Profound Logic.tv

Opening up RPG on the IBM i with Open I/O

Alex Roytman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:37:48 +0000

Recently at the RPG & DB2 Summit in Minneapolis attendees received a special sneak peak look from Ian Jarman into IBMs upcoming releases for the i 6.1.1 and 7.1. Among the many interesting new capabilities and features Ian talked about that day, he briefly addressed a new feature that really got me and many others in the IBM i community excited.

This feature, aptly named RPG Open I/O, provides a new method for developers to utilize RPG. Scheduled to be released with the i 7.1 later in Q1 of 2010, this open I/O access would potentially provide vendors, developers, and anyone else in the IBM i community with an easier way to interface with various devices and platforms directly from native RPG operations. Open I/O has even been suggested as a path to finally achieving a truly native GUI interface for the IBM i.

So in todays video, I share the latest information and details we currently know about this exciting new feature. We will also be joined by Philip Roestamadji, Marketing Director at Profound Logic, who will share some of his take on this upcoming open I/O feature. Plus, we will share a few details regarding our work on new solutions to take advantage of this feature, and provide a special beta invitation to all the viewers here on Profound Logic TV.

To view this video with Windows Media Player, please click here

Getting Started with Flash Charts using RPG

Alex Roytman — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:04:24 +0000

Today, we will be talking to one of our RPG developers, Alan Smith, who will demonstrate an easy-to-use option for charting your IBM i data.

When it comes to viewing and analyzing data, a text-based interface may not be enough. Visualization can add a whole new dimension of understanding. While RPG wasn’t originally created for graphical representation of data, this task is surprisingly simple today with a browser-based interface powered by RPG. With the right approach and a little help from Flash, it takes very little effort to create stunning 2D or 3D charts and graphs directly from RPG code.

To view this video with Windows Media Player, please click here

Using JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) on the IBM i

Alex Roytman — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:46:33 +0000

In today’s video, we are going to introduce you to what is perhaps the most elegant way to exchange data within Web applications. We will be talking about JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation. Eric Cassidy, an IBM i web developer at Profound Logic, will demonstrate the concept by creating RPG/CGI AJAX response programs that use JSON to provide multiple pieces of data to a Web application.

To view this video with Windows Media Player, please click here

Processing Data From an AJAX Request

Alex Roytman — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:09:52 +0000

In a few of my previous videos, I introduced you to several concepts on how to use AJAX for web development on the IBM i (System i, iSeries, AS/400). In this video, I discuss with Robert Ferguson, an IBM i web developer, what it takes to utilize the AJAX data that is returned from the server. Robert will provide an example by showing us how AJAX data can be displayed on a Web application’s screen with little effort.

To view this video with Windows Media Player, please click here

Using an AJAX Library on the IBM i

Alex Roytman — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:45:55 +0000

Today’s video is a response to a question from one of our viewers, Wil Rikken, from McNess BV in the Netherlands.

In my video on Sending AJAX Requests to the IBM i, I suggested the use of AJAX libraries, instead of coding everything from scratch. I also demonstrated a snippet of code that uses the ajax() function that we package with all our tools for the IBM i.

Wil wanted more details on this particular function. So, I have asked David Russo, the main developer and architect of our JavaScript AJAX library, to provide all the particulars on how to use the ajax() function with POST, asynchronous mode, etc.

I am also making the AJAX Library and the corresponding documentation available as a free download in our Resources Section on the site. You can access it here.

To view this video with Windows Media Player, please click here

Generating an AJAX Response from the IBM i with RPG and PHP

Alex Roytman — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:05:50 +0000

Joining me in today’s video is one of our IBM i web developer/analysts, Hany Elemary. Together, we will continue to discuss AJAX by explaining how to generate a server response to an AJAX request from the browser. Hany will share his thoughts on how AJAX responses are similar to basic dynamic output pages that output data instead of HTML. We then go on to illustrate how AJAX response programs are built by providing examples in two popular IBM i (iSeries/AS400) web development technologies: RPG/CGI and PHP.

To view this video with Windows Media Player, please click here

How Web Application Development Evolved

Alex Roytman — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:00:17 +0000

In this video, I go over the evolution of Web application development. You will discover how it progressed from simple HTML-based documents into Rich Internet Applications, where the user interface controls the flow of the application and makes simple requests for data and business logic. In this paradigm, server-side code is not generating new HTML pages every step of the way; therefore, applications are more cohesive and maintaining application state becomes much easier. I also explain how Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) allows for a simple way to integrate your IBM i data and business logic with external systems, data, and applications.

To view this video with Windows Media Player, please click here

Introduction to Rich Internet Applications for the IBM i

Alex Roytman — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:49:47 +0000

In this video, you will be introduced to Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) as they relate to the IBM i (AS/400, iSeries, System i). I will explain some of the details behind this technological phenomenon, and show you why it has top research companies making strong claims about its future in the market. You will see how RIAs compare with traditional Web applications, and how utilizing RIA Libraries and Frameworks can help you create powerful user interfaces (UIs) with little to no coding.

To view this video with Windows Media Player, please click here

Sending AJAX Requests to the IBM i (iSeries / AS400) Server

Alex Roytman — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:44:02 +0000

To fully utilize AJAX on the System i (iSeries/AS400) system, you need to learn about 3 simple things:

How to make requests from the browser to the server

How to respond to these requests with RPG or another web-capable language

How to process that response within the browser

In this video, I talk about making requests, which can be tricky. Unless… you utilize an AJAX library. With an AJAX library in place, it’s really simple to make server requests either directly from HTML code or from a Rich Internet Application platform.

To view this video with Windows Media Player, please click here

AJAX on the IBM i (iSeries / AS400) – What’s the big deal?

Alex Roytman — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:24:16 +0000

If you are modernizing AS/400 RPG or Cobol applications, you should be learning and familiarizing yourself with the concept of AJAX. Why is AJAX such a big deal?

To answer this question, I introduce you to something about browser development that you may not have realized. This realization explains why AJAX is so relevant. I then provide an example of how AJAX is used to simplify form processing for both developers and end-users.

To view this video with Windows Media Player, please click here