Thanx for giving it a try.
"but it is a long way from being a replacement for RDP and people should not be misled into thinking that it is."
I think that this is a pretty subjective perspective. For me it is quite the opposite. RDP really sucks. RPG Next Gen has most of the features I need. Yes ... some are still missing. I would also like to a have content assist for variables. But that is not as easy as it sounds.
Prompting ... never used that. The RDP implementation is much too clumsy.
Tabs ... I don't use it (I just take a look at the top ruler to know where to go).
DDS ... it is just an RPG editor.
Source filtering ... I never needed that.
Control space for variables/data structures ... that feature is failing in RDP more times than it really works. So I wouldn't list that one here.
Opening copy book from inside code ... that one is also failing more than half the time I try to use it in RDP.
Outline ... I hate to have to click myself so that it refreshes.
But that is also a very subjective list because it is my perspective. So let everybody decide for himself if the editor has everything he needs for development. (f. e. I don't need a DDS editor because I don't do DDS anymore)
All in all ... no, it is no full replacement for RDP. And that was never the real goal of the project. The goal is to have a useable RPG editor. No DDS, no SQL, ...
... and don't ask me why I didn't bring problems I got with RDP to Rational for fixing: As long as there is no ticket system I can use it won't happen. The old IBM way really sucks. Take a look at how the RTC team handles things. Much simpler, more transparent, much better.
Mihael
-----Original Message-----
From: wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jon Paris
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 11:57 PM
To: wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] RPG Next Gen (was IBM is so confusing!)
I was reminded by Michael's post that I hadn't tried the RPG Next Gen tool for a while - and since IBM are still ignoring us Mac users I was hoping it had advanced to the point where I could use it. So I downloaded it and installed it.
As you say it installs easily and quickly. I configured a connection and was very impressed by the speed with which it returned the library list and the object list for my main library. Quite how a tool that uses the Java toolkit can apparently produce results in about half the time it takes IBM's custom code I don't understand - but the speed is certainly appreciated on large lists. Sadly - for me - that is as far as the good bits went - with two notable exceptions - there is a comment block toggle (IBM please note) and spool access is built in (no SoftLanding plug-in needed).
But unless I'm really missing something, none of the major features that rely on day in and day out in RDP are there. You can't tab from field to field in D-specs or in DDS etc. and there is no F4 prompt to make up for that. There's no language help. Outline view only shows subprocedures - and I _live_ in outline view. I also make extensive use of filtering in the source view and that doesn't seem to be available - and neither is ctrl-Space on a variable to get it definition and ..
Don't get me wrong - it is a really nice piece of work, and maybe if I had never used anything but SEU I could live with it - but it is a long way from being a replacement for RDP and people should not be misled into thinking that it is.
I do intend to keep it on my machine for quick fixes when I don't want to mess with RDP and windows - I may even try to contribute to the project in some way - but I'll probably be retiring before it reaches a point where I can throw out RDP (or whatever name IBM have given it by then ;-).
Jon Paris
www.Partner400.com
www.SystemiDeveloper.com
On Jan 31, 2011, at 1:00 PM, wdsci-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Wow! RPGNEXTGEN is so sleek and fast!! Downloaded and installed in a minute with no admin authority needed!!!!!!!!!
Does that mean I can put it on a usb key and work at home without a connection?
And it has some nice features even RDP doesn't.
What are they? Aren't we allowed to mention it on this list?
midrange.com
