I realise that I would not have had a problem if the program responsable for the display was also in RPG. The problem I have with the XSL is that some of the business programming is taking place within it. For instance, the XSL needs to compare database fields that have been written into XML documents using the same constants that are declared throughout our RPG programs.
For example, a page header that is formatted depending on the client type.
In RPG we might have in a copybook
D gCLIENT_TYPE_ONE C CONST('X001')
And in XSL I see something like <xsl:if test select="$myVariable='X001'">
We are actually generating pdf files using XSL in conjunction with fo. Would there be a solution in RPG for this ?
Thanks
-----Message d'origine-----
De : rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] De la part de Adam Glauser
Envoyé : mercredi 18 mars 2009 18:34
À : rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Objet : Re: Less RPG in our shop
On 18/03/2009, at 11:35 PM, David FOXWELL wrote:
I wrote a post recently where I mentioned that I was using XSL in >> conjunction with XML documents created by RPG programs.
I am worried when I see the amount of programming in the XSL files >> that is effectively taken out of the RPG program.
I would like your opinions on this subject. Am I wrong to say that >> the RPG program should do as much of the processing as possible?
Simon Coulter wrote:
Ask yourself this: If you were using RPG and display files would you
do the editing of dates or numeric values in the RPG or in the DDS?
It's the same here. Separation of duties is always a good thing--let
the presentation manager handle presenting the data according to how
the user wants to see it. This is really just another form of MVC. Who
is responsible for editing data? The Model, the View, or the Controller?
I agree with Simon on this point, but I think it's worth noting that you could still have an all-RPG solution as well as keeping a nice modular design.
You could have an RPG program that reads the XML and produces HTML, as well as another RPG program that reads the XML and writes it to a display file.
Essentially it comes down to the question of using the right tool for the job. If XSL has advantages in such as speed of development, maintainability or flexibility, then you need to decide whether those advantages justify the added cost of learning the new language and/or having it as a hiring requirement.
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