WebSmart 5.11 Now Available

If you still haven't downloaded WebSmart 5, now is a good time to go ahead and take care of that. The newest release of the software, WebSmart 5.11, includes the ability to activate the powerful new RPG/DDS to Web (RDW) conversion engine (an add-on module), a feature profiled just below.

WebSmart 5 also introduces dozens of other important new features you should review, to make sure you're starting to take advantage of them (click the link for a complete list).

Download Websmart 5.11 now! The download also includes new User and Reference guides and updated help text, packed with useful tips.

If you are new to WebSmart, keep in mind that the User Guide includes the updated training exercises and links to demo programs. - View the Press Release -

If you have any questions about your maintenance status, please contact BCD; if you have any questions about any of the new features, or about installing the upgrade, please get in touch with Tech Support.


WebSmart 5 Public Training Seminar in Pennsylvania
 
WebSmart 5.1 vs. WebSphere
If you were still wondering whether you should make the switch to WebSmart, check out this article at the IT Jungle web site: BCD Ships WebSmart 5.1 as IBM Eases Off WebSphere.

Read the article to see why BCD's Eric Figura is so happy these days!

Still not sold? Read some of our Snapshots in Productivity, particularly Mississippi Sportswear's, and see what a 1-man shop can do with WebSmart!

The next WebSmart 5 public training seminar is scheduled for the week of June 20, 2005 in Erie, Pennsylvania. This class will be hosted at a client site, where they have room for about 10 more attendees. We don't often hold classes in the East, so book early to reserve your space!

We are told that June is a great time of year to visit the Erie, Pennsylvania area, where you can enjoy some hiking or bird watching at the beautiful Presque Isle State Park, featuring 26 miles of beaches. Or take a dip at a different kind of water park, the newly constructed Splash Lagoon Indoor Waterpark. In addition our hosting company has recommended the Waldameer amusement park, Jr's Last Laugh Comedy Club, the bay front area of town, and the happy hour paddle boat cruises of the bay. You will certainly not be bored during the classes, and with a little luck and some good preparation, you should be able to survive the evenings as well! The recommended hotels near the training site are the Hampton Inn (closest) and the Clarion (also nice, a little further away).

This class features the all-new training material developed specifically for the new release over the last few months. If you are just getting going with WebSmart, or even if you're a veteran WebSmart programmer wanting to familiarize yourself with the powerful new tools in this version, this seminar is the one you won't want to miss.

If you are interested in attending this WebSmart class or would like additional information, please fill out our Training Request form. You can also contact Marcel Sarrasin, our training coordinator.


WebSmart 5 Feature Profile: RPG/DDS to Web Conversion

One of the most awaited new features in WebSmart 5 is the RPG/DDS to Web (RDW) conversion tool. This utility will give you a leg up both with converting critical business logic from your RPG programs to crisp, well-written PML, and migrating existing iSeries screens to HTML in preparation for publishing them to the web.

Here is a quick rundown of the conversion process:

In the WebSmart 5 IDE, begin by selecting the Convert RPG option from the Tools menu. WebSmart then presents a window similar to this one:



From here you can first enter and then load a list of source members from a selected file/library. Then select the member you want to convert and click Next, or simply double-click the member. Then all you have to do is wait for a few seconds while WebSmart downloads the member and converts it to PML. The whole process, for a reasonably long program, shouldn't take more than about 10 or 15 seconds.

Here is an illustration of the results, showing the program initialization routine from one of the programs in ProGen Plus (click on the image to see the full-size graphic):



In this example you can see the PML code that has been generated, as well as the red notes inserted in the code indicating where different elements have not been converted. (Note that this tool is not intended to immediately transform a green screen program into a completely functioning web program. Rather, it's designed for you to have an easy way to transfer critical program logic from programs you are converting to new web applications.)

WebSmart 5's RDW also includes a DDS conversion tool, to generate HTML from your display files, in case you want to retain any aspects of the appearance of your green screen application when converting them to web programs.

If you have any questions about this feature, please contact Technical Support.


New WebSmart Example Program:

We have created a new WebSmart example program over the last couple of weeks:
  • Example 88 - Demonstrates how you can insert java applets into your WebSmart applications.

For further details on any of the WebSmart examples, or if you have any questions on how to implement the techniques they demonstrate, please contact Technical Support.


Important Nexus 2.5 Update Available

The Nexus development team has recently prepared an important new security update for Nexus. If you are currently using Nexus, you need to get this update as soon as possible; you can download it now from our web site.

The update also includes a few other enhancements, including support for user-level scheme selection, and improvements to the user/group/key pairs selection windows in the Nexus WOW.

