IBM Redpaper Guides You To IBM i Modernization Tools

February 2, 2015 Alex Woodie

When it comes to building modern IBM i applications, there’s no shortage of tools available on the market. Depending on your requirements–whether you’re staying in the comfy confines of RPG or are comfortable with something like .NET, whether you’re looking just for Web tools or adding mobile too–there are different directions you can go. A recently published IBM Redpaper can help guide you to a better understanding of the third-party tools on the market.

IBM put a big focus on IBM i application modernization last year. After months of work and collaborating with the top experts in the field, it published a seminal Redbook on the topic in March 2014. The piece, quaintly titled Modernize IBM i Applications from the Database up to the User Interface and Everything in Between, was written by a dozen people under the supervision of Tim Rowe, IBM i business architect for application development and systems management.

The 720-word Redbook made quite an impact, and in September, Rowe followed it up with a complimentary Redpaper titled Tools and Solutions for Modernizing Your IBM i Applications. While it wasn’t the bestseller of the massive Redbook and weighed in at a mere 284 pages, the Redpaper does pull the curtains back on third-party application modernization solutions from a handful of vendors.

You will probably recognize most of the names of the Web and mobile modernization tool providers featured in the Redpaper: ASNA, BCD Software, CNX, LANSA, looksoftware, Profound Logic, Rocket Software, and SystemObjects. The Redpaper also tackled database modernization and security tool, but for today we’ll focus on the Web and mobile modernization tools.

Here’s a quick introduction to each of the vendors and products covered in the Redpaper:

ASNA Mobile RPG and Wings

ASNA‘s Mobile RPG and Wings offerings both take advantage of IBM’s Rational Open Access for RPG technology and enable RPG programmers to use their existing skillsets to build new mobile and Web-based interfaces. In Mobile RPG (which is a part of Wings), developers use a drag-and-drop design tool that runs in Microsoft‘s Visual Studio IDE to create and arrange various widgets (ASNA uses its own flavor of JavaScript) that will appear on the final screen: an HTML-based interface that will run in the Web browsers of smartphones and tablets. Similarly, Wings delivers a Web browser front-end for existing RPG apps and also uses RPG OA technology. It also comes with a Windows-based design tool that allows users to import and modernize hundreds of DDS files simultaneously. And like Mobile RPG, Wings comes with a built-in 5250 emulator for those apps that won’t be modernized.

BCD Software Presto and WebSmart

BCD Software (which is now owned by Quadrant Software) sells Presto for modernizing existing RPG or COBOL applications with a Web browser interface, while WebSmart is primarily geared toward development of new Web apps for IBM i, using either ILE RPG or PHP. Both of BCD’s products make heavy use of JavaScript technology–specifically the JQuery library, which BCD is a big backer of–to deliver a cutting-edge GUI that users will love using, and both products can support mobile devices too (using PhoneGap). And while BCD has embraced IBM’s RPG Open Access technology with Presto (which made it easier to adopt scrollable grids), it has not adopted RPG OA with WebSmart, which still uses its own technology. BCD offers a number of pre-built “skins” for Presto that quickly give users an out-of-the-box update to a stale old 5250 screen, while WebSmart gives developers a bigger pallet of tools to customize the screens to their exact needs, including support for Web services. The company also sells WebSmart Mobile, it includes JQuery Mobile.

CNX Valence

Born of the PRMS world, the folks behind CNX have developed their Valence framework to help accelerate development of new Web-based applications for IBM i. The software uses your standard ILE RPG to handle business logic and database connectivity, and uses the Apache HTTP Server to generate Web and mobile interfaces that are developed with the included Ext JS and Sencha Touch JavaScript libraries. The company’s Valence Portal provides an authentication framework, while several add-on “Nitro” facilities help with creating dashboards or browsing DB2 files.

