Re: What is UIM

["Simon Coulter" <shc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Booth,

You wrote:
>Question: Lets say a person is an average experienced RPG programmer and 
>can also write some basic HTML tables.  Someone like me.  How cruel and 
>how steep is the learning curve?  If learning to write a regular subfile 
>program from scratch is a 8 on a scale from 1 to 10, where would you place 
>learning to write a subfile in UIM from scratch? 

I don't think UIM lists are any harder than subfiles -- just different.  
(But then I wouldn't put subfiles as high as 8 on a 1 to 10 scale :).  
AS/400 programmers don't seem to grasp that there are only four things to 
worry about with a basic display subfile.  

        1/ Ensure the SFLCTL record and SFL record do not share rows
        2/ Specify the RRN program field on the display file F-spec
        3/ Increment the RRN program field before writing a subfile record
        4/ Correctly set the SFLDSPCTL and SFLDSP indicators

Defining UIM panels involves more typing than a similar panel in DDS but 
once the basic definitions are in place the UIM panel is much easier to 
modify.  Especially when adding new columns to a list or supporting new 
views (i.e., F11=Change view) in a list.

The UIM compiler is also not quite as good as the DDS compiler in finding 
coding errors.  It often takes a couple of compiler passes to correct 
syntax errors. (For example, the UIM compiler may list three syntax errors 
which you fix and then it will list more on the next compile.  Not because 
you made more mistakes but because the UIM compiler didn't find them on the 
first pass -- it was confused by the three errors it did find).

>Question: Does it have any potential for moving off the constraints of the 
>5250 window?  At the moment I am finding it frustrating to have just 80 or 
>132 viewable columns.  HTML reports in a browser are simple to do and are 
>really a solution for attractive presentation of data and for attractive 
>printing choices for the user.

No, UIM is bound by the screen size in width.  It does have good support 
for scrolling up and down panels (menus, displays, data entry, lists, etc.) 
but no support for panels wider than the screen (if you ignore CHGVIEW 
support).  As is the case with DDS you need to manage scrolling width-wise 
in your program.  Since UIM is a tag language it would be easier to convert 
to HTML/XML/etc than DDS.  Even a browser is bound by the physical screen 
width regarding the amount of data visible at once.  (A browser does handle 
the sideways scrolling nicely though.)  

Regards,
Simon Coulter.

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