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 WebSmart 5 Public Training Seminars in Pennsylvania and British Columbia
WebSmart 5 Training in the US
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 only about 6 more attendees. We don't often hold classes in the East, so if you haven't signed up for this one yet, you need to hurry!
This class features the all-new training material developed specifically over the last few months for the new release. So 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 Version 5, this seminar is one you don't want to miss.
We are also told that June is a great time of year to visit the Erie, Pennsylvania area, where you can enjoy some hiking or birdwatching at the beautiful Presque Isle State Park, featuring 26 miles of beaches. Or you can take a dip at a different kind of water park, the newly constructed Splash Lagoon Indoor Waterpark. In addition, our hosts have recommended the Waldameer amusement park, Jr's Last Laugh Comedy Club, the bayfront area of town, and the happy hour paddleboat cruises on the bay. You certainly won't be bored during the classes, and with a little preparation, you should be able to survive the evenings as well!
WebSmart 5 Training in the Canada
A WebSmart 5 public training seminar has just been scheduled for the week of
June 27, 2005 at our technical office in beautiful British Columbia on the West Coast of Canada. This class features the all-new training material developed specifically over the last few months for the new release. So 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 Version 5, this seminar is one you don't want to miss.
Recommended hotels near the training site are the Hampton Inn (closest) and the Clarion (also nice, a little further away).
WebSmart 5 Advanced Training in Canada
We have also just scheduled a WebSmart 5 Advanced Training class for the week of September 12-15, here in Sidney, British Columbia, Canada. Additional details will be published next month.
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.
Call for Catapult 6 Feature Requests: Contact us Now!
BCD's Catapult development team has begun work on the next major release of Catapult - Version 6. And while we always have a list of features to add based on our strategic direction for the product and the continuous feedback we're getting in Technical Support, this is also an excellent time for you to get in touch with us directly to let us know about anything that you'd particularly like to see added to the product.
To send us your suggestions, please fill out the Catapult 6 Feature Request Form.
Some of the features that we have considered for this release include the following (in addition to those already available in Catapult 5.6):
- Support for polling PC directories.
- A completely updated look with new button faces, graphics and Windows XP style controls.
- Support for user defined email/printer/fax values for splitting to use extracted data values and callout data values
- Console GrabRule security
- Data File Extraction
- Data Queue triggering of Poller (Data Queue attached to Print Queue)
- Customizable columns in Console GrabRule List
- Support for CC and BCC in emailing.
- Customizable columns in History List, Request/Errors List
- GrabRule search facility -- search by description, GrabRule Number, etc
- Ability to add to existing zip files
- Improved parameter handling for AutoScripts
- Ability to select request detail(s) that are in error and resubmit. ie: change the email address and send it out, change the printer and make it print, change the fax number and make it fax. This so that you don't have to run an entire request again for one split section with an incorrect email address (for example).
Some of these features will be added for sure, while others are still currently being researched for feasibility. Remember, there's never a release where we manage to get in everything we'd like to add, so it's always useful for you to get in touch with us regarding any feature you have strong feelings about. Your feedback is an important part of the planning that goes into every new release, and all your suggestions will be given serious consideration. So if there is:
- a feature you really need,
- a limitation that is affecting how efficiently you can use the product,
- an area of the product or process you run that is requiring too much management, or
- a process that is requiring frequent manual intervention,
Now is the time to let us know about these things.
Finally, even if there's a 'dream' feature that you think there's no way we would add, please tell us about it, and why it would change the way you do things; we might find that there are several of you that want the same thing, and if it's technically possible, we'll find a way to add it.
To send your comments, requests and suggestions to the Catapult development team, please fill in the Catapult Feature Request Form. Your comments will be forwarded to the developers immediately and also added to a file of requests to be considered.
Introduction to CloverTM: An Exciting New Member of BCD's WebSmart Family
Clover is an upcoming tool that uses the WebSmart IDE for generating web reports of iSeries data extremely quickly.
When you use Clover to create a report, you'll begin in much the same way as you do in WebSmart, by selecting a template. The template will then take you through a series of wizard screens, beginning with one similar to this one:
In this first step, Clover prompts you to select the sequence by which you'll order your report. As you step through the process you can see the SQL statement gradually being formed in another window, similar to this one:
At the end of the wizard process Clover presents the HTML that will form the web-based report. By clicking on the Generate and Launch buttons your report is ready straight away.
A novice user can use Clover to generate simple reports with subtotals, record counts, headers and totals by using the wizard alone. For the more advanced user there are several menu options available for customizing your report and utilizing the powerful features that Clover provides. For instance, you can condition a line being printed by using this window:
Clover also provides a new linking interface in which you can see the links between files used in the report in a diagrammatic way:
Using Clover you can also create graphs and pie charts and other means of visually displaying data, as shown here:
In short, Clover will allow you to create powerful reports in just a few minutes with virtually no programming knowledge at all.
