Re: Web dev tools

Justin,

There are loads (I am not affiliated with any).
I have used CNX Valence which is pretty good, but does use Sencha so there are limitations to what you can do. They did announce a new and improved version which I am not familiar with. You can download a test version pretty quick.

Profound Logic - I don't much care for their UI and they focus on node which may not be how you want to do things.  They do have a very sharp group of developers.  You can get a test version from them also.

RocketSoftware - I tested their stuff a few years ago - mehh.  But you may want to test theirs.
Fresche (which you mentioned - WebSmart) is the biggest.  They also have a pretty sharp team. Have only had a cursory look at their stuff.

Each vendor will lock you into their IDE.  Which will require some training.  Each will have their own architecture which may or may not be the best for your business.
Try each one.
But....
If you already know HTML, css, and javascript  why not invest in making your software scalable?

Is what you have modular?  Is it table driven?  Are you using any open source products?  Do you have routing control?
Are you using CGI for static HTML (bad) or are you using Apache with includes? 

Are you using a CSS library or framework?  Bootstrap, Tailwind, etc?
Javascript libraries and frameworks? 

Table plugins?
Charting plugins?
If your base is already pretty good then perhaps third party software will not give you as much as you want.

The cost of purchasing a third party package vs creating something you can readily modify and tune to your own needs might be something to consider.

And.... many of the third party products use products from other sources.  CNX uses Sencha, Fresche has various open source products in their code (Jquery, datatables, etc).
Compare their js to what you have...
Fun stuff.






On Wednesday, December 16, 2020, 5:46:32 PM GMT-3, Justin Taylor <jtaylor.0ab@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

We're looking into web development tools for IBMi.  I've found Visual LANSA
and Web Smart.  Are there any others we should know about?  (I tried
Google, but that was an unproductive enterprise.)

I currently hand-code HTML/JS/CSS front-ends powered by RPG server-side,
but that's not really scalable.  We are all-in for IBMi and heavily
invested in RPG.  Server runtimes requiring other OSs need not apply.

TIA