Re: Impressions of EGL - Part Duex

Nathan Andelin wrote:

Bradley V. Stone wrote:
I don't think Nathan ever said you don't have to learn HTML,
JavaScript, etc. If he did, I hope he clarifies.

Joe's allegation puzzled me too. Learning HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and the DOM has worked to my advantage, so I encourage people to learn it. Some years ago I was paired with an HTML guru and we divided the work between us. He wrote HTML while I wrote RPG and the relationship worked well.

EXCELLENT! I've got it on record now: Both Stone and Andelin say that effective use of RPG-CGI also requires knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and the Document Object Model.

This is a far cry from the "edit with dreamweaver and insert some tags" that was presented. I quote Nathan:

"I only insert two (2) things in an HTML page to interface with an RPG program. <RECORD> and {{FIELD}} delimeters. Nothing more."

That was the statement that I took issue with, because it sort of sidesteps the fact that the web page has to also have some sophisticated JavaScript and a well-built framework around it. And now we've laid that to rest, I can exit the thread.

And to make my final point: you do *not* need to know JavaScript or HTML or much of anything to create EGL pages. You drag widgets from the palette and bind them to EGL fields. You can even bind a function directly to a button using drag-and-drop, something that simply can't be done in RPG-CGI.

So to summarize: if you want to learn HTML and JavaScript and the DOM and an HTML editor and an RPG-CGI framework, you can do really cool stuff. If you prefer to just learn a single language (EGL) and a single IDE (that you can also use to edit your RPG code and that you already know if you're using WDSC), then RDi-SOA and EGL may be a good alternative.

Joe