Re: RDp v7.5

Jon Paris wrote:

On Mar 20, 2010, at 1:00 PM, wdsci-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

And to be fair, I didn't even consider CODE. I didn't consider CODE
because it's is obsolete technology. As for Screen Designer being based
on CODE Designer, sure, about the same way that RPG Free is based on RPG II. :)

While I agree with the obsolete comment Joe I think the RPG II comparison is rather unfair to the folks who built CODE Designer.

Oh for pity's sake. My point was not that Screen Designer is better written than CODE but that it is newer technology; I was saying that Screen Designer was written from scratch from the ground up, the same way that RPG Free is fundamentally different than the old RPG II compiler even though it supports all the same old functions.

As far as I'm concerned, RPG II was a very powerful tool for its day and so was CODE. But RPG Free is technologically far advanced over RPG II, and so is Screen Designer over CODE Designer.

It's a real waste of time to argue about it, as well, since CODE is obsolete. If you want to argue the merits of CODE over Screen Designer, feel free. Just don't put words in my mouth. I really hate when people decide what I meant and then argue with it.

I've been working with the RDp 7.5 Designer and while it is a nice piece of work there really is very little that it offers that wasn't in CODE Designer and a few things that I find not as easy to use. In fact the only new feature I've found so far is the ability to store test data for fields in addition to the indicator setting clusters that CODE Designer had.

Again, if you like CODE, use it. It's old, obsolete technology but if you want to use it go ahead. I won't argue with you about just how which is a better experience; there are only so many ways you can put a GUI on a 5250 screen designer, after all.

That being said, from a personal standpoint I never used CODE over SDA; I always found CODE's GUI cumbersome. On the other hand, I find Screen Designer to be seamlessly integrated into the Rational workbench, and since I consider Rational's RPG tooling the best available it's effortless for me to use both side by side. To each their own.

Certainly not as easy to switch between your program source code and the display design - but also not as east as CODE Designer when it comes to simple things like entering constants on the screen or entering data and converting it to a field.

You drag a literal onto the screen and then type over it. That's a bit like Vern's complaint about PDM options.

Converting data to a field is something I never do, so I'll have to take your word for it.

For sure a move in the right direction - but not a quantum leap.

Once again, I'm really not comparing Screen Designer to CODE. It's you and Vern who insist on comparing Screen Designer to an obsolete tool. Nor am I denigrating CODE; it was a fine tool for its day. If you take the article as written, I was comparing Screen Designer to SDA, and as such Screen Designer is a more than competent replacement.

Joe