My top five enhancements for CA Plex.

We all know by now that CA Plex 6.5 is in the R&D phase and some technical previews have occurred with more planned. If you are short of knowledge in this area then take a look at Rob’s presentation at the CA Mainframe Madness Week. (www.ca.com/mmm).

I understand that Rob’s presentation has all anyone would need to convince your management about deploying your applications using .NET technologies and code generated by Plex. I have been snooping around (hassling Bill  :-)  ) and I am told that there are no less that four demonstrations for us to enjoy.

If it really floats your boat you can also look at the older presentations from Florida 2009 on the Plex wiki (see links on the side of my blog) which touch on Plex and 2E futures.

I though that I’d put it out there what my top 5 enhancements for the products could be and I tackle Plex first. I will tackle 2E another time.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and I have been proven wrong on more than one occasion in my life. Just ask my wife (first wife) if you require additional information.

In no particular order.

One: New UI for the tool. I know that the tool is first class and that it enables hundreds of companies around the world to build first class enterprise systems. I feel that a little spruce up of the IDE Look ‘n’ Feel will go a long way to deter the doubters. A Ribbon bar here, a glass effect there and 64x64 icon in that corner, you get my drift, will go a long way. IMHO.

Two: Native XML Input/output. Pretty self-explanatory. I want to be able to choose how my service functions are called/exposed and how the data is passed.

Three: More native Action Diagram commands that replace the Technology API’s. i.e. Upper, Trim etc etc. I would prefer to have these as native action diagram commands rather than calls. I would like Plex to handle the new code when a new generator is released rather than me.  This will also help with my model management, especially when generating for multiple platforms which is one of the tools key differentiators.

Four: Visual Studio 2010. I want Plex to be aligned to the most recent releases of Microsoft’s leading IDE within 6-12 months. When I say that C++ generation needs 2005 for compliation I get shakes of the head from the MS 3GL guys at my shop.

Five: Patterns. The ultimate flexibility but somehow we seem to struggle to exchange these. Would be great if CA lead an initiative for pattern exchange and contribute by providing additional business solutions via a website on a regular basis.

Six: ‘Hey. You said five on your list.’ I know I did!!!! However.  I do like the idea of overhauling enhancing the diagramming and help editors with perhaps an automatic creation of diagrams from the model and easier editing and additional deployment options for generated help.

That’s my list for Plex. What do you want? Perhaps I can compose a blog of all your replies.

Thanks for reading.
Lee.

CA show strong commitment to Plex and 2E!

I blogged recently about the May Mainframe Madness and in this I referred to the realignment occurring within CA. 

I am happy to report that CA's plans for 2E and Plex are not affected and that new roadmaps (as I predicted) are imminent and will be published on CA support online in the coming weeks.

Extract from a recent communication for which I was a recipient.

"Following the email regarding the recent realignment at CA, please be advised that, for legal reasons, we are not in a position to provide further detailed information until after the end of May. We reaffirm that CA is committed to continuing to develop and support CA Plex and CA 2E; this realignment had no effect on our plans to continue these products forward.

We are in the process of publishing updated roadmap documents for CA Plex and CA 2E that will be available on CA Support Online in the coming weeks."

The key words above are reaffirm, committed, develop, support and no effect.  Being a 'Scrabbler' online, some of these words are worth more than others, but, all together they send a strong message.

All the legal stuff will be that there is an alignment process that needs to be adhered too.  Any product news positive or otherwise will be linked to the alignment process which is ongoing.  Once this is resolved I suggest it will be business as usual or BAU for us Three Letter Acronym freaks.

I'm happy. After all I am pushing for CA Plex to partner our CA 2E development at my employer.

Thanks for reading.
Lee.

CA Mainframe Madness

Hi,

Most people are aware that CA have decided to trim their staff and products and I must admit I had my heart in my mouth for a second as the Plex and 2E tools are very dear to my heart.

I am pleased to hear that my fears are unfounded.  Although, like most I am eager to hear from my friends at CA regarding product roadmaps for 2010.

