ProData Hooks RPG Server Pages Into Eclipse IDE

Published: August 8, 2006

by Alex Woodie

RPG-based Web applications. While it may sound like an oxymoron to old RPG hands, the truth is that iSeries developers don't have to ditch their favorite language to make the shift to the Internet. One such tool that combines the previously segregated RPG and HTML camps into one cohesive unit is RPG Server Pages from ProData Computer Services. RSP learned some new tricks this month when it was upgraded to version 4.0, including a new development environment based on IBM's Eclipse framework.

OS/400 shops have been taking their RPG programs to the Web using RPG Server Pages (RSP) since 2003, when the tool was launched by Damon Technologies. Now owned by Pro Data, RSP has almost 100 customers, a good percentage of which use the product to create customer self-service applications, such as order look-up programs, which saves them time and money, says Schadd Gray, RSP's creator while at Damon and now the chief technology officer for ProData.

RSP is comprised of two pieces, including a development tool and an OS/400 server component that works with the HTTP Server (powered by Apache) to serve Web pages. With version 4.0, the development component is now based on IBM's Eclipse framework, which gives users certain advantages compared to the previous editor, Gray says.

One of the chief advantages of using Eclipse is better integration with WebSphere Development Studio Client (WDSc), IBM's preferred development environment for the iSeries. "We had supported WDSc before . . . but it didn't integrate well," Gray says. "If you right-clicked in WDSc and said, Open RSP, it would launch a separate editor. Now, if you right click, it opens it right there. Having WDSc as the development environment means you don't have to switch back and forth."

Users of RSP 4.0 should also be able to use any of the third-party plug-ins developed for WDSc or Eclipse. For example, RSP users could use the free OS/400 spool-file viewer WDSc plug-in that SoftLanding put into the public realm, says Gray, who says the integration should work, although he admits he hasn't tried it yet.

The server component of RSP has also received an overhaul with this release. Gray says tweaks made to the interface between the RSP server component and the Apache Web server should make Web pages load much faster than before. Web pages that previously took three to four seconds are now loading in less than a second, he says. On average, download times have been chopped in half, and some applications will see a 10-fold performance improvement, he says.

Support for persistent states in RSP 4.0 should help the average programmer write better applications with the new release. Persistent state support is most useful for providing commitment control during the development process, and gives programmers a little more leniency over things like keeping files open. If you don't design Web sites well, persistent state could boost your efficiency, Gray says.

Transferring files also became easier with RSP 4.0. Now, if a file is being uploaded from the Web, it will be placed in the user's choice of directory, with the session ID as the sub directory. The RSP process will then give the RSP program a path to the file, Pro Data says.

Gray and company spent nearly two years developing the new release of RSP, which is targeted at existing customers, as well as shops that haven't yet made the leap to the Web. "If you want to go to the Web with your applications, and you don't want to a have to learn a language such as Java or PHP, RSP is going to suit that need extremely well," Gray says.

RSP 4.0 is available now. Pricing is a flat rate of $3,995 per server, which includes an unlimited number of development licenses. For more information, see www.dodbu.com.

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