Re: VisualAge RPG Questions

On Mon, 2004-08-30 at 15:45, Scott Johnson wrote:
> Imagine being able to 
> re-use all you RPG skills in a GUI environment.  Only hurdle is event-driven 
> -vs- top-down programming.  Takes a little getting use to.

Thanks Scott,

We are an ISV, and I've known for sometime that we need to have a GUI
product.  More importantly, I need to have a GUI product that does not
require the iSeries to be the back end, so web-facing, screen scrapers,
and some of the other options out there don't really work for me.  I've
toyed with a lot of ideas, and so far this one holds the most promise.

I've done some Java GUI, so I'm comfortable with the Event-driven
model.  I've been reading the help doc that came with the VARPG GUI
Designer, and there is a lot of info there.  I've already had some
frustrations, but I'll move them over to the CODE400 list as they come.

More reponses inline...

> > 2) Can you use any database or does it have to connect to an iSeries?
> 'Native' i/o is only to the iSeries.  Any other DBs can be accessed via ODBC.

This was a major questions for me.  If I understand it right, I can do
this through DB2Connect.  It seems a little kludgy, and I haven't
figured out yet how to specify in the code what database or connection,
or what have you I'm actually using.  I'll also need to work out how to
make this dynamic.  And since I can't use 'native', I'm assuming it'll
have to be SQL.  Of course, I haven't figured out yet how to do embedded
SQL, so obviously I have a lot of reading to do!

> > 3) What references/resources are recommended for learning VARPG?
> On-line help is a good place to start.  Go thru the many samples included 
> with 
> it. There is a book by Bryan Meyers(sp) out there on the subject. There are 
> also 
> redbooks with some info on it. Only problem is that most of the books are not 
> real up todate.
> http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/wdt400/library/classicTools.html

Here is one thing that scares me... they refer to VARPG both here and
during the install as "Classic".  To me, like the Classic HTTP Server,
this means "prepare for the end...".

I did visit the site and it is OK but not overly helpful at my (entry)
level.

> > 4) How does VARPG compare to ASNA's Visual RPG?
> Can't help you here.  What I do know is that ASNA's product does not 
> 'directly' 
> access the iSeries.  They go thru a db gateway of theirs.

I think I'll look into theirs as well, just to be well rounded...

> > 5) Is there another list for VARPG?  If not, is this the appropriate
> > list for VARPG questions?
> The IBM newsgroup is probably the best place:
> news://news.software.ibm.com/ibm.software.varpg

I hate to admit I've never used a news group...

Joel
http://www.rpgnext.com