However, we might get a little insight for what is next with these great tools at CA's mainframe madness event which is coming to an internet connection near you soon.

If you take a look on the CA Mainframe Madness website www.ca.com/mainframe/may you can see that the presentations will be available in a virtual environment for the whole of May.  There certainly looks like a few interesting presentations and I am so so so so eager to see how Rob Layzell and the team are getting on with the features for Plex 6.5.

There are a total of 23 sessions for us Plex and 2E users (fans) and some are even in Spanish.  You can click on here and view them - Mainframe Madness Sessions - Scroll down to the Modern Development Tools section and read away.

I am looking forward to seeing these. 
So enjoy and,

 "REMEMBER TO REGISTER". 

Thanks for reading.
Lee.

p.s. There are some PC prerequisites that you will need to adhere too so I suggest you do it ahead of time.

A GUI option for your CA:2E systems - Quickstep:2e

Shame on me I hear you all say!

How dare he use his personal blog for a product launch for his company.

Well, I can assure you I haven’t sold out, not in the slightest and I certainly haven’t been asked to do this. But I did state when I started this blog that I’d post the latest news as I heard it for both CA:2E and CA Plex.

Today the revised website for Quickstep:2e was launched by SASIT (www.sasit.co.nz) based in Auckland, New Zealand. Also, the latest build of the product (version 3.1) has been compatibility tested with CA:2E 8.5 and it works a treat.

Remembering that not every application in your armoury requires the total modernisation treatment. Quickstep:2e remains a viable alternative for organisations that are happy with their green screens productivity.  You are also happy with the CA:2E development environments rapid development capability but want to give a little extra functionality with the least possible expense.

Using Quickstep:2e is one of the easiest ways for you to create a GUI for your CA:2E applications.

Anyhow, don’t take my word for it.  Just visit the site, download and try for yourself.

www.quickstep.net.nz

Thanks for reading.
Lee.

Implementing a 'Generic' Data Driver File + Printing/Displaying Arrays in Subfiles (Part III)

Firstly.  Sorry for the delay in finishing off this series.  I have been away on holiday for 6 weeks and when I returned I have been in hospital having my knee operation.  I am now in recovery (bed rest) and finally have a little spare time to finish off the blog.

So let's do a little recap. 

In part one, I discussed the merits of a generic data driver file.  This is a different approach to normal 2E data driven programming but as indicated is particularly useful for implementing *Arrays for DSPFIL's or a PRTFIL or for merging head/footer details into one DSPFIL/PRTFIL.

http://leedare-plex2e.blogspot.com/2009/11/implementing-generic-data-driver-file.html

In part two, I was merely trying to walk you through the solution I was required to provide for one of my customers.  These screenshots have been modified from their original form for confidentiality reasons but are posted with permission from my employer http://www.sasit.co.nz/.

http://leedare-plex2e.blogspot.com/2009/11/implementing-generic-data-driver-file_20.html

Today I am just going to do a quick walk through of what was required to create the solution.  With a little bit of effort (and luck) you should be in a position to work this out for yourself.  Of course, I am always happy to take questions and assist if neccessary.

Step 1.  Implement a Data Driver file.

A very simple file with one key.  I just made mine a simple numeric field.

Here are the field details

I just went with the default sizes for a NBR field.

Remember, once you have created this file you will need to populate it.  I simply populate this with two records 1 and 2 as the keys.  I have seen other implementations where people have put all 99,999 records in the file to make their programming a little easier.  I prefer a slightly different method of key jumping.  Explained a little later.

Step 2 - Some AD coding for the Super 14 table.

I have already computed my table placings based on the scores that have been entered into the system and the Array is keyed in position order.  In the AD below you will see that I set a counter.  This was initialised to 0 in the initialise program section.  The counter is there so I get the correct record for the correct position in the table as my data driven data only has two records.  If I wanted to, I could have populated more and had the counting already available in the DB1 context as I read each record. Personnal preferences here I guess.  I'd be interested in your viewpoints.

