Web GUI Development Options

Intro

There are numerous options for developing applications for the i which use a Web based Graphical User Interface.

Product/Language	Vendor	Description	Free/Open Source/Commercial	Commercial Support Available	Suitable for 5250 Migration	Rapid Application Development	non-RPG skills needed
Getting ROR to run under PASE	Ruby On Rails	Ruby on Rails hit the top 10 list under TIOBE.	Open Source	?	?	?	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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	Yes	No	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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	Yes	Yes	?
EGL	IBM	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	Yes	No	?
Presto, Web Smart ILE, Web Smart PHP, Clover, Nexus Portal	BCD Software	Suite of Web Development Tools. BCD credits its longevity in the industry to its unrelenting focus on the IBM i developer community and its ability to provide trusted application modernization solutions.	Commercial	Yes	Yes	Yes	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
RPG x Tools	Bob Cozzi	Support for CGI interfaces. If you had COZTOOLS, you'd be done by now!	Commercial	Yes	Yes	No	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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 Coral Tree team, encapsulated in RPG procedures which avoid the hassle of working directly with HTML, CSS and Javascript.	Free / Open Source	?	Yes	No	?
m-power	m-power	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	Yes	Yes	SQL
Look ...	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	Yes	Yes	Depends on product options
Lansa ...	Lansa	Long-time tool vendor has an extensive options for rapid application development for IBM i and other platforms.	Commercial	Yes	Yes	Yes	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL / Etc.
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	Yes, conversion not automated	No	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL / Etc.
Valence	Valence	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	Yes, conversion not automated	Yes, Tool Suite	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / ExtJS / SQL / Etc.
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	Yes, conversion not automated	No	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / ExtJS / SQL / Etc.
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	Yes, conversion not automated	Yes	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / ExtJS / SQL / Etc.
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	Yes, conversion not automated	No	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / ExtJS / SQL / Etc.
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	Optional not F/OSS	No	PHP / HTML / CSS / JavaScript
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	Yes, RPG OA	Yes, Drag and drop	None
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.	Commercial	Yes	Yes, Converter	Yes, Wizards	HTML/CSS/JavaScript
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	No	Yes, Wizards	SQL
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	No	Yes, via Renaissance Framework	HTML / CSS / JavaScript

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