Re: Costco still on IBM i?

Hi Jon, every now and then I wonder whether the chicken or the egg came
first. :-)

We use IWS (mostrly) as bridge between RPG and Web clients (Js). And since
2019 we didn't have a real problem (maybe the way it use timestamps and
timezone is not the best but...). I don't know what else should I say about
it, granitic? Good support, free.

Maybe not the best tool on the market but usefull to bridge RPG based
application to a Web interface.

Best regards
--
Marco Facchinetti

Mr S.r.l.

Tel. 035 962885
Cel. 393 9620498

Skype: facchinettimarco


Il giorno lun 26 mag 2025 alle ore 00:15 Jon Paris <jon.paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
ha scritto:

IWS is a good tool. But ... while I have huge respect for Amra and what he
has achieved, there is just not enough IBM support behind it. Take look at
the manual - last I saw it was still from 2018 and wildly out of date.
Updated info is mostly buried in tutorials.

The biggest problem many shops have is that, without in-house Java
experience, troubleshooting can be really problematic. Also for any modern
authority checking like OAuth 2 or JWT or ... you have to write custom Java
code. Any public-facing web service will need that. It also is nowhere near
as fast as the alternatives.

There are excellent low-cost tools out there that will be kept up-to-date.
There are even some like ILElastic that are free and open source with
for-fee support behind it if needed.


Jon Paris
Jon.Paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On May 25, 2025, at 3:54 PM, Marco Facchinetti <

marco.facchinetti@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"It's a cacophony of vendors; in the past, IBM has provided some guidance
and technology to help bridge major changes"

IBM did it again providing a fantastic toll: IWS (chapeau to Nadir Amra).

If the fear of many RPG programmers is that of not knowing how to manage

a

Web interface because it requires specific knowledge that they do not

have

or because it implies venturing into a world that changes standards too
quickly for the sake of investment, it means that we have not understood
the message that IBM gave with IWS:
the RPG programmer takes care of what he knows how to do and IWS takes

care

of the rest. Will the standard change? IWS will change, not the RPG
programmer nor the programs.

We did our transition to a Web interface in 2018/2019 using IWS and in 7
years we had 0 problems. What else?

That's why I said "I can't believe you people are still talking about

5250."

Best regards
--
Marco Facchinetti

Mr S.r.l.

Tel. 035 962885
Cel. 393 9620498

Skype: facchinettimarco


Il giorno dom 25 mag 2025 alle ore 10:15 x y <xy6581@xxxxxxxxx> ha

scritto:

As a designer, developer, and vendor of transportation management

software,

I have a few customers moving selected functions to a GUI (Profound
Logic). But 132-column green screens can do quite a lot and are

friendly

to the high transaction count applications required in my specialty

(LTL,

or "less than truckload", software). I watched one biller enter 600

bills

of lading (with shipper name/address, consignee name/address, bill-to
name/address, reference numbers, and commodity

pieces/weight/descriptions)

in an eight-hour shift--she had her tabbing down to a science. My
experience--and I've been working in this industry for 50 years--is that
users who type extensively like 5250 while less frequent users prefer

GUI.

A GUI might be better for a sales rep filling out a rate quote request

(and

you get web enablement as a bonus) but the people in Traffic and Cash
Application who bang on their keyboards all day won't give up their
5250's.

Replacing a transportation management system is a huge undertaking
(multiple years, because you're talking about affecting everything
operational aspect of the business) and customers are unwilling to go
through that expense for little apparent value, with the possible
exceptions of (1) the availability of cheap programming from offshore
sources and (2) preparation for the i's inevitable end-of-life
announcement. My approach--design highly functional 5250 apps with
context-sensitive help, detailed error messaging, and strong programming
standards--gives existing users a better experience and provides high
quality candidate programs easy to convert to a GUI.

I suspect others share my dilemma: I don't know enough to know what I

need

to know about GUI. It's a cacophony of vendors; in the past, IBM has
provided some guidance and technology to help bridge major changes,

notably

with the arrival of the AS/400 and S/36 mode (some will disagree with

any

suggestion S/36 mode was related to technology). Perhaps the real

issue is

that many members of this community are used to dealing with the one

vendor

who offered a complete and integrated technology solution while most of

the

rest of IT (non-maninframe, non-i) is used to dealing with multiple

vendors

and interface issues.

It's going to be interesting.

On Sat, May 24, 2025 at 9:22 PM Daniel Gross <daniel@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Marco,

Am 25.05.2025 um 03:07 schrieb Marco Facchinetti <

marco.facchinetti@xxxxxxxxx>:

Daniel, once again: I wrote a ton of "display file - program" but

nobody will ever buy that model again.

That's true from your personal perspective as an ISV and consultant. In
fact, it would be very hard / impossible today, to sell a customer a

new

application package with a 5250 user interface.

But this has nothing to do with an "superior programming model" - web

UIs

are just shiny and new and have a lot of bling. And in some cases

really

add value.

But the reality in small and medium businesses is, that they have

invested

a lot into their code bases over time - and they don't just throw that
away, because someone say, it's "bad technology". Other than big
enterprises, the SMBs don't jump on every train.

The company I work for (logistics and transportation) has a core
application from the early 1990s - of course green screen. But that

doesn't

hurt, because the average user, never sees it, as our web development

team

created specific UIs for many user centric tasks that communicate with

our

code modules.

But when it came to a new business process (processing incoming

invoices

vs. internal pre-calculation) the stakeholders wanted us to create a

new

5250 application. In fact the ladies who have to work with it, liked it
better - and asked for it. This wasn't my decision - is even was made,
before I entered the company - and maybe I wouldn't have made that

decision

- but now it's like that.

So again - from the perspective of an ISV / consultant it's clear, that
you don't develop new software based on 5250. But from the perspective

of

an internal developer or freelancer - not working for an ISV - it's not

so

clear, as you have to deal with what is on hand.

Kind regards,
Daniel

P.S.: I've only seen the screenshots of "Galileo" at your website -
doesn't look mediocre - and I think Patrik didn't reference to you
application. But there are a lot of bad web GUIs out there - I have

seen

a

lot in the last 20 years - and I have seen a lot of good, bad and ugly

5250

screens too.
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