Re: Reusing User ID and Password with Zend i5_Program_Call

From: Walden H. Leverich
However, the environment (Library list) defaults to the default library
list for the user, so if you setup your users correctly ...

It seems to me that a user profile loses some meaning when a number of separate individuals share a connection, using a common user profile. And loses some more meaning when a shared user profile is also used to define the environment - i.e. library list. Unfortunately, that seems to be the norm with distributed systems and remote database architecture.

The approach I take in my Web portal is quite different. The login screen authenticates against an IBM i user profile, normally. There is an option to authenticate against a user profile database that's included with the portal - which in turn will cross-reference to an IBM i profile. Actually there's also an option to call a user defined routine if you need to authenticate a given user against LDAP, for example.

After the login, the user is presented with a list of "work areas" - if they're authorized to more than one work area. The work area defines the environment - i.e. the library list, initial menu, fiscal-year overrides, and so forth.

The portal allows running & swapping between multiple concurrent applications - using iframes. So a single user could be running multiple instances of one application at the same time, with each instance running under a different library list, each in a different state. A user can simply select a different work area before launching a new application from a menu. This has been useful in multi-company settings where a power user may need access to all companies.

So the user profile is used for individual identification, authentication, and authorization. While the work area is used for defining the environment - no double meaning.

Since my Web applications run natively under IBM i, so there's no separate connection to a "remote" database. To connect to the database, you just define an "F" spec in the RPG code. The application & database run in the same address space. To call another RPG program - you just call it - it's not like the other program is running at a remote location.

Nathan.