Re: Call a rpg program from a node script running on an external windows or linux server

You have plenty of options... UDTF, or good old stored procedure (just make a wrapper to the existing program, can return multiple result set, well proven etc.).
Protocol from client ODBC, JDBC etc. mapepire (has a TS JS client) require to install the server on the i that it is a proxy then over jdbc itself.
You can run also node on the ibm i itself if you require "no direct data on the wire" and serving pages there.
I personally don't like too many json serialization and deserializations dances in vogue today due to dominance of the web layer for any problem (gimme hammer and nail scenario), but obviously you can also generate the json directly from the IBMi in case makes sense (with full control via say apache plus rpg stdout).
Also session user aspects if important in your case, many I see around neglect this aspect (ie. I see many times a pool running under the same user proxing the web forgoing one important aspect of IBMi like full auditing, user appearing in journals etc. depends of course by the complexity of your case).
ciao!






On Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 12:01:41 PM GMT+2, Luca Giammattei <luca.giammattei@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:





Hi everyone, I may soon find myself in the situation in question: a web app
running on a Linux or Windows server needs to access data on the Power Server.
Obviously, this involves structured information based on a well-defined and
consolidated calculation in a business logic managed by three RPG programs that
have been doing their job effectively for 20 years. The only change was made
about twenty years ago, and a parameter was added to the programs that simply
creates an PF-DTA object as an output file with this data to be later managed.
So, back to the point: what's the best way to allow a Node.js script running on
a Linux (or Windows) server to connect with a specific user to a Power Server on
IBM i 7.3 or 7.5 and make a call pgm1(parm1); wait a few milliseconds for the
execution time and then retrieve a database file? Has anyone had similar
experiences? Perhaps encapsulate the pgm in an SQL function?
Thanks in advance to anyone who can share their experiences.