ADC Austin Updates AJAX Generator for CA Plex

June 29, 2010 Alex Woodie

ADC Austin is close to releasing WebClient i+ version 2.0, a new release of its AJAX Web generation tool for System i and Windows shops that develop core business applications with CA Technologies Plex tools. With WebClient i+ 2.0, ADC Austin delivers more advanced screen development components, as well as support for the three major Web browsers.

The Advanced Design Center-Austin organization was founded in 1998 as a division of Synon, which created the 2E and Plex fourth generation language (4GL) development tools for the AS/400 and Windows platforms. The Austin, Texas-based company was originally the custom development arm of Synon, and was spun out into its own company after Synon was acquired by Computer Associates (as CA Technologies was known) early last decade.

Today, much of ADC Austin’s research and development efforts go into WebClient i+. First introduced about three years ago as WebClient, the tool is designed to enable Plex users to rapidly generate rich internet application (RIA)–also referred to as Web 2.0-style interfaces–from their Plex objects using AJAX (asynchronous Javascript and XML). The software only works with Plex, which is the advanced model-driven 4GL environment designed to allow customers to quickly sculpt their applications and then generate the underlying RPG, Java, or Microsoft code for execution on System i or Windows servers. (2E, of course, only generates RPG or COBOL code for the i/OS platform.)

WebClient i+ is based on the Dojo JavaScript library, and runs as a component of the Eclipse development framework. John Rhodes, the principle architect for WebClient i+, says the screen generator fits right into the existing workflows of Plex developers.

“As you generate and build Plex business objects, Eclipse automatically sees that action happening, intercepts the code, compiles it, and generates a Web interface, and publishes that to a Web server. So it’s all automated,” Rhodes says.

WebClient i+ 2.0 represents a major upgrade of the product, he says. “With version 2, we enhanced it quite a bit so you can generate a full gamut of applications, tree views, enhanced grids, and utilize the concept of nested child windows,” he says. “We generate to an AJAX RIA framework, so it looks pretty good.”

Support for tree views enables WebClient i+ developers to create Windows Explorer-style interfaces, while support for “flexgrids” makes it easier for developers to customize the look and feel of their applications, including adding pictures to columns and offering different cell formatting options, like fonts and colors. The new flexgrid feature is very useful for displaying schedules, and other similar screen elements.

Version 2.0 also gains full compatibility across the three major Web browsers, including Microsoft IE, Mozilla‘s Firefox, and Apple‘s Safari. Support for Safari enables WebClient i+ applications to run quite effectively on Apple’s new iPad, which ADC Austin customers are interested in using, Rhodes says.

Last but not least, ADC Austin introduced a new “ADC Server Option with version 2.0. This provides a reduced cost for the runtime charges of WebClient i+ deployments. WebClient i+ applications will run on any Java application server. Most customers prefer to deploy the software from adcaustin.com.