LANSA LongRange, RAMP, and Visual LANSA

LANSA offers a collection of modernization tools for IBM i shops looking to build Web and mobile apps, including LongRange, RAMP, and Visual LANSA. The well-received LongRange product enables developers to build high-performing native mobile applications that are compiled in Objective-C (for iOS) and Java (for Android). RAMP, which stands for Rapid Application Modernization Process, is designed to address both short- and long-term needs. On the one hand, RAMP can provide a quick re-facing of existing RPG and COBOL screens using Web technology. But in its strongest configuration, RAMP is used to understand an existing application (think an ERP suite) and then re-generates composite application using LANSA’s 4GL components. Visual LANSA, of course, is LANSA’s flagship IDE for IBM i and Windows environments, and offers support for the latest Windows and Web interfaces.

looksoftware newlook, openlook, and smartclient

Now owned by Fresche Legacy, looksoftware sells a variety of tools to help IBM i shops retrofit existing apps to use modern interfaces or to build new apps from scratch. Everything starts with newlook, the company’s flagship IDE, which uses IBM’s RPG Open Access technology to replace DDS and 5250 assets with newer and better Web and mobile interfaces. The company also sells a product called openlook to help IBM i shops switch between OA and non-OA compatible data sources. The tool also supports the new Open Display File (ODF) format, which looksoftware is pushing as a way to build new IBM i from scratch without involving any DDS whatsoever. The company also sells smartclient, which uses Microsoft’s .NET APIs for building rich Windows-based GUIs that offer higher performance than Web and mobile applications can deliver. For Web and mobile apps, the company uses HTML5-based thin client technology delivered via lookserver.

Profound Logic Genie and Profound UI

Like other modernization tool vendors, Profound Logic has different offerings for different tasks. Genie is the tool for quick tactical re-facing of 5250 applications in to HTML and JavaScript screens. The software automatically does much of the converting of 5250 according to preset skins, and offers some configuration options via a library of widgets, which Profound develops using its own flavor of JavaScript. A much more robust tool is Profound UI, which makes use of RPG OA technology and is designed for strategic re-architecting of entire IBM i applications (RPG, COBOL, PHP, and CL) around modern precepts like JavaScript, JSON, XML, and Web services. The software brings modern conveniences, like support for long-name aliases in RPG and multiple languages, while support for PhoneGap gives Profound a mobile app play.

Rocket LegaSuite Web, Mobile, and Integration

Rocket Software got into the IBM i modernization racket with the purchase of Seagull Software some years ago, and continues it with the LegaSuite brand. The suite has several components, including LegaSuite Web (HTML5/CSS/JavaScript), LegaSuite Mobile (HTML5/PhoneGap), and LegaSuite Integration (SOAP/RESTful Web services). The company has a considerable modernization legacy of its own, with a good number of IBM i and System z shops and ISVs still using the old JWalk and Winja products. The company’s large customer base and support for multiple platforms make it a better choice for large enterprises with complicated modernization needs.

SystemObjects Delphi/400 and SmartPad4i

SystemObjects has been delivering graphical UIs for the AS/400 server since it signed an agreement with Borland to port Delphi to the platform. More recently, the French company has been tackling IBM i mobile development with SmartPad4i, which was unveiled about two years ago. SmartPad4i is aimed at making it easy to build mobile extensions to existing RPG and COBOL applications. The software does this by automatic lay generating small RPG and COBOL service programs, which output to mobile UIs developed with the jQuery Mobile JavaScript framework (included in the product).

International Business Systems XT

The latest release of IBS‘ Enterprise software is based on new “Xcross” platform technology, dubbed XT. According to the IBM Redpaper (which was the first time IT Jungle has run across the XT technology), the technology “includes everting you need to develop and deploy advanced enterprise applications.” The software, which consists of client, server, and studio components, basically converts the 5250 datastream into XML, which can then be used to paint interfaces on a range of devices. IBS says in the future it will offer similar technology for other platforms besides IBM i.

You can download the Redpaper at: www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5095.html?Open

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