Web GUI Development Options
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Green Screen Emulation / Conversion / Open Access Options
Tools that leverage existing green-screen interfaces and offer emulation or a quick migration path to browser user interfaces with little or no programming required.
| Product / Language | Vendor | Description | Free / Open Source / Commercial | Commercial Support Available | Runtime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aXes | LANSA | aXes transforms RPG and COBOL 5250 programs into Rich Internet Applications accessible via multiple Web Browsers on multiple devices (including mobiles) — without having to change a single line of code. aXes runs in a standard Web browser without installing any software or ActiveX controls on the client device. All web apps are served off the IBM i, no Windows servers required. | Commercial | Yes | ILE |
| PSC/400 | Pluta Brothers Design | Converts your screens into two standard UI types: green screen and gray screen. The green screen acts as a replacement for the standard 5250 display, and requires no HTML skills on your part and no retraining for your programmers or your end users. A simple conversion and you're on the web. If you then choose to deploy a more "web-like" appearance, your HTML developers can customize the generated gray screen in whatever way they see fit. | Commercial | Yes | Java |
| ProfoundUI | ProfoundLogic | Profound UI is a full-featured graphical user interface platform based on IBM's RPG Open Access, the ground-breaking enhancement to RPG that opens IBM i applications (also known as iSeries, System i and AS/400) up to Web interfaces. The platform offers developers an easy, natural method for creating connected IBM i applications that deliver rich user experiences regardless of project complexity or organization size. | Commercial | Yes | ILE |
| openlook | Look Software | Thousands of organizations have worked with us to deliver excellent user experience. Whether you're refacing, integrating, mobilizing, extending or developing new IBM i applications, we have the experience and dedication to guarantee your success. | Commercial | Yes | ILE |
| HATS / Webfacing | IBM Rational | Quickly transform your 3270 and 5250 green screen applications to intuitive Web, portlet, rich client or mobile device user interfaces, and extend 3270, 5250, and VT green screens as standard Web services. | Commercial | Yes | Java |
| Presto | BCD | Presto gives all of your 5250 green screen applications a rich web GUI without requiring any changes to your RPG, COBOL or DDS source. Upon installation, all of your green screens are instantly accessible from browsers on PCs, tablets and smartphones. Further enhance the look and add new functionality using Presto’s Visual Editor or access the HTML, CSS and JavaScript for full control over the UI. | Commercial | Yes | ILE |
| IceCap | System & Method | IceCap adds immediately an intuitive web interface to your existing RPG, COBOL and CL programs. The new interface adds a wide range of integration opportunities. | Commercial / Free Trial | Yes | ILE |
ILE CGI Frameworks
Frameworks providing support for HTTP interfaces, including support for HTML / CSS / JavaScript / XML / JSON / ExtJS / JQuery / and similar client technologies via ILE APIs and related tooling.
| Product | Vendor | Description | Free / Open Source / Commercial | Commercial Support Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valence | CNX Corporation | Valence RPG Toolkit - includes all the tools necessary for RPG programmers to quickly move data to and from the browser. Combine the power and scalability of your IBM i with the user-friendly features of a modern browser interface to create World Class apps for your users. | Commercial / Free Community Edition | Yes |
| Visual LANSA Framework | LANSA | The Visual LANSA Framework minimizes the effort required for designers and developers to create graphical and robust Web applications that run on the IBM i. The application framework allows developers to assemble commercial grade enterprise software rapidly with minimal coding, generating high quality business applications with a consistent appearance and behavior. | Commercial | Yes |
| OpenRPGUI | OpenRPGUI | OpenRPGUI (short for Open Source RPG User Interface) is a free, open source and light weight framework for RPG developers on the IBM i to use for building modern looking applications. We have evaluated the current infrastructure of programming in RPG on IBM i and found that the only thing we significantly lack is an efficient means to communicate with a modern user interface. | Free / Open Source | Yes |
| powerEXT | powerEXT | powerEXT Framework is an Open Source RPGLE based Application Framework, that enables IBM Power System I (IBM AS/400, IBM iSeries) programmers to embrace new web technologies. | Free / Open Source | Yes |
| Renaissance Framework | CoralTree Systems | A Framework of RPG ILE programs, service programs, Javascript and HTML designed to enable developers to quickly and easily build high-quality browser-based intranet applications for the IBM i server. Integrated tools such jQuery, JDBC and others created by the Coraltree team, encapsulated in RPG procedures which avoid the hassle of working directly with HTML, CSS and Javascript. | Free / Open Source | No |
| RPG x Tools | Bob Cozzi | Support for CGI interfaces. If you had COZTOOLS, you'd be done by now! | Commercial | Yes |
| eRPG SDK | BVS Tools | The eRPG SDK uses simple templates to create dynamic content from within your RPG programs. This means that no longer will you have to hard-code any HTML, XML, or any other markup language inside of your RPG programs. Using simple replacement variables you are able to call functions within the eRPG SDK to quickly and easily create dynamic content on the web! | Commercial | Yes |
| CGIDEV2 | Easy400 | CGIDEV2 is a free and open source IBM i based program development toolkit that facilitates the development of interactive web-based programs using RPG ILE or Cobol (using the older CGIDEV version) as the back-end Common Gateway Interface language. The functionality of this toolset is incorporated into an RPG ILE program by means of a service program that contains all of the procedures required to read input from a browser, generate and send the appropriate response back to the browser. CGIDEV2 is commonly used to generate static or interactive HTML/DHTML pages but it can also produce CSV, XML, Excel-XML and other text based files. | F/OSS | No |
| WebSmart ILE | BCD | WebSmart ILE is a rapid application development tool that helps developers create RPG web applications for any business need including mobile. You start with a fully-functioning web application because WebSmart ILE's intelligent DB2, MySQL and MS SQL program templates generate the initial HTML, CSS and RPG for you. Includes HTML tools, interactive debugger, wizard to use RPG business logic and supports modern web technologies including AJAX and jQuery. | Commercial | Yes |
Scripting Environments
Runtime environments that enables the quick deployment of Web applications through a mixture of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Server Script, and APIs.
