Re: Pete's web5250 was->Re: Business Developers was ->Re: IBM Gives RPG Devotees Their Own Café

From: Aaron Bartell
The one thing that comes to mind is simply having an "indicator" in
the stream that would tell a custom ExtJS script to render the data
elements as a drop down and also specify how to map the data to
the correct input field when it gets back to the server.

That doesn't sound simple to me, at all. The server interface is a 5250 stream! It's not like you can modify the WRKSPLF command to insert "an indicator" or have an IBM command respond to a request to fill in a drop-down. IBM controls that part of the interface.

And even if you were dealing with an RPG program, and had access to the DDS and RPG source, you'd still be dealing with the 5250 protocol.

It would be a pity to extend the scope of this interface to an unreasonable extreme.

Zend and IBM partnered on a 5250 bridge that exchanges XML between PHP and IBM's Webfacing server. What Niels has come up with is already a lot more efficient than that; and Niels can simplify the messaging between the client and server even further, using ExtJS with JSON and some kind of protocol. That's where I'd suggest he focus his efforts.

Nathan.