Re: HTML and PDF Reports

Using a code generator might be OK for a prototype, but to create usable,

maintainable, adaptable, applications you need to develop the code by hand
... or at least use a tool that emits the end result code so you have full
code comprehension.

Well put. I will add that I find code generators that get me 50% to 80% of
the way there are a nice fit. For example, I like the Hibernate POJO code
generators as they create a POJO and hbm.xml file based on a new DB table.

From there I go ahead and plug it into my application as needed. The

downside though is I have had the Hibernate process break (v2.x) and didn't
have a clue how to fix it because I adopted a technology where I didn't
understand the underlying code.

I guess time will tell if EGL has found a nice medium for code generation.

This begs a question: Just think of what IBM could accomplish if it created
its own proprietary application stack for the web/desktop/handheld vs. going
the HTML/JavaScript/CSS route. They could create the equivalent to Adobe's
Flex or Microsoft's Silverlight and have that meet all internal (and
potentially external) GUI needs (external would require a browser plugin
download which is what makes it problematic in my mind).

It seems IBM lost their edge when they got too proud to modify their
existing application stack approach of *DSPF/*PGM - we never really needed
to care what was generated from the DDS under the covers because it DID
work.

I am guessing we will be there again some day, but it sure does feel like we
are taking the long way home if you know what we mean.

Aaron Bartell
http://mowyourlawn.com