| Product | Vendor | Description | Free / Open Source / Commercial | Commercial Support Available | Environment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby on Rails | Andrea Ribuoli | Ruby on Rails hit the top 10 list under TIOBE. Resources to help getting ROR to run under PASE | Free / Open Source | No | Interpreted / PASE |
| Ruby on Rails | PowerRuby | In partnership with IBM, a commercially supported port of the Ruby MRI implementation. Includes Ruby 1.9.3/2.0.0 and Rails 3.2.14/4.0.0. | Free / Open Source | Yes | Interpreted / PASE |
| LANSA Open for .NET | LANSA |
|
Commercial | Yes | ILE |
| Net.Data for i | IBM | Seductively simple scripting environment makes it easy to create Web interfaces that connect to IBM i DB and native programming environments with exceptional error handling. | Bundled w/ IBM i | Yes | Interpreted / ILE |
| PHP | Zend | PHP is an open source general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for Web development to produce dynamic Web pages and is the engine behind this page. | F/OSS or Commercial | Yes | Interpreted / PASE |
| RSP (RPG Server Pages) | Damon Technologies | RSP is a Web Application Server built specifically for the IBM i™. The RSP server is built for efficiency. Web pages are served quickly and efficiently. This is because the language that drives RSP is RPG, the primary language used on the IBM i™. RSP includes a graphical editor built on Eclipse. This provides for easy integration of the editor into Rational Developer for Power Systems (RDp) | Commercial | Yes | JIT Compilation / ILE |
| IceBreak | System & Method | IceBreak is the only native Web and Application Server for RPG and Cobol on IBM i™. Is easy to learn because you can reuse existing legacy business logic and programming skills. IceBreak creates genuine IBM i™ objects with no additional scripting or overhead. The innovative technology allows an easy integration and web enablement of existing 5250 applications. With IceBreak you can build any type of web application – and integrate to any web based solution or unit. Is delivered with a built-in Web Server and Web Application Server. It’s easy to install – no additional software, hardware or configuration is needed. | Commercial / Free Commmunity Edition / Free Trial | Yes | JIT Compilation / ILE |
Application Generators / Utilities / DB Inquiry / Maintenance / Dashboards
Tools offering extreme productivity and quick application generation using meta data based utilities, program models, templates, and such (where little or no programming required).
| Product | Vendor | Description | Free / Open Source / Commercial | Commercial Support Available | Runtime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aXes Data Explorer | LANSA |
|
Commercial | Yes | ILE |
| CA Plex | Computer Associates | Develop applications in a Windows environment and then compile and test them in the target environment which might be Windows/.NET, Java/J2EE or the IBM System i. | Commercial | Yes | ? |
| JACi400 | System Objects | A solution to create up to 100% of the source code of your new web (HTML) applications for your System i and your AS/400. | Commercial | Yes | ? |
| WebSmart ILE and PHP | BCD | WebSmart is a rapid application development tool that helps RPG and PHP developers create IBM i and multi-platform web applications for any business need including mobile. You start with a fully-functioning web application because WebSmart's intelligent DB2, MySQL, MS SQL and Oracle program templates generate the initial HTML, CSS and RPG or PHP for you. Includes HTML tools, interactive debuggers, wizard to RPG business logic and supports modern web technologies including AJAX and jQuery. | Commercial | Yes | ILE / PHP |
| m-power | michaels, ross & cole, ltd. (mrc) | Build data-driven web applications without programming. m-Power is a web application development platform that lets you create data-driven enterprise web (and mobile) applications without programming. With m-Power, you can: Reduce web application development time by 80%, build web apps using your current staff and skills, automate mobile application development. | Commercial | Yes | Java |
| Web Object Wizard (WOW) | planetJCorp | WOW creates data driven business applications using data from IBM DB2, SQL Server, Oracle, MYSQL and other RDBMS. WOW runs on application servers such as IBM Websphere, Apache Tomcat, and Weblogic. | Commercial w/free CE edition available | Yes | Java |
Integrated Development Environments
Broadly scoped environments with integrated WYSIWYG Designers / Project Managers / File System Navigators / Wizards / Code Editors / Helps / Tool Tips / Source Control / Change Management.
