An overview of RPG Open Access and IBM i’s Native Graphical User Interface White Paper This is a preliminary document and may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release of the software described herein. The information contained in this document represents the current view of Profound Logic Software on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Profound Logic must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Profound Logic, and Profound Logic cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. This White Paper is for informational purposes only. Profound Logic Software makes no warranties, express, implied, or statutory, as to the information in this document. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Profound Logic Software, Inc. Profound Logic may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Regardless of any prior verbal or written agreement, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property. © 2010 Profound Logic Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Profound UI, RPGsp, RPG-Alive, RPG-Alive GUI, Genie, Atrium, the Profound UI logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Profound Logic Software in the United States and/or other countries. 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INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3 CHARACTERISTICS OF AN IDEAL NATIVE USER INTERFACE..........................................................4 OVERVIEW OF RPG OPEN ACCESS...............................................................................................7 OVERVIEW OF PROFOUND UI – THE NATIVE USER INTERFACE FOR IBM I ..................................8 RPG DEVELOPMENT WITH PROFOUND UI ................................................................................10 VISUAL DESIGNER OVERVIEW...................................................................................................11 DEVELOPMENT TOOL CHOICES .................................................................................................13 CHANGE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS .............................................................................14 PERFORMANCE.........................................................................................................................14 LICENSING AND I/OS VERSION SUPPORT..................................................................................15 THE COMPANY BEHIND PROFOUND UI.....................................................................................16 SUMMARY AND HOW TO GET STARTED...................................................................................16 2 An Overview of RPG Open Access and IBM i's Native Graphical User Interface Introduction The IBM i has been used by hundreds of thousands of businesses and millions of users all over the world. Its integrated database design provides unique advantages for hosting a wide array of business applications. The IBM i server differentiates itself from other types of servers in terms of simplicity, stability, and low cost of operations. The system inherently supports a number of general purpose languages, such as Java and C++, and also provides RPG, a strong specialized business language that is tightly integrated with the system’s database. This combination is ideal for delivering stable database-driven business-centric applications. However, with all of its excellent qualities, the IBM i has often been criticized for lacking a native graphical user interface. While the system has long supported numerous ways to serve browser applications by using technologies such as CGI and J2EE, none of these methods had the integrated nature that the IBM i is known for. This meant that creating business applications with a robust graphical user interface required multiple teams of people with various technical skills. It meant a vast learning curve for RPG developers and ultimately required quite a bit of effort and a large monetary investment to get projects off the ground. Fortunately, these days are finally behind us. Today, the IBM i server offers a very sophisticated user interface solution, which by and large surpasses other systems in terms of presentation, coherence, performance, and ease of implementation. This white paper introduces the system’s RPG Open Access feature that makes this possible, and most importantly the new integrated Rich User Interface technology – Profound UI. It explains how the long-awaited capability to create great looking and easy to use browser applications natively from RPG and other IBM i languages has come about, and gives insight on how to best utilize this with your existing infrastructure and applications. 3 An Overview of RPG Open Access and IBM i's Native Graphical User Interface Characteristics of an Ideal Native User Interface We all know the IBM i as a sophisticated business server that can support many users and process many transactions. But what does sophisticated server technology have to do with a client-side user interface? At first glance, it may seem that there is little correlation. After all, the code that renders a rich user interface runs on the client (i.e. the browser), not the server. But as developers embark on building Rich UI’s for their applications, they quickly realize that linking the user interface to business data and processes on the back-end is often more intricate than designing the user interface itself. Therefore, it is critical to have a meaningful system, or framework, that connects the UI to the server. The best UI framework is one that is native and integrates tightly with the back-end. It should not require elaborate API, multiple sets of unrelated programming languages, or complicated configuration steps. No matter how sophisticated the capabilities of a user interface solution may be, it must be easy and natural for the typical business application developer to work with. Ideally, developers would concentrate on delivering real value by implementing business logic. They would not worry about the technical details of HTTP protocols, session persistence, cross-browser compatibility, DOM scripting, character set conversions, data encoding, or parameter escaping. Likewise, they would be able to build great looking interfaces without intricate knowledge of browser technologies, such as JavaScript, HTML, XML, AJAX, and JSON. A good framework would take care of all the technical details automatically. To deliver this functionality, an ideal framework must have the following characteristics: Broad Library of User Interface Components. Modern browser interfaces today are typically built from premade widgets, or graphical user interface components. This insulates the developer from manual HTML and JavaScript coding. A good framework will include an extensive library of widgets, including grids, dialogs, charts, tab panels, menus, date pickers, spinners, and more. Preferably, these user interface components will work seamlessly with resources on the server. For the IBM i, it means taking into account certain system values, and interfacing easily with DB2 database files, message files, IFS resources, and other types of objects on the system. Integrated Set of Development Tools. Developers rely on tools to check source in and out, edit code, design screens, debug programs, and more. A good framework will maximize productivity by ensuring that these tools work seamlessly with each other. On the IBM i platform, this also means compatibility with any tools that may already be in place to create and maintain current applications, including IDE’s like Rational Developer for i (RDi) and legacy tools such as PDM and SEU. 4 An Overview of RPG Open Access and IBM i's Native Graphical User Interface Extensible Platform. An extensible platform keeps the user interface framework open and gives it ultimate flexibility. It allows developers and ISV’s to customize existing widgets or create brand new widgets of their own. This ensures that developers never hit any limitations in their efforts to create functional applications. Inherent Statefulness. Given the stateless nature of browser communications, a system for application persistence, or statefulness, is necessary. Without such a system, the developer has to do a lot of manual work to ensure relevant data is accessible as users navigate throughout the application. For IBM i developers, an ideal system is one that allows the typical “Execute Format (ExFmt)” style of top-down business application programming. Preferably, it would support multi- level program call stacks, local data areas, subfile processing, overlays, and any other features programmers may already be familiar with from green-screen concepts. Anonymous and User-based Sessions. While Internet applications are anonymous in nature, a great number of browser applications are also deployed internally. An ideal