WebClient for CA Plex 1.4 Now Available

Published: August 26, 2008

by Alex Woodie

ADC Austin and WebSydian last week released a new version of WebClient for CA Plex, a tool for generating user interfaces for ca Plex and 2E development environments. With WebClient version 1.4, the partners have given developers more controls for creating AJAX-style interfaces for 2E and Plex applications running on i OS or Windows.

ADC Austin and WebSydian have partnered for years to provide tools, training, and solutions for thousands of 2E and Plex customers around the world. ADC, which is based in Austin, Texas, has provided the ADC Modernization Studio for helping 2E (pure i OS) shops migrate to Plex (i OS and Windows), while WebSydian, which is based in Denmark, sells a suite of Java-based tools for extending Plex and 2E environments to the Web.

Last fall, the companies launched a new release of WebSydian Web Developer+that would allow CA Plex users to automatically generate rich Web interfaces by tapping into their existing Plex models for developing rich Windows interfaces, and deploy the resulting HTML from a standard J2EE server. WebClient for CA Plex was included as part of Web Developer+ when it shipped to customers in December.

With the first deployments under their belts, the vendors added a host of new features, which are present in version 1.4. Version 1.4 adds new AJAX-enabled Web components, such as editable grids, pop-up Web dialogs, and enhanced HTML templates, the companies say. It also brings new setup wizards and plug-ins designed to speed deployment in the Eclipse Europa and IBM Rational development environments.

"We are starting to see some powerful Web 2.0/AJAX applications being developed with CA Plex and WebClient," says John Rhodes, president of ADC Austin. "We plan to add even more capabilities in the future, such as additional AJAX components and automation of CA Plex UI functions via SOAP Web services."

One of the early adopters of the WebClient is AMUCCS, a network of credit unions, micro banks, and rural cooperative financial institutions in Mexico and France. The organization, which uses CA Plex, has found WebClient to be a good fit with CA Plex and its Web needs. "CA Plex and WebClient are helping us develop true Web 2.0 applications faster and less expensively than ever before," says Fernando Espin, who works with a consulting arm of AMUCCS in Mexico City.

WebClient 1.4 also bears the "ca smart seal of excellence" as the direct AJAX-based generator of HTML and JavaScript for CA Plex. Bill Hunt, CA's principal product manager for the 2E and Plex products, also had good things to say about the new offering. "WebClient is a well-designed solution," he says.

ADC and WebSydian emphasize the fact that WebClient works with CA Plex as well as with CA 2E, the original model-based development environment that generates compiled RPG or COBOL exclusively for the i OS operating system (formerly i5/OS). However, 2E shops must first use ADC's modernization tools to migrate 2E applications or components to Plex, where WebClient can then be applied to create advanced Web interfaces.

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