| Product | Vendor | Description | Free / Open Source / Commercial | Commercial Support Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rational Business Developer / EGL | IBM | Rational Business Developer is a rapid development workbench for delivering cross-platform web and service-oriented applications. EGL is a higher-level programming language designed for simplifying development of modern business applications and services. EGL code compiles into COBOL, Java, and JavaScript, which means it can be deployed to a wide variety of environments (for example, enterprise systems, application servers, web browsers). EGL frees developers to focus on the business problem rather than on the details of the target runtime platforms and associated middleware. EGL is ideal for business-oriented development teams that value ease of learning and need to quickly deliver modern applications and services. | Commercial / FOSS Version | Yes |
| Visual LANSA | LANSA |
|
Commercial | Yes |
| RPGsp | ProfoundLogic | RPGsp is an award-winning rapid Web development environment that has been proven and trusted by thousands of IBM i users. Whether you need to extend your existing legacy programs or build new applications, RPGsp can deliver phenomenal results in a short amount of time. Wizards & Converters. | Commercial | Yes |
| Rational Application Developer for Websphere | IBM Rational | IBM® Rational® Application Developer for WebSphere® Software helps developers quickly design, develop, test, analyze, and deploy high-quality Java™, Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE), Web 2.0, service-oriented architecture (SOA), and portal applications. | Commercial | Yes |
| Microsoft Visual Studio | Microsoft | Visual Studio is a development environment for creating ASP.Net web applications and web services that can run on the Microsoft IIS web server or natively on IBM i using Apache Tomcat and the Mainsoft Grasshopper environment available from Mainsoft. Can utilize the IBM i Access database drivers, JT400/IKVM as well as the XMLSERVICE program for IBM i resource access. Developers can also quickly create jQuery Mobile web applications to enable mobile access to their IBM i data and create powerful web services that can be used from any platform. Support for HTML / CSS / JavaScript / C# / VB.Net / RPG / CL. | FREE Visual Studio Express available. VisualStudioExpress Mainsoft development environment Mainsoft. Commercial version of Visual Studio VisualStudio. | Yes - from Microsoft, Mainsoft or IBM i specific development training can be obtained from companies such as RJS Software Systems RJSSoftware and other 3rd party vendors. Feel free to email Richard Schoen - RichardSchoen with any IBM i specific questions when Visual Studio is used in conjunction with IBM i to augment or extend existing applications. Any others who are supporting Visual Studio, please list yourselves here. Training and utilities provided by RJS Software Systems and others. |
| WebSmart ILE and PHP | BCD | WebSmart is a rapid application development tool that helps RPG and PHP developers create IBM i and multi-platform web applications for any business need including mobile. You start with a fully-functioning web application because WebSmart's intelligent DB2, MySQL, MS SQL and Oracle program templates generate the initial HTML, CSS and RPG or PHP for you. The WebSmart IDE includes HTML tools, interactive debuggers, wizard to use RPG business logic and supports modern web technologies including AJAX and jQuery. | Commercial | Yes |
Browser Based UI Frameworks and Rendering Engines
Frameworks and rendering engines that transform JSON to DOM elements (or similar); providing support for compelling styles, visual effects, and behaviors, as alternatives to (or in conjunction with) home-grown HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
| Product | Vendor | Description | Free / Open Source / Commercial | Commercial Support Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ExtJS | Sencha | Ext JS offers an extraordinary range of user interface widgets. High performance scalable grids, trees, menus, and more. If you need it, we've probably already built it. And even if it's not in the core library, you're almost certain to find it in the thousands of user extensions from our million-strong Sencha community. | Free / Open Source / Commercial | Yes |
| Dojo UI Widgets | Dojo | Dojo's Dijit and DojoX provides a complete collection of user interface controls, giving you the power to create web applications that are highly optimized for usability, performance, internationalization, accessibility, but above all deliver an incredible user experience. Completely free and open-source with no strings attached or licenses to buy! | Free / Open Source | Yes |
| jQuery UI | jQuery | jQuery UI is a curated set of user interface interactions, effects, widgets, and themes built on top of the jQuery JavaScript Library. Whether you're building highly interactive web applications or you just need to add a date picker to a form control, jQuery UI is the perfect choice. | Free / Open Source | Yes |
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