RE: [WEB400] Beginning web development

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Aaron already gave you one of the two primary possibilities, which is COBOL
CGI.  Your other option is to use servlets and Java Server Pages.  We've had
many discussions over the last couple of years about which technique is
better, and it really depends on your long term goals.

No matter what your goal, if you have in-house COBOL expertise, the idea is
to keep as much of the business logic as possible in your COBOL programs.
The question is whether you want to invest some time in learning Java, which
will open the door to Java Server Pages and a very flexible user interface,
or whether you'd prefer to stay strictly with COBOL, which would then lean
towards the COBOL CGI approach.  COBOL CGI is quicker to implement, but in
my opinion a little less flexible, because all the user interface code is
embedded in the COBOL programs.  With Java Server Pages, the JSPs actually
format the data, kind of like the DDS for a display file.  You can change
the look of your application without actually changing the COBOL code.

I've got a COBOL client who has done extensive work developing JSP-based web
applications that use COBOL servers, and they're very happy.  There are ways
to re-use your existing COBOL applications as well.  If you'd like more
information, feel free to contact me offline at joepluta@plutabrothers.com,
or directly at 847-359-2657.

As to your security issues, you can have web users with different user IDs,
and then tie them in groups to a user profile.  The problem of course is
auditing, but that's an application issue more than a user ID issue.

Joe Pluta


> -----Original Message-----
> From: web400-admin@midrange.com [mailto:web400-admin@midrange.com]On
> Behalf Of Pillai, Sushama
> Sent: Friday, September 21, 2001 9:53 AM
> To: WEB400@midrange.com; midrange-l@midrange.com
> Subject: [WEB400] Beginning web development
>
>
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> Hi all,
>
> We are moving from v4r4 to v5r1 and want to convert/develop a part of the
> system for web access. We are a COBOL/400 shop. We want to use
> WebSphere for
> the development. We have an NT box in front of the AS/400. We were also
> planning on using the LPAR capability to separate the part
> accessed via the
> web from the rest of the AS/400 data files.
>
> My question is pretty basic and shows my ignorance. I would really
> appreciate it if someone could tell us what we could start learning (Java,
> ASP, stored procedures or things like that) and where we can get some info
> on web development using websphere (books, website, etc). Can we use COBOL
> for the development ?
>
> Also, if anyone can share some info on how to set up security for about
> 30,000 web users. I assume it is not a good idea to create so many signons
> on the 400.
>
> We don't want to spend too much money and we want our people to learn
> whatever is needed to develop the software in-house. If anyone
> can think of
> anything else we should know before we embark on this new task, I would
> appreciate it if they could share it with us.
>
> Thank you in advance.
> Sushama