Next, I simply retrieve the data from the Array and do some populating of the fields in the subfile.  Now because I am reading down the data driver file and there are only two records I simply have to reset the cursor by doing a re-read of the first record if I think that there are other records to be displayed.  If not, the second record is read, not a lot happens and the subfile loading has done its job.

This is a screenshot of the device design for the Super14 table.

And the final table with 2009 results in place is as follows:-

That's it.   Simple.  If there are other areas in 2e you'd like me to cover.  Drop me a line.
Thanks for reading.
Lee.

Implementing a 'Generic' Data Driver File + Printing/Displaying Arrays in Subfiles (Part II)

The greatest rugby competition on the planet. Alright, I live in the Southern Hemisphere now and as a direct result have begun to believe the hype. That said the Super 14 (Super 15 from 2011) competition is recognised as one of the strongest leagues in Rugby Union and has team from Australia, South Africa and my current place of residence, New Zealand. Sorry to all those that think I have sold out and not created a Football (Soccer) or NFL example.

System Overview

The requirement was to build a system that allowed the user to make simple sports results/margins predictions on a group of games on a weekly basis. The fuxtures would be published and the predictions made. Once the results were known they would be entered in to the system and participants points (awarded for correct or near correct predictions) would be calculated.

Requirement

Not everyone had the time to trawl the internet looking for a league table that may assist them with making their predictions (Hopefully they have enough time to read this article though). The requirement was to show a realtime league table as fixtures results were entered.  It was decided to record the points the actual teams achieved for each fixture and then simply build the league table on the fly.

Additional information

One could have built a simple file and recreated each and every time the results changed. However, due to the limited number of teams and fixtures in a period it was decided to build on the fly in an array. Also this also meant there was no physical file to maintain and promote and the user could easily view any of the previous years.

Solution

Using a generic data driver file. Build an array that computes and sorts the team table into the correct order and then read from the array the teams and show in that order they are in the table.

Next week I will show you how this was achieved. There will be otherways to receive the same result and all notes are intended as a guide. Your individual circumstances and requirements may vary but feel free to emulate and utilise.

As an appetiser the screen below is a DSPFIL based over an Array.

If you require any further assistance you can always email me at (leedare at talk21 dot com)

Thanks for reading.

Lee.

Implementing a 'Generic' Data Driver File + Printing/Displaying Arrays in Subfiles (Part I)

This is a three part story.

I can think of quite a few occassions in 2E where I have needed to display or print information from a non 2e standard file i.e. A non 2E defined file, an array or even a Data Queue.

I have also had the need to build PRTFIL's and DSPFIL's which needed to aggregate data in a master/detail arrangement. The example below is from a change management application I worked on years ago.  It shows a diary note (Header) and the detailed comments (Detail) in one screen and uses a toggle button to determine the entires shown for either the summary mode or detail mode.

To implement these solutions I have used the 'Generic Data Driver' file concept.  I have introduced this at the last 3 2E sites I have worked at.

A worked example of how to do this with screen shots and code sample code will be in part III .  I have also included some notes to help you set up your own generic data driver file and one example of how to utilise it.  This example also has the added bonus of showing you how you can show arrays on a DSPFIL.  Whooarah....Yippee....Get on with it..... I can hear you all say........

This might save Rory and Simon some hassle anyway!!!!  At least with fending off this often requested enhancement to the base 2E tool.

Until then.....(Next Week).

Thanks for reading.

Lee.

Enhancement Requests

Well it is almost that time of year again.  You know.  Christmas!!!!   We all sit back and relax, eat turkey (far too much) and discover that port is okay to drink by the bottle after all.

But putting that aside it is also nearly the new year and that will mean the annual CA enhancements voting survey.  So many of you know this annual event and the results are collated and influence the R&D effort. 

Certainly a .NET client for Plex came top last year and this is what we saw at the conference albeit in technology preview mode.

Whilst not everything on the list can get done.  CA tend to try and get the balance right between the list items that rank highly and the market direction of the product as they see it too.  Which is fair I guess.

