Re: PHP to RPG - "tight" integration

To be picky, PCML doesn't make the call n-tier.  The toolbox does that (more
specifically the ProgramCall class which acts as a wrapper over the OS/400
host server).  PCML is simply a shorthand way of invoking the toolbox
classes.  It externalizes the program information in an XML file and makes
processing a call a little easier for the programmer (especially as far as
data conversion).  There is actually a second generation of this technique
called XPCML which uses a well-formed XML document. 

Joe

From: David Gibbs

web400@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Forgive my ignorance... but what's the point of PCML?  Why not simply
call an RPG service program as a native method?  Or use SQL and make it
a UDF? Or a stored procedure?

It let's you call programs (at least when using java) without regard to
where caller is running.