Re: Tool to Modernize IBMi Screens into GUI

Hi Suren,

honestly, I don't think that such a tool exists.

There are plenty of tools for UI modernization - and I think ProfoundUI might be the most advanced, as they are switching out the DSPF with an own driver. So they let you still use EXFMT on the RPG side, but don't simply "screen scrape".

Also Profound has web service tools in their portfolio - which might be useful. But as others already said, they have their own solution which might not be yours.

If you really want to rewrite every DSPF program into a web service and write an AngularJS front end for it, it might be the best idea to tackle that yourself.

Depending on the amount of programs and their complexity you can do that manually - or try to develop an own half-automatic conversion tool yourself.

For that an RPG parser might be useful. Strumenta (from Italy) has one, which is pretty good (https://strumenta.com/parser-for-rpg/) - you can read more about the parser here (https://tomassetti.me/how-to-use-the-rpg-parser/) - especially some examples how it can be used.

My idea would be to parse your dialog programs, identify the display file logic in the AST, and replacing it with appropriate logic for your web service solution. Then drop those web services into a framework/server like IceBreak (http://www.spacetec.com/icebreak) which runs natively on IBM i. There are pretty good examples out there.

But I will not lie to you - going your own way will be a pretty long and rough journey - but in the end you will get what you want. On the other side, using a ready-made tool like ProfoundUI will get you results quite quickly - but then it's their solution not yours.

Choose wisely - sometimes it's better to get results, sometimes it's better to follow your vision - and only you can make that decision.

HTH and kind regards,
Daniel

Am 29.12.2024 um 02:47 schrieb Suren K <suren7437@xxxxxxxxx>:

Hi All,

I’m looking for a tool to help modernize our IBMi application screens into
a GUI. Our plan is to use AngularJS for the front end, and we need to
convert all IBMi screen programs into APIs, which will be utilized for the
GUI screens. The majority of the subfiles in the IBMi applications
are single-page with data queue approach.

Additionally, the web services for these APIs can either be deployed on the
IBMi (via IWS, HTTP Server with CGI, etc.) or on a separate Windows server
(such as Java Web Services) — either approach will work for us.

If anyone has suggestions for the best tools available in the market to
help convert the IBMi screen programs into APIs, I would appreciate your
input.
Regards,
Suren
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