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 New IBM Case Study: WHPD WebSmart Applications
IBM has recently published a new Case Study describing how DCS, an IBM Business Partner, used WebSmart, Nexus and Clover on the iSeries to transform the West Haven Police Department's commercial green screen applications into a modernized iSeries business Web solution. The new applications enable officers to be more effective in the field, help dispatchers make better use of resources, and save both time and money. [View Online Screen Shots]
Overview
The West Haven Police Department (WHPD) in Connecticut wants to stay at the forefront of public service and crime fighting by giving its officers the best possible tools. To do that, the department needs to leverage the latest in technology, working with industry specialists to create new solutions.
Solution
The WHPD is teaming with IBM and IBM Business Partner DCS to implement first-of-their-kind technological innovations, including rapid, in-car display of mugshots
for officers in the field, live tracking of police vehicles and a way for citizens to file reports directly via the Web. All data is stored centrally, enhancing security.
Key Benefits
The redesigned applications provide several key benefits:
• Near instant mugshot availability
• Improved officer safety and effectiveness
• Accurate, live tracking of police vehicles
• Simplified access to data
• Enhanced security and management
• Citizens Web-based complaint filing saves time and money
Technology has long been used to make police work more effective. In-car data feeds, for example, have been in use for more than a quarter of a century. As technology has become more capable and less expensive, its use in law enforcement has also progressed. The West Haven Police Department has long been a leader in the adoption of robust technology. It’s this long-term commitment to innovation – constantly seeking to give its personnel better ways to accomplish their mission – that sets the WHPD apart.
You can view a PDF of the entire IBM Case Study at our website.
 BCD Tech Update Content & Distribution Changes
The BCD Technical Update began its life in September of 1996 as a faxed, 1-page newsletter (see the sample at right). At that time, the primary intent of the Tech Update was to provide our clients with up-to-date information about software updates. Previous to that, our clients typically dialed in to our AS/400 on a phone line to download an update list, or periodically called Technical Support to ask if anything new was available.
Since those early days the newsletter has evolved significantly, with our most important transition coming in early 2001 when we switched from a single-page fax to an online format. Having the Tech Updates online didn't just mean we could write longer articles, it allowed us to include links directly to the software update pages and other time-sensitive content on our site. Over the years, as bandwidth has increased, we have also been able to include more richly illustrated content and longer articles.
In the coming months we will again be updating the look of the BCD Technical Update. And along with this transition of the 'look and feel' of the newsletter, we plan to take the opportunity to address a number of other distribution goals. The next section outlines the reason for these changes, and the March and April newsletters will include specific details about how to confirm your subscription status.
Watch for the Re-Subscribe Notice!
As a result of this newsletter having evolved over more than a decade, with its roots in the original fax update as well as in some informal email groups created to notify clients about available updates, our mechanisms for adding new subscribers have not always been as consistent or rigorous as we would have liked. To address this issue, over the next few months we will be rebuilding our subscriber lists. We will do this based on your current status in the list, and let you know exactly what you need to do to confirm your subscription status. So watch for instructions in the upcoming issues.
BCD Booth at 19th Annual Omni Technical Conference
If you live near the Chicago area, you may want to attend the 19th annual Omni Technical Conference in Oak Brook on February 26 and 27. The theme for this year's conference is "The Magic of System i", and the conference features hands-on labs, jumpstart sessions and addresses on a wide variety of topics. For additional information, or to register, visit the link above.
If you attend the conference, drop by Booth 9 where you'll find a BCD team ready to demo our software and discuss your application needs. We'll look forward to seeing you there.
Request WebSmart 7 Features
The BCD development group has been working on WebSmart 7 for some time now and we have made good headway on the main features we plan to include in the upcoming release. And although WebSmart, in its 7th release, is without question a 'mature' product, we are happy to  report that we definitely haven't had to lapse into a development model of merely adding cosmetic tweaks to a set of geriatric features. WebSmart occupies an exciting and rapidly expanding area of the application development world, and the upcoming versions will include some correspondingly aggressive and far-reaching features. We'll look forward to unveiling some (but only some) of these over the next few months.
