Excellent overview by Scott.
HATS is a mature product that does a very good job of "screen-scraping".
For converting existing applications you should consider it, (along with
other screen-scrapers like Genie, and the great products that Jon has
mentioned etc.)
It does have the limitations of screen-scrapers that Scott has mentioned.
So if you are writing a new app, I think you are better off with an RPG-OA
solution. IBM has opened up this interface so that other vendors can
provide good tools without screen-scraping limitations that will be able to
get you, not only to the web, but to mobile, and other creative solutions
etc. And as a real bonus, RPG-OA will not cost you extra. I encourage you
to look at some vendor solutions.
Regards,
Edmund (E.H.) Reinhardt
COBOL IDE on AIX, DDS, WebFacing, System i Application Development,
Rational Developer for Power
2D barcode Phone: 1-905-413-3125 | Phone: 1-905-854-6195 IBM
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with AIX COBOL: 8200 Warden Ave
contact www.youtube.com/user/IBMRational#g/c/62DF24D5BCD43501 Markham, ON L6G 1C7
information "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of Canada
God in Christ Jesus concerning you." - 1
Thessalonians 5:18
From: Scott Klement <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio
Client for System i & iSeries <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Date: 07/10/2013 11:28 PM
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] Is HATS still a viable solution?
Sent by: wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Nope! Open Access has nothing to do with the 5250 data stream.
You're right that you still use the RPG op-codes, but no 5250 data
stream is generated.
Basically, tools that operate from the 5250 data stream (such as HATS,
and a great many other tools, like our company's tool named Genie, a
breed of tools known by some as "screen scrapers") are given a screen.
A 80x24 (or 132x27) block of text. That's all they get... from that
grid of characters, they have to figure out which parts of the screen
are different things (fields, function key labels, subfiles, etc) all by
detecting the sorts of strings that would typically make up those things.
How does it know if there's really a subfile on the screen, or if your
data just appears to be in columns? It doesn't. It can only guess.
How does it know what the field names are of the fields on the screen?
It doesn't... and it can't.
Suppose you want to create a grid (more web-like replacement for a
subfile) that has 50 rows? Since a screen-scraper communicates by
outputting a 132x27 screen, and then interpreting it on the fly, there's
no way. Since a subfile can't have 50 rows, there's no way you can do
it in a screen scraper.
Open Access does not suffer any of those limitations. Open Access is
called directly when you do an EXFMT (or any other file opcode) and it
gives you the record buffer, not the image of the screen, with which to
communicate. So it now knows the actual field names, sizes, etc. It
does not have the limits of the 5250 screen, because there is no 5250
screen. You can design a screen with 50 rows on a subfile, no problem.
You can do other things that 5250 can't do, like drag and drop for
instance... it's no problem. Fields in the record can be used to
communicate where data is dragged to/from -- they aren't limited to only
what's available in the 5250 environment.
If you're interested in learning more about this, I'd be glad to give
you a demonstration.... Like Brian said, check out our web site, sign
up for a demo or a free trial, we'll show you what it can do...
http://www.profoundlogic.com
On 10/7/2013 2:47 PM, BRoche@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Doesn't RPGOA just intercept the 5250 data stream, not eliminate it. you
still use the same opcodes, just override what processes them. I may be
mistaken about how it works under the covers.
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