Re: Calling VB from RPG?

On 5/27/05, THarteau@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <THarteau@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
>      Last night I was thinking about a request, and wondered if I could
> take an approach that we have never used before.  From a RPG400 (actually
> Asset) program, would it be possible to run a VB program that will display
> 2 separate lists? The user would make one selection and pass back either a
> zip code or a city name. I talked to a VB person, and he said creating the
> display would not be a problem at all.  I am wondering about how to call it
> and how to pass the information back.  This is not necessarily the approach
> we will be taking, I don't know if my boss will let me play around with it
> or not. I just was wondering if it is possible. Thanks!

Its a great idea and it is doable, but ...

You have the fact that the green screen will be locked while waiting
for the user to make the selection in the VB list.  What do you do
when the user ends the VB list window and wants to resume working in
the green screen?

Using RUNRMTCMD works to auto start the VB window, but that adds some
admin requirements on running your app.  Easier sometimes to just tell
the user to start the VB list window on their own. But then you are
back to the situation of the green screen being locked while it waits
for a response from the VB window.  So you need a way to test that the
VB window is running, then pop up a green screen window telling the
user to start that window before proceeding.

To simplify things for the VB programmer ( and modularize the whole
process ) you might have to write a DLL which would contain all the
client access/data queue back and forth stuff.   The VB program ( is
it VB6 or VB.NET )  would then call the DLL functions ( or .NET class
methods ) to "ReceiveFromAs400" and "SendSelectionBackToAs400".

hth,

-Steve