At this time we would like to invite you to contribute your own suggestions of any features and enhancements you would like to see in WebSmart 7. Whether you are a veteran WebSmart developer or a new user still familiarizing yourself with the software, you have probably been logging a mental wishlist of items you'd like to see changed or added. If you do have such a checklist, please share it with us! We all create applications to meet different requirements, and every programmer pushes different limits within the product. So don't assume that your suggestion is something we've already thought of – every suggestion we receive is useful.
To submit your requests for new features or enhancements, use the New Feature Request form at our website. Please fill in your contact information so we can follow up with you to discuss your submissions.
WebSmart 7 Feature Preview: IDE Tabs
As mentioned in the previous article, the WebSmart development team is starting to pull together the various components of WebSmart 7, and we have begun the path towards the eventual release of the next version a few months down the road. Here at ESDI (ExcelSystems Software Development, Inc. – the development arm of BCD) some of us have started to switch over to using WebSmart 7 as our version of choice, as the next version stabilizes, and the advantage of having access to the new features increasingly outweighs the occasional hiccup.
In the meantime, we would like to start sharing a few of the new features with you.
Opening Multiple Definitions in the IDE
In WebSmart 7 you will be able to open and work with multiple definitions in the same copy of the IDE. And in conjunction with this feature, we have developed a useful tabbed interface for working not only with the PML and HTML in your definitions, but with other associated files as well. Here is an example of the top of the main window in the WebSmart 7 IDE:
Notice the following features:
• The first three tabs in the top row are for three open definitions. By having all of these open in the same IDE window, you can easily copy, paste and compare code between two or more definitions.
• For the second definition (selected in the top row), the IDE is displaying both the PML and HTML tabs together on the second line. Displaying the definition's PML and HTML together simplifies navigating between the two types of content, and augments the sense of continuity between these components.
• Further along the top row you'll see that in addition to the three open definitions, we also have three other files open: a compile listing, the CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) file for our set of programs, and a Javascript file (also externally referenced by these three programs). In Websmart 7, as you work with the different program definitions within an application you can also open and work with other files that affect how your programs work.
• And finally, another nice feature that you can't see in this illustration is that your JavaScript and CSS files are all appropriately color-coded in the IDE window.
Over the coming months we'll be looking at a few more WebSmart 7 features, and remember that if you have any of your own requests, we'd like to hear from you (see the previous article).
Nexus 3.3 Beta Available Soon.
Our Nexus group is starting to wrap up the main development phase of the upcoming Release 3.3 and we are now accepting requests to participate in the beta.
For this interim release we have again focused our development efforts primarily on the Nexus ECM (Enterprise Content Manager). Several new features as well as many smaller enhancements will make managing your portal content a quicker and more intuitive process. For your end-users we have also added some handy ECM management tools, such as Favorites links at both the Portal and ECM Navigator instance levels. The set of Favorites that you'll access from the main portal header is available at all times within Nexus, while the Favorites that you create at the Navigator instance level can be customized for particular environments. The new right-click options also make it easier than ever to work with your ECM content.
We will profile a number of the Nexus 3.3 new features beginning in this Tech Update, and publish a complete list of features and enhancements on our website as we draw nearer to the release date.
Participate in the Nexus 3.3 Beta!
For further information about the Nexus 3.3 Beta, please contact Technical Support. You can also go directly to the Nexus 3.3 Beta Request Form to sign up, and we'll be in touch with you when it's ready to be downloaded. We'll look forward to your participation, and any suggestions you can provide on how we can further improve the new functionality.
Nexus 3.3 Feature Profile: ECM Favorites Links
Over the last few months we have been busily adding new features to Nexus 3, and plan to go to beta with version 3.3 soon (see the previous article). Beginning with this month's Tech Update, we will be profiling a number of the features that have been completed.
New ECM Favorites List
With Nexus being a portal product running in a browser, it isn't surprising that it's being used to access an increasingly broad range of resources. With the new ECM management tools that shipped with Version 3, it's easier than ever to organize all those links, documents and tools into a logical folder structure.
