System iNetwork

May 13, 2008

CNX Takes RPG to the Web with Valence

At RPG World in Las Vegas, CNX hung out a shingle to tout its Valence Web Application Framework for the System i product. Valence is a development environment that lets RPG programmers and developers create Web 2.0 browser interfaces with RPG. The product controls System i library lists and security for all programs and lets users access options via a navigation tree. Richard Milone, managing partner of CNX, revealed that the RPGers he spoke to were excited about adding to their RPG skills – they wanted to learn about JavaScript, ext JS, and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).

Milone, an RPGer himself, said his team tried other options (e.g., WebSphere, Java, etc.) to webify its green-screen apps, but none of the available tools really fit the bill. "We wanted to use RPG as the core language, we wanted to provide the best browser, and we didn't want to use a middleman, so we created Valence," says Milone.

CNX provides four main components to the Valence Framework: ext JS, Valence RPG toolkit, charting capability, and the Valence viewpoint portal. The CNX team built the toolkit and portal from scratch, but the company pays the licenses for the ext JS and charting components. According to Milone, the Valence RPG toolkit is the only one that provides a JSON front end.

The product is aimed mainly at organizations with a well-established RPG base that want to take/develop RPG apps to the web. Although the folks at CNX embrace RPG, they do provide training on new skills to help you move your green screens to a sharp-looking, interactive browser interface.

Posted by cbushong at May 13, 2008 4:08 PM