Re: Impressions of EGL - Part Duex

john e wrote:

But all this complexity just to replicate what we already have, with desktop apps, i.e. a "rich" user interface.

But deploying desktop applications is a real problem. Making sure clients and servers are in sync is always an issue (although you get around that to some degree with AJAX, where the server actually sends the client to the browser).

Like i said, i find it interesting that the rest of the world uses the browser to solve the deployment problem. They already have "rich" apps, i.e. the traditional client server approach.

I think there is a place for both thick and thin (rich) client. The only model that is going away is the green screen, and that's simply because it is needed less and less. The idea of a heads-down data entry clerk is disappearing. So we need a replacement, and the browser is a good one, since it requires zero footprint.

But we are using EGL (or web apps in general) to solve a completely different
problem. We use it to easily build an "i" app with a modern user interface. And if we do, we loose those important features of our platform, simplicity, robustness and predictability.

As you point out, this is a bigger question than just EGL. Web applications are inherently more complex, but that's in a large part do to the fact that we still have to do most of the plumbing work. If you had to use the display station management APIs to write 5250 screens, you wouldn't find it very simple. It's the tooling, and the integration between display files and RPG that make it so easy. If you define a field in a display file, that field is available in your RPG program.

The same with EGL. You can define a field in your JSF and access it directly from your EGL program. And if you then turn around and call RPG business logic, I think it's still as robust. Only time will tell on that point, but nothing I've seen leads me to believe it won't be. Remember, EGL/JSF is built on top of the very mature JSP specification, which has been successful for some time.

Joe