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	5250 Emulation / Open Access / Automated Conversion	Rapid Application Development	Non-RPG Skills Needed
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	No	?	?
Getting ROR to run under PASE	Ruby On Rails	Ruby on Rails hit the top 10 list under TIOBE.	Free / Open Source	?	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	?
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	No	No	?
Lansa ...	Lansa	Long-time tool vendor has an extensive options for rapid application development for IBM i and other platforms.	Commercial	Yes	Yes, Axes	Yes	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL / RDML
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	No	Yes, Tool Suite	ILE / ExtJS /HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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	No	No	ILE / ExtJS / HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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	No	Yes	ILE / ExtJS / HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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		No	ILE / ExtJS /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 Coraltree team, encapsulated in RPG procedures which avoid the hassle of working directly with HTML, CSS and Javascript.	Free / Open Source	No	No	Yes with RGD, although project shelved in lieu of Renaissance 6 which will include an improved version.	ILE / JQuery / 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	No	No	ILE / HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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	No	No	ILE / HTML / CSS / JavaScript / 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	ILE / HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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	No	No	ILE / HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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	No	Yes, Templates and Wizards	HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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	No	Yes	ILE / ExtJS / HTML / CSS / JavaScript / SQL
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	ILE / 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	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	Optional	No	PHP / HTML / CSS / JavaScript

Web Based 5250 Emulation / Automated 5250 Conversion / Open Access Options

Tools offering a quick migration path from 5250 to browser user interfaces.

Product / Language	Vendor	Description	Free / Open Source / Commercial	Commercial Support Available	Runtime
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
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	?
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 legacy green screen applications a rich web GUI without requiring any changes to your RPG, COBOL or DDS source (no source or recompiling needed). Upon installation, all of your green screens are instantly accessible from browsers on PCs, laptops, 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	?
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

Application Generators / Utilities / DB Inquiry / Maintenance / Dashboards

Tools used for extreme programmer productivity and extremely quick application generation.

Product	Vendor	Description	Free / Open Source / Commercial	Commercial Support Available	Runtime
m-power	MRC Productivity	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

Integrated WYSIWYG Designers / Project Managers / File System Navigators / Tool Tips / Help / Wizards / Code Editors.

Product	Vendor	Description	Free / Open Source / Commercial	Commercial Support Available
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.

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