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Converting existing applications
If you are creating a browser interface for an existing application, then the fastest most productive way to create the Web interface is with the WebFacing Tool. A normal business application with under 200 screens can be converted and published to WebSphere Application Server for test in under 2 hours. One company converted a major ERP application with over 18,000 screens in under 3 months. With the latest version of the WebFacing Tool, they were able to convert all but five screens without changing any display file DDS. The five remaining screens required some minor changes.
Creating new Web applications
If you are creating brand new "browser-based" applications, then you have several choices. If you are going to run the applications on the iSeries server, then you should write the modular business logic as batch applications in ILE RPG or ILE COBOL. ILE RPG and ILE COBOL are the most efficient languages for writing business logic for OS/400. If you are writing applications to execute on multiple servers, then you should write your business logic in Java. The performance of the applications will be dependent on your programming skills in the language chosen but RPG and COBOL applications will probably execute slightly faster than Java because Java is an OO language and will have more instructions for the same application. The differences should only be marginal.
Since you have created a callable batch application (one without a user interface)in either RPG, COBOL or Java, you can now choose the application interface. You would typically develop a browser interface with the Web development tools included in WebSphere Development Studio for iSeries. The Web development tools come with wizards to generate a Web interface to iSeries programs and data. You now have a browser based application that runs in batch mode and doesn't require any interactive cycles to execute. With a batch application, you have the freedom to modify your application interface. You can access your logic from a Java application, a Web/browser interface, or a Web services application. Your application just became a lot more flexible.
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The Best Web Links: tips, tutorials and more.
Check out this live Q&A with Dave Slater and Jim Mason, How to best get started with WebSphere Development Tools.
Search400's targeted search engine: Get relevant information on machine interface (MI).
This was first published in August 2002