Re: Opinions and experiences with ReportBro

On Tue, Jul 6, 2021 at 10:06 PM Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

It appears to me that ReportBro requires some Python knowledge and skills.

The template designer doesn't. I think that is quite clearly explained
on the product page:

https://www.reportbro.com/product/index

And it's clearly the designer that Marco is focused on right now.

In regard to embedding logic within templates, I understand that some
people may prefer that. On the other hand, some people view that as a
departure from MVC architecture (i.e. placing 2-3 different types of code
in the same file). I personally prefer a clear separation of concerns, thus
keeping HTML in one source file and RPG in another.

I don't think MVC is relevant here. You seem to have a hard time
accepting that Marco is trying to preserve the capabilities that his
users already have. They have been able to include logic in templates
for quite a long time now. They *like* being able to do that. And they
very well may *need* to be able to do that.

If you are saying that templates shouldn't be allowed to have any
logic in them, then that takes away capabilities from users and
increases the workload for developers (because any time a user wants
something beyond a static template, they will have to get it custom
programmed by a developer).

More often than not, so called low-code solutions end up requiring code to
achieve the results required by the application, or simply can't meet all
the requirements.

Maybe so, but Marco's scenario isn't in the "more often" category
then. He already stated that the existing arrangement, where the users
have the capability to include logic in the templates, has been
working well for them for many years. I daresay being able to do that
*is* one of the requirements. And so Marco has expressed his doubts
that your solution meets *that* requirement, short of the users
learning how to program in RPG.

John Y.