don't see how to do it via RPG if the conditions are in the template.
We found some good editors for HTML but they are not aware of data and
conditions management.

As I see it, I understand that your system is very good if people with a
higher level skill than the end user manage the templates. I'm wrong?

About performance, nowadays it's not a problem: we are plenty of unused
cores dedicated to Linux partitions.

Thanks again for sharing ideas.
--
Marco Facchinetti

Mr S.r.l.

Tel. 035 962885
Cel. 393 9620498

Skype: facchinettimarco

Il giorno mar 6 lug 2021 alle ore 05:57 Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx

ha scritto:

Hi Marco,

There are a number of advantages to using pure HTML and CSS as opposed to
using an alternative template language, which then may be compiled into a
Java Object that subsequently generates HTML as in the case of Jasper,

or a

template language which may be subsequently interpreted and transformed
into HTML as in the case of Freemarker. Pure HTML combined with CSS is

more

robust and functional. Lots of educational resources for learning HTML

and

CSS. Lots of WYSIWYG editors. Pure HTML and CSS can be immediately
displayed in all types of browsers without first having to compile it

into

a software component or initiate a 3rd party transformer. Pure HTML and

CSS

provides for "responsive design", which means that the layout can
automatically adapt to different page sizes; or portrait vs. landscape.
Your applications may allow users to select page sizes or orientations

and

the layout will adapt accordingly, without the need for custom code. The
design process is a lot faster when you eliminate the "engine" aspect of
alternatives.

When you use RPG to generate documents and reports as opposed to Java,

the

CPU consumption drops 20 to 50 times or so. Users definitely notice that
reports generate quickly as opposed to lagging. Users of our student
information system often generate 5,000+ pages of student report cards in
PDF format without any problem. RPG enables robust conditional logic for
generating HTML files from HTML templates. Then a single function call
transforms the HTML file to a PDF file. There are lots of options for

using

JSON data sources within RPG.

Nathan.

On Mon, Jul 5, 2021 at 8:54 AM Marco Facchinetti <
marco.facchinetti@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Nathan, sorry for the late answer.

Il giorno mer 30 giu 2021 alle ore 17:48 Nathan Andelin <
nandelin@xxxxxxxxx>
ha scritto:

Hi Marco,

I appreciate your feedback. Could you further explain your concern

about

generating documents vs. reports? Also explain what data-source

options

you're interested in?

Our target is to enable the end user to modify (or create) templates.

They
need to be able to handle basic text, formatting, tables, and bulleted

and

numbered lists. Furthermore, they must be able to insert placeholders

for

the data and condition the presence or absence of certain sections

based

on

specific conditions. This last part is managed (today) by Freemarker.
An average document contains 70 to 90 pages, the final document

(usually)

20 to 30 pages. This is due to the application of the If clauses:
[if OrderHeader.OrderType = 'Toys']
This order contains [if OrderHeader.Attributes.Dangerous =

'Yes']dangerous

[/if]Toys
[/if]

As for the data source we prefer to use Json.

In regard to generating documents, from my perspective that's what

templates are great for, whether generating HTML, XML, JSON, or other
formatted documents. A single program might generate any number of
formatted output streams based on the same data source; just use an

RPG

API

to merge the data source with whatever template might be selected.

Documents may be complex. For example, one of our applications

generates

a

roughly 15 page education plan for students, which consists of

content

from

something like 30 different data sources. The template for the

education

plan is a single HTML file that has many sections.

How do you choose which sections to print and which not to print?

There are many WYSIWYG options for designing HTML templates. Our

preference

is an old version of Dreamweaver. HTML provides pixel-level control

over

layout and can be supplemented by CSS styles.

I'll check if they have a usable version in a browser (javascript
compatible).

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