If you have any questions about this update please contact Marcel or Kris Waugh in Technical Support.
 
Readers' Choice Awards
iSeries NEWS announces " Readers' Choice," a new monthly feature starting in its September 2005 issue that will profile software products readers have found especially useful. The feature will look at products that NEWS subscribers report saved them time, got them out of a jam, solved a problem, or otherwise proved a stellar performer at their enterprise.

The feature will be an ongoing series. Interested readers can nominate a product by setting their browser to http://www.iSeriesNetwork.com/ReadersChoice and filling out a short online form. Readers who submit complete nomination forms will receive a free T-shirt and be quoted in the article if their nomination is selected for a profile.




Call to Action for BCD Customers !

iSeries News is looking for iSeries clients that use software products that: Saved them Time, Got them out of a Jam, Solved a Problem or otherwise Proved a Stellar Performer at their Enterprise.

If you believe any of the BCD's products have done any or all of the above for you we encourage you to participate in this iSeries NEWS initiative and get one of their T-Shirts.

Thanks in advance,

BCD Sales and Technical Groups.




Catapult 5.63 Feature Profile: Call-out Program Replacement Values

When you are using Catapult to distribute reports, it's possible that you may not want to duplicate all your email addresses and other information into Catapult Groups. This information may be present in Account or Administration applications already in place. To avoid the necessity of having this information in two places, Catapult 5.63 supports the ability to call a user written program that will return replacement values for use in Catapult.

The program written by the end user can be as simple or complex as required. In many cases though, it will be a very simple program that does a lookup into a master file and returns one or more values.

The call-out program must have the following parameter structure:
  • Input: 2000 bytes (passed from Catapult Poller and received into your program)
  • Output: 2000 bytes (passed from your program back to Catapult Poller).
The Output parameter must be in 'double quoted string' format. This means that each entry returned to Catapult must be enclosed in double quotation marks, and must have at least one blank space between each of the values.

The first value returned will be associated with the replacement parameter &B0. The second value will be &B1. The third will be &B2, and so on.

In the example below, a program is being called that expects a three character company number, and a five character customer number. The company number is actually extracted from the report data (&B0), while the customer number is the Key Value created by the Split/Parse procedure.



The call-out program returns the following string:

"bill@excelsystems.com" "myveryownpassword"

&B0 is associated with the first quoted string, and in this case would be used as the email address. The second value returned will be associated with &B1, and could be used as a password to secure the ZIP file created by the GrabRule.

An example Call-Out program is shown below:



The replacement parameter can also be used in group entries. In the example below &B0 would represent the email address returned from the callout program.



*NOTE: If you are passing a numeric value as a key you must pass "001" not " 1". Also, when using the call out function we suggest that you test the call out program first by calling it from a prompt program that sends and receives a 2000 A parameter. Once you are sure the RPG program is working correctly you can then use it in Catapult.

If you have any questions about Catapult version 5.63 or this particular feature, please email tech support. And if you haven't yet done so, you should read the iSeries News Catapult Product Review.

 


AMM Planac Solutions
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil www.ammsolutions.com.br
Intelligent Solutions for a Competitive Market

BCD would like to welcome another new international dealer to our organization: AMM Planac Solutions. AMM Planac is a Brazilian company offering services, products and solutions. We use our many years of experience as a launching pad to offering our specialized skill sets in the administration, operation and support of the AS/400 environment. We also retail and distribute advanced development solutions for Windows, Web and Wireless environments.

AMM Planac also provides hardware, peripherals and components for all the IBM product families, including the iSeries, pSeries and xSeries.
Our mission is to serve our customers with total quality, commitment and transparency in our business dealings, so our customers feel confident in the administration of their enterprises.

AMM Planac Solutions also operates a system dedicated to the development of Client-Server and Web applications for the i5 platform (AS/400) using the most powerful development tools available.

For further information on AMM Planac Solutions, please contact Samuel Souza.

 

How To Embed Self-Contained UI Objects in HTML Using HTML Components

HTML components are part of a little-known web technology that make it possible for you to embed self-contained, completely independent User Interface components into a page. For example, suppose you have a standard toolbar you want in every page of a given application. Using components you can render this toolbar wherever you like in the page with one custom HTML tag. Another example is a web-based text editor. We use an HTML component to implement such an editor in Nexus, our Web Portal product.

Restrictions of Components
Currently, components are a Microsoft-centric technology, so they are only supported by IE. You can read more about them at Microsoft's developer's site (http://msdn.microsoft.com).

