CNX Adds Refinements to i OS Web Modernization Toolkit

Published: August 25, 2009

by Alex Woodie

CNX is putting the finishing touches on Valence 2.0, the latest release of its Web modernization toolkit for System i servers. This release brings refinements to the Web 2.0 interfaces that Valence creates, such as the capability to route SQL results directly to a Web page and new e-mail and PDF generation functionalities. The package also gains all of the latest features of Ext JS, the collection of JavaScript classes upon which Valence is based.

If your search for the right Web modernization tool for i OS has come up empty, you're not alone. The folks at Chicago-based CNX also looked far and wide for a compelling and easy-to-use tool, including IBM HATS, CGIDEV2, WebSphere, and a handful of third-party options. But none of these turned into the "goldilocks" solution they had dreamed of. So, as the old saying goes, CNX--the experienced AS/400 and BPCS programmers that they were--decided to build one themselves.

This dashboard interface demonstrates the type of rich Web 2.0-style interfaces for i OS applications that are possible using pre-built screen widgets available in the Ext JS library, which is included in CNX's Valence.

What Richard Milone and company came up with was Valence--officially the Valence Web Application Framework for System i. The package, which CNX introduced more than a year ago, is based on Ext JS, a collection of open- and closed-source JavaScript classes for building rich AJAX-style Web applications (for which CNX has a deal with Ext JS owners EXT, to distribute). Also included in Valence is a set of RPG programs that essentially translate RPG output into JavaScript's native formatting language, JavaScript Object Notation, or JSON.

With this "secret sauce" RPG layer, called the RPG Toolkit, providing back-end connectivity to the System i's integrated Apache Web server, and the Ext JS toolkit providing all the widgets and gadgets for creating Web 2.0 browser interfaces, CNX believes it has created a largely native way of delivering a compelling Web 2.0 screen to new or existing i OS applications--all without writing Java or installing WebSphere.

Valence gained several improvements with version 2.0, which was made available as a release candidate last week and which is expected to become generally available in the next two weeks.

For starters, Valence 2.0 improves the integration with SQL. With this release, CNX is providing RPG programmers with a way to route the results of an SQL statement "straight to the browser with one line of code." New ILE RPG procedures were also introduced that allow users to create and send e-mails and to create PDF documents.

Developers start building Web applications with Valence using this portal.

CNX also included a new "AutoCode" feature that automatically generates RPG and JavaScript code for new Valence applications. All a user has to provide is a SQL statement, and AutoCode does all the grunt work of generating all the source code for the back-end processing, as well as creating a grid for displaying an interface on the front-end.

AutoCode is intended to serve as a starting point for new application development, says Robert Swanson, one of the developers at Chicago, Illinois-based CNX. "The source it generates is normal, human-readable code, intended to be modified directly by a real live programmer, as opposed to CASE-tool-generated gobbledygook that is nearly impossible to decipher," he writes in an e-mail. "We’re going to be adding a lot of bells and whistles to AutoCode in the coming months." In addition, CNX will add a native AutoCode option that doesn't use SQL statements, but generates code based on file names and fields. That should be available with version 2.0.

Valence 2.0 also brings to the System i all of the features that were introduced with Ext JS 3.0. EXT announced the general availability of Ext JS 3.0 earlier this month. In addition to support for REST and other features that will improve server communications, Ext JS 3.0 brings better management of memory for the Internet Explorer browser, better accessibility through support for full keyboard navigation and screen readers, and a new high-contrast display theme. All in all, there were more than 1,000 changes in Ext JS 3.0.

The Valence Portal has also had some work done. The portal--the starting point for development in the Valence Framework--was enhanced with a range of functional and aesthetic improvements, including new icons, the capability to filter navigation tree items, the several new capabilities to automatically log in and launch programs. Version 2.0 also brings several housekeeping changes, including support for library list overrides, and user validation and security improvements.

Because the development methodology of Valence 2.0 is significantly different than previous releases, applications written under Valence 1.x will not run under version 2.0. As a result, CNX is offering free migration services to customers with current maintenance contracts. A re-written user manual is also available with this release.

Valence 2.0 is in the late release candidate stage, and is expected to become generally available September 10. Pricing is unchanged at $4,995 per server. For more information and free 90-day downloads, see www.cnxcorp.com.

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