And yet there are always items that you access more frequently, and you chafe at every extra click required to get to them. To help make access to your most frequently used links as quick as possible, in Nexus 3.3 we have added a unique, site-wide Favorites menu for each user.
The first time you open the new Favorites link, Nexus opens this window:
The links you see at the top of the window correspond to the menu items available in the ECM Maintenance window. Use these buttons to upload new files to the ECM, create new documents and folders, and add links to external URLs. As you add content this way, this set of Favorites will grow into being your personalized, easily-accessible ECM folder.
Here is an illustration of the Favorites window after adding some entries:
This user has so far added several folders containing different types of files and links.
Why Do I Need Another Set of Favorites?
At this point you may be saying to yourself "I already have a set of favorites in my browser, why do I need a different set in Nexus?". Remember that Nexus goes with you anywhere; you can log in to your Nexus Portal from any browser anywhere, and access this same set of favorites there. So you're not dependant on operating from your own PC. Also, rather than crowding your browser favorites with links to all your Nexus resources, it makes more sense to keep the links to your Nexus resources within the portal itself. And finally, this isn't just a way to add bookmarks; this Favorites window is a quick way to upload and work with your own ECM content without having to worry about the intricacies of whether your particular document or resource should be saved.
The Nexus 3.3 Beta will be available soon. For further information, please contact Technical Support.
Feature Profile: Using Catapult and EZ-Pickin's to Generate Spreadsheets for Automatic Distribution
Catapult is BCD's automated spool file conversion and distribution tool. With Catapult you create 'grab' rules that the Catapult Poller then uses to scan your outqueues for matching reports. Once those reports are found, the Poller downloads them and applies all the formatting options you've specified in your rule before sending the report along by email (or saving to a server, etc.). There are myriad options in Catapult for enhancing your reports, ranging from PDF and HTML conversion, zipping and password protection, to splitting the report into sections by key, or adding hyperlinked bookmarks. 
However, what if don't want more formatting – you want less? What if want only the data, and not even the headings or other text?
The “My Data is on the iSeries, But My Users Only Speak Excel®” Conundrum
It's possible that despite the existence of many adequate iSeries reports on your system, your end users or company managers don't want to work with anything but a PC file – and preferably Excel® spreadsheets. Or you may be faced with a situation where your users submit several ‘variation on a theme’ report requests every week, and your programming staff doesn’t have time to get to them all. Or that even when you do produce all the reports requested of you for the week, a few days later you’re asked to deliver something just a little different.
If any of these challenges reflect your own experience, then you should take a few minutes to learn how to combine EZ-Pickin's data extraction models with your Catapult grab rules. By using Catapult together with EZ-Pickin’s to produce a variety of broad, solid spreadsheets, you can provide your end users with the data they need while allowing them the flexibility of using their favorite spreadsheet application to massage that data into the format they want, to produce the particular type of report they need this time around.
We have recently published a new PDF version of the Catapult 6 User Guide where we have added a new tutorial section that walks you through setting up a grab rule that incorporates an EZ-Pickin's data extraction model. To download the latest build of the User Guide, please visit the Catapult Documentation Page. But below is a summary of the content of the new tutorial.
Combining Catapult Grab Rules and EZ-Pickin's Data Extraction Models
Catapult is unsurpassed in the area of report distribution and formatting features, and EZ-Pickin's offers an impressive array of tools for building sophisticated data extraction templates. By using the strengths of Catapult and EZ-Pickin's together, you can instantly and automatically process your iSeries reports to distribute feature-rich spreadsheets to your users.
The process is simple:
- To begin, create a simple Catapult grab rule designed to select and email you a copy of your iSeries report, in .prn format (one of the available download options).
- When you get your first copy of the report open it in EZ-Pickin's. Select your report detail and heading lines, and create templates identifying the fields you need from each section. EZ-Pickin's builds what you can visualize as a paper cut-out overlaying your report, showing the elements to be extracted:
Within each template in your model you can define your field names and attributes.
- Then select the EZ-Pickin's Table view to verify that your generated spreadsheet will contain everything you need:
In this view you can create new, complex calculated fields, add sort orders and filters, or define summaries. Or you can just let your users do that themselves in the spreadsheets they'll receive.