Clover is planned to be release in the 3Q of this year. Watch this space for beta test announcements!
SurPass Upgrade to Spool-Explorer/EZ-Pickin's
If you use SurPass, a product that is no longer supported, we have an upgrade path for you.
As of V5R3 of the OS/400 operating system it is reported that there is a problem with SurPass being able to download spool files from the AS/400, iSeries and i5, and that there is not support available for that product since the company which produced SurPass, Tangent Group, is no longer in business.
If you are looking for a product you can use to replace it's functionality, please contact BCD for a proven solution for downloading spool files and extracting the data into Excel spreadsheets that is well supported by a company with a long term history in the IBM midrange marketplace.
New WebSmart Case Study: Bay County Schools
If you haven't visited BCD's WebSmart page on the web lately, you should take a few minutes to check it out. Among the recent additions is a fascinating case study describing how WebSmart was recently used by the Bay County School District (Florida) to create a Student Information Portal.
All of the 28,000 students who attend school in Bay County, Florida, have academic profiles that reside on the school district's iSeries model 830 located in Panama City, FL. Accessible by teachers, counselors, and administrators through a web-based portal called Dash-Board, these profiles contain academic information, assessment results and a current photograph so teachers, whose job it is to make sure that students get the best education possible given the tax dollars that flow into the system, can tailor curriculum to the learner's strengths and weaknesses. In seconds, teachers and others with a user ID and password can access a student's information from a common web browser. Greg Alford, a Cobol programmer by trade and the Dash-Board's chief builder, created the application with WebSmart.
We recommend that you take a few minutes to read this case study, and the others available. Many programmers find within these case studies ideas on how to design and implement applications, as well as suggestions on how to leverage the web environment at their own sites. If you have any questions, please contact Technical Support.
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Wiseco Consultants, Hong Kong
www.hkwiseco.com
BCD would like to welcome another new international dealer to our organization:
Wiseco Consultants, in Hong Kong. Wiseco was incorporated in February 2001, and their business coverage includes Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China.
Wiseco's Bruce Lee writes this about themselves: "Our Business strategy is to provide Strategic IT consulting services for investment protection with focus on adding value to Legacy Systems, Mobile/Remote Information Access to host applications and Fixed Asset Management solutions.
"Having survived through the dark age of Information Technology after the e-commerce bubble burst, Wiseco has been well recognized in the local market as a legacy
solutions provider. Locally, we have we have built up a customer base of over 80 prestigious enterprises including Banks, Manufacturers, Conglomerates and Government
Departments.
"In our relationship with BCD, WebSmart is our focus product for the local market for one very important reason - it supports Double-byte Characters Set (DBCS)."
For additional information about Wiseco, please contact Bruce Lee by email, or phone (852) 2544 3318.
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New WebSmart Example Programs: Adding a Java Applet, Hiding Columns Using a Checkbox, etc.
The following new WebSmart example programs were added recently:
- Example 91 - This example program shows you how to hide certain columns in your list by clicking a checkbox. Alternately, you could create your program having certain columns hidden by default, and shown only when the user clicks an option.
- Example 90 - This program demonstrates a technique you can use to conditionally hide certain fields in the list control area of the page. This feature is useful when you have several searchable fields, and you don't want to always display them all at the top of your page, forcing the user to always scroll down to see the actual data.
- Example 89 - This program illustrates how you can create a survey application. It shows the different types of input capable for questions, from text boxes to radio buttons as well as validation on these fields.
- Example 88 - This example illustrates how you can load a Java Applet from inside a WebSmart application. The Applet we're using is in itself a simple one, found on the web; but download the program and sample code to see how you can implement more sophisticated Java Applets. You can find many other types on the web.
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.
Using Client-side Functionality to Edit User Input - Force Uppercase
In WebSmart, you can use PML to perform server-side editing of data, whether it is input by the user or output to the browser. This article will explain a better method- using CSS.
Most legacy AS/400 applications store data in upper-case. If you want to allow a user to search for a field value, you can get the input from the browser and convert it to upper-case as follows:
HTML code fragment:
<input type="text" name="searchval" size="30" maxlength="30">
PML code fragment:
searchval = getparm("searchval"); // Get the input field from the user
searchval = upper(searchval); // Convert user input to upper case
There are a number of shortcomings to this solution:
- The user sees the input as they type it as appearing in lower-case (unless they have caps-lock on, or they explicitly hit the shift key).
- The server does the work of converting the string to upper-case (not a big deal, but it's a good practice to minimize use of server resources wherever possible).
- It requires two lines of PML.
