Keeping an i on Application Modernization with Profound

Published: September 26, 2006

by Dan Burger

Not every iSeries shop is ready to extend its traditional RPG applications to the Web, but those that have given the idea some thought should add the name Profound Logic Software to their planning. Last week the company announced version 6 of its RPG Smart Pages (RPGsp), a Web application development environment that programmers have found to be a quick and easy way to create professional-quality, CGI-based Web applications

RPGsp version 6 offers two new features that Profound Logic's president, Alex Roytman, calls major enhancements. Since the introduction of RPGsp version 5, the last major release of this software, Roytman says there have been nearly 300 incremental enhancements that have gone into the product. However, it's the increase in functionality provided by the new modules, dubbed iChart and iConvert, which should lift RPGsp to loftier heights.

Profound's software--a drag-and-drop HTML designer that's combined with a Windows-based RPG editor, and CGI runtime engine that works with either the standard System i HTTP Server or one that's powered by Apache--was introduced in 2003. At that time, IBM was advising its iSeries customers that Java and WebSphere were the only routes on the developer roadmap. The funny thing was that most iSeries customers didn't care for Big Blue's advice and Profound was in the right place at the right time with an alternative. It wasn't the only alternative from a third-party source, but its integrated development environment (IDE) was RPG programmer friendly, while IBM's Java-centric approach was not. Not surprisingly, Profound Logic made friends in the RPG community while IBM, by and large, did not. A lot of this had to do with Java being a tough nut to crack and companies that wanted less IT complexity rather than more shunned Java.

Profound has done well with its philosophy of keeping things simple while adding enhancements that boost productivity. In the past year RPGsp has added functionality such as a Visual Debugger for RPG-based Web development and an automated CL-to-Web conversion wizard. And that leads to the current enhancements, the iChart and iConvert modules for RPGsp.

iChart is designed to get a monkey off the back of the IT department when it comes to the responsibility for designing charts, graphs, and dashboard applications. Because it makes use of a set of wizards, the actual programming required for these applications has been minimized. Therefore, non technical end users can be taught to "program" their own charts. The RPGsp iChart wizards lead to 30 types of charts and as many as 200 customizable options for each chart, so options are many.

The charts are interactive, allowing users to click on various chart elements to open other charts or related applications. Flash technology is used to present the charts in the browser. The data that goes into any given chart is built on-the-fly using RPG record-level access code or using SQL. After the data is built, it is sent to the flash object as XML.

The new RPGsp iConvert module is a time saver because it automates the Web enablement of entire libraries of green-screen applications. When in its simplest form, the green screen-to-Web process converts one program at a time. During this process, the developer must answer several questions about how the program is used and what other display programs are called within context. The value of converting application libraries compared to individual apps is fairly obvious.

iConvert can convert both CL and RPG programs. It's built to analyze an entire system of green-screen programs, answer the required questions ahead of time, and proceed to mass-convert and compile all of the programs as Web applications. The process is completed in unattended batch mode.

The Web applications generated by iConvert are true browser applications built with RPG, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In other words, they do not depend on the 5250 character-based stream. This allows developers to expand and enhance these applications without limitations, Roytman says with a nod toward application modernization tools (IBM's WebFacing tool is one example) that are limited in what they can offer because of ties to the 5250 green screen.

According to David Russo, director of sales and marketing at Profound Logic, RPGsp version 6, with the iChart and iConvert modules, is available now for download from the Profound Logic Web site. No price increase is going into effect with the introduction of Version 6, Russo says.

For more info and downloads, check out www.profoundlogic.com.

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