- Once you have confirmed that your EZ-Pickin's data extraction model works the way you need it to, you need to create a .bat file to open your report, apply the model, and export it to the spreadsheet format of your choice. A typical .bat file will look like this (without the line break):
"c:\Program Files\Monarch for EZPickins8\Program\ezpickns.exe" "c:\Downloads\QSYSPRT.prn"
"c:\Models\inventory.xmod" "c:\Tables\inventorylisting.xls"
This file is using EZ-Pickin's to open the report QSYSPRT.prn, apply the model inventory.xmod, and export the data to a table named inventorylisting.xls.
- The last step is to go back to the Catapult grab rule you started with and in the EZ-Pickin's category check the Run Autoscript option:
Then fill in the location of the .bat file, as well as the Input and Output file names (as identified in the .bat file itself).
Summary
The simple technique described above allows you to easily distribute the data from your iSeries reports as spreadsheets that your intended recipients can open and work with in the application of their choice. This means that you can not only provide your users with data in a format they're familiar with, but you can also free your programming staff from the responsibility of continually fine-tuning report results to your user's ever-changing specifications.
For more information on this technique, and illustrated step by step instructions, please download the latest build of the Catapult 6.12 User Guide from the Catapult Documentation Page. If you still have any questions about how to set this up, you can contact Technical Support at (250) 655-1766, or by email, and we'll walk you through the process.
ESDI Welcomes Another New Developer
ESDI (ExcelSystems Software Development, Inc., the Development and Technical Support arm of BCD) is pleased to welcome another new developer to our staff. Amanda Ni is originally from Beijing and attended NorthEast University in Shenyang where she received a Masters Degree in Computer Science. She's been working as a programmer for 7 years now, most recently in Vancouver. The most challenging project she has had to tackle was an ERP project for Shanghai Bus Transportation Group, which involved gathering requirements from individuals across several departments, many speaking different dialects. Beyond work, Amanda has enjoyed traveling through Canada, where one highlight was a maple syrup farm in Montreal.
Amanda has been at ESDI for several weeks now and is already working on WebSmart 7 and some of the features you'll be reading about here in the coming months.
Summary List of Recent Updates
Catapult 6.12
Catapult 6.12 is now available for download from our website. Version 6.12 includes the following features and fixes:
- Improved distribution tracking/auditing by adding new Poller functions to create individual History and Request records for each additional file included with a distributed report.
- Made a change in how extensions are handled when using wildcards in the Network File path field.
- When using a wildcard (* or *.*) with additional files, Catapult will no longer add directories to the list of potential files, and therefore will not display the warning message indicating it could not find a file named '.'.
- Fixed level check problems triggered by opening the server status report from the Poller icon in the system tray or when running the Poller Monitor.
- When splitting a report and emailing to a distribution group, multiple group entries with *ALL as the key will all receive the report now. Previously, on the first match received the report.
- Resolved a problem involving poller configuration passwords when upgrading from 5.XX to 6.XX.
- Resolved an issue with curly brackets in RTF files.
- Resolved a problem when submitting Network files with names longer than 32 characters to Nexus.
Please visit the Catapult updates page for further information.
WebSmart 6.05/Clover 1.51
There is a new iSeries update for WebSmart 6.05, update W605003P. This update addresses a Clover outer join issue when NULL values are returned in the result set.
In conjunction with this iSeries-side update, you also need to download Build 9037 of the WebSmart IDE. This PC-side update also addresses two additional issues, one where the definition file extension wasn't always being assigned correctly (between .pdw and .cdw files), and another problem with the New Program template listing, where the tree view wasn't saved correctly.
For additional information on these updates, please visit the WebSmart Updates page.
Nexus 3.12
In January we also made available a Nexus 3.12 update, Update NX3103. This update resolves an issue where IFS folders and files were not being generated correctly when new sites were created.
For additional information on these updates, please visit the Nexus Updates page.
© 2007 ExcelSystems Software Development, Inc.
WebSmart and ProGen Plus are Registered Trademarks in the US and Canada, and Trademarks in all other countries. DCS case study excerpts and image © 2007 IBM Corporation.
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