Using CSS, we can solve all these issues elegantly. Consider this HTML fragment:
<input type="text" name="searchval" size="30" maxlength="30" style="text-transform:uppercase;">
We've simply added a style attribute to our input tag, with a "text-transform" specification for the value.
This addresses all the shortcomings of the PML approach:
- The user sees the input they type as being in upper-case (no need to hit the shift key, it happens as they type). You can think of this as comparable to the default definition of input fields in display file DDS in the green-screen world.
- The browser does all the work.
- Our PML now only needs one line - the getparm function.
To further enhance the way this technique works, read the full article here (this will load in a new page, where we can use a different style sheet).
Reference Material
You can find more information about the text-transformation CSS property at this address: www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/text.html. This is the official standards site for web-related programming.
ESDI Welcomes New Employees
ExcelSystems Software Development, Inc. (BCD Development and Support) is excited to welcome a couple new staff members to our team, and we are also working on hiring a third within the coming weeks.
Tyson Gilberstad arrives with a Bachelor of Computer Engineering from the University of Victoria and many other relevant skills (ASP, AutoCad, bass guitar player), and is looking forward to plunging into the phone fray with the rest of the technical support reps. Over the coming months Tyson will be coming up to speed on all our major products, and looking forward to helping you out with any difficulties you run into.
Alain St. Pierre is joining us for a few months as a software developer and will be working primarily on consulting projects. Alain is also a local computer science graduate from the University of Victoria, and has already worked for several years in software development and design, and in IT support before that.
Over the coming months we'll look forward to discovering (and exploiting!) all the known and hidden skills that our new team members bring to us. ESDI and BCD continue to grow steadily in almost every direction, and we are always focused on ensuring that our growth translates quickly and directly into better service and higher quality products for our customers.
If you get the opportunity to talk to Tyson or Alain in the next few weeks, please take a second to give them some feedback on how they're doing - and remember that if during Tyson and Alain's initial training period at any time you feel like you need to talk to one of our more senior staff members, you only need to ask for them.
Summary List of Recent 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 tooltips, 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.
Spool-Explorer/400 Release 4.21
A new version of Spool-Explorer/400 is available for download. This version includes all previous updates and enhancements. Version 4.21 includes the following new features and fixes:
- Spool-Explorer now uses a replacement to the external Exodus communications layer previously used. Configuration screens have been updated to reflect this.
- Granularity was added for handling and logging communications errors. The Windows path no longer needs to be updated to include the path to Exodus.
- Exodus now supports OS/400 Password Level 2.
- Exodus now Blowfish encrypts the iSeries password passed between the client and the server on startup.
- User security screen now correctly displays the subset list of queues selected for the user/group.
- User security configuration tool now works correctly without Spool-Explorer III.
Please visit the Spool-Explorer Updates page for further information on the available updates.
Catapult 5.63
Catapult 5.63 is now available for download from our web site. Version 5.63 (Poller: 5.61 Build 2091; Console: 5.63 Build 1789) contains all the latest fixes, as well as a few new features, including the following recent update:
- Resolved a problem encountered while downloading extremely large spool files.
- Resolved a looping problem in the Poller when the Split/Parse group had certain combinations of duplicate keys and email addresses. (5.62)
- A problem copying GrabRules with Extracted Data Value processing has been resolved. (5.61)
- A problem with Email Header/Footer Text using Extracted Data Values has been resolved. (5.61)
Please visit the Catapult Updates page for further information on the available updates.
ProGen Plus 8.02
These are the latest ProGen Plus updates:
- PG8A003 - (Requires V5R1M0) June 1, 2005 - Accum 3, for release 8.02. (Note: You must upgrade to 8.02 first before you upgrade to this release). Upgrade 8.03 includes updates PG8R0018-35 (4.92 Mb).
- PG8R035 - 2005/06/01 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Fix validation of columns when changing window sizes. On create it was OK, but on change it wasn't.
- PG8R034 - 2005/05/31 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Properly display 3=Error Messages in Work with Files.
- PG8R033 - 2005/05/30 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Fixed substrings on large fields which didn't work correctly.
- PG8R032 - 2005/05/30 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Correct exit key function in Repository File Layout Screen (Option 1 from the Work with Files screen).
- PG8R031 - 2005/05/27 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. When creating *MAP workfields, don't overwrite the field description when adding multiple fields.
- PG8R030 - 2005/05/26 - Requires OS/400 V5R1 or later. Fix debug option string for opm validation modules called by ile programs.
- 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).
Please visit the ProGen Plus Updates page for further information on the available updates.
© 2005 ExcelSystems Software Development, Inc.
ProGen WebSmart and ProGen Plus are Registered Trademarks in the US and Canada, and Trademarks in all other countries.
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