Components and Behaviors
You may see the term 'behaviors' associated with 'HTML components'. A 'behavior' is really just the functions that an HTML component can perform. You can associate behaviors with a custom HTML tag, or with a Cascading Style Sheet style. We prefer to use an HTML tag. It makes your code a little clearer as to where you are using the HTML component. In either case (CSS or HTML tag), components are still a Microsoft-only implementation. In other words, Microsoft have written proprietary extensions to the CSS-2 specification in order to support their unique technology.

Why Would You Want To Use Components
There are many ways to construct pages comprised of components that are independent of one another. Some of these are:
  • Frames
  • Inline frames (iframes)- these can be treated like images, in that they can be embedded anywhere in a page layout
  • Server-side includes
  • RPC (Remote Procedure Calls), usually using a combination of a hidden IFRAME, JavaScript that produces dynamic HTML and a call to a server program. (This idea will be the topic for a future article).
All of these approaches require a second trip to the server to deliver content, if variables from the server are required. In the case of frames and iframes, you will often confront problems with presentation (for example, how do you dynamically size the IFRAME container to match the size of its content?). In contrast, HTML components have these advantages:
  • You can pass parameters back and forth to the component from a container page, and during a single page rendering (ie one round trip to the server)
  • You can define custom methods for the component - for example, what happens if a user clicks on it, or hovers over it
  • The component can consist of CSS (either an externally linked file or inline), JavaScript and HTML (or any combination of these).
  • The component can have its own completely discrete Document Object Model (DOM) tree. This is important, as it ensures that any CSS styles, JavaScript variables or HTML elements remain locally declared within the component and do not interfere with the container document's object model.
  • The component can render a complete page or just a fragment of HTML within the container page. For example, it could draw a table containing a calendar, with today's day highlighted.
So, you can think of an HTML component as a self-contained object with a public interface such as properties (parameters) and methods (functions) and private contents, such as the UI rendering and private functions.

For instructions and examples on how to use HTML Components, read the complete article here.


 In response to ProGen Plus client demands!

A common request from our ProGen Plus clients is to fix up minor bugs and user interface inconsistencies and to add several minor enhancements and new features that have been pending.

The message we've received is that clients are not looking for blockbuster new features but rather a sustained progression of fixes and improvements that make day-to-day development with ProGen Plus easier. In response to this, our development team has been busy putting out updates to ProGen Plus this month and will continue to do so in the months to come.

Please refer to the ProGen updates below.


 Summary List of Recent Updates

ProGen Plus 8.02

In April, the following ProGen updates were published:
  • PG8R029 - 2005/05/02 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Fix F3 and F12 processing on the exit screen (if 'Y' it would exit on F3 or F12).
  • PG8R028 - 2005/04/21 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Fixed truncation of workfield description on creation of long description (greater than 20 characters).
  • PG8R027 - 2005/04/21 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Two parameters have been added to the ZCRTENVR command for GN#USRC and GN#VSRC to allow the source file length to be changed to 112 instead of the default 92.
  • PG8R026 - 2005/04/20 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Conditional attributes and validation modules will now remain attached to fields when the starting subfile row changes.
  • PG8R025 - 2005/04/18 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Validation modules were being dropped or incorrectly assigned following a block move on the PDA.
  • PG8R024 - 2005/04/12 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Imbedded period in a database file name is now supported.
  • PG8R023 - 2005/04/01 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Support for changing files that have type O fields.
Please visit the ProGen Plus Updates page for further information on the available updates.

WebSmart 5.11
  • Build 8418 - 2005/04/12 - This update includes all previous fixes, as well as a fix for signed numerics; improved support for tool tips, status bar, and help for function within function; a fix for row and column display in HTML mode; a few sqlexec fixes for free format and improved UPARSER conversion.
  • W510001P.EXE - 2005/04/12 - Includes all previous enhancements and fixes as well as a fix for an Apache security problem; improved ECRTCGI and SQLCONNECT interaction; sqlquery changes for V5R3 a few other minor fixes.
Please visit the WebSmart Updates page for further information on the available updates.

Nexus 2.52
Nexus 2.52 was made available April 8, and includes the following enhancements:
  • An important new security update.
  • Support for user-level scheme selection.
  • Improvements to the user/group/key pairs selection windows.

© 2005 ExcelSystems Software Development, Inc.
ProGen WebSmart and ProGen Plus are Registered Trademarks in the US and Canada, and Trademarks in all other countries.


Current Product Update Levels

Nexus 2.52

ProGen Plus 8.02 - PG8R028

ProGen WebSmart 5.11 W510001P - Build 8418

Catapult 5.63

Spool-Explorer/400 4.10

Docu-Mint 6.0 - DN60R015

DbGen 2.3 - DB23R008

File-Flash Plus 4.20 - FFP40007


Recent Update Summary