My call to you all today is not that the enhancements are starting soon and you should al be reaching for your new 2010 Pirelli calendar.  That's for Bill and the team to decide.   However, I am saying that the list is made up of requests that we make to the CA support desk.  i.e. no requests equates to a smaller list of items or last years ones (some of which may still be very valid).

My challenge to the community is to think through some of your preferred enhancements and ensure that you register these via the support desk online so that they make the list for you to vote on.  I am also aware that CA is planning to extend its arm further into the user community with a product advisory type approach involving some of the clients.  I am certainly looking forward to contributing to this.

However, in the meantime, start raising those tickets and remember when you are voting you are voting for your top ten in the order you want them.  Some people have been confused by this in the past..... 

Thanks for reading.
Lee.

Conference 2009 - The great 'Texas' roadtrip and more.......

After the conference I was lucky enough to spend a great week with ADC Austin taking a look (Deep Dive) into their products and services in particular the '2E to Plex' migration process and patterns plus the WebsydianWebClient for Plex.

 

What can I say!   I was suitably impressed. 

ADC are busy working on an updated version of the migration patterns and the dedication and passion I witnessed from their development team was first class. 

 

A Plex application running in a browser using Dojo controls. 

 

 

A big thank you to John, Juan, Andrew, Eric, Chris, Jill, Bob and Srinath for all your help and hospitality during the week.  Hopefully one day I can return this in good old New Zealand.  It was much appreciated, especially the Friday evening on the boat.  What a fantastic way to finish a fantastic trip.

Thanks to the CA team

 

A massive shout out also to Bill, Daniel, Rob, Rory and Simon from CA for a great conference.  I had a fantastic time and learnt so so so so much.  Plex and 2E remain very strong:-

 

• The Plex ecosystem with ADC and Websydian et al has a great reach into multiple technologies and platforms.  Interesting times are ahead as CA and its partners work towards full coverage of .NET
• Extending Web Services support and other 2E functions to handle Data Sets and some neat stuff with arrays is on the potential enhancement list for 8.5+.  This further delights me as I look at ways of providing additional business benefits to my customers.

 

Some collateral from the conference:-

 

The presentations have been posted on the http://www.plex2e.com/ site.

 

A video of the conference is now on YouTube:-

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2NyHRWARyI

 

Thanks Gavin for producing this, but next time.

"MAKE SURE I'M IN IT!!"

 

 

I am looking forward to the next conference and the 6.5 Plex beta programme, whenever that may be (Daniel) ;-) not to mention the SP1 for 8.5 of 2E.

 

Better get back to the usual mutterings from next week.

 

Thanks for reading.
Lee.

Conference 2009 - Day 3 - Final Day

06/0202010.  Just revisited these posts.  Tidied up a few typo's and added addition links of images.

Well, where do I start.

I guess I can start at the end. Its all finished. Developer roundtable and closing credits done, final night out for those remaining done, business cards exchanged and now looking forward to 2011 conference. Early favourite (amongst us gossiping) is Chicago in around 18 months. Only time will tell.

At this stage I should though say a great big thank you to Jill Fender from ADC who saved my day today, quite literally. Here's the story.

My session was at 11am and like all speakers I got there 30 minutes early to set up. You know, plug in the laptop, check the projector and open the powerpoint.

OPEN THE POWERPOINT!!!!!.

HEART RATE INCREASES.

Now with 15 minutes to go (long bootstrap on my laptop) I find out that I left my presentation on my work PC desktop. Remember that internet I referred too on the first day and that I couldn't connect to work. Yes..... And guess what? it was early the hours of the morning back home so a phone call and quick email to my online email account wouldn't suffice.

A rushed around to find Bill, but he had left. Fortunately, I then bumped into Jill. She managed to ring Bill who was at the airport. As I understand it he then found some internet access and emailed it to Jill (who could connect properly).

I was two minutes into my presentation by this time. I had a old copy of a similiar presentation at Cincinatti. I had performed some tweaks (in that 15 minutes I had spare) and had apologised to my audience. (Thanks for all those that attended by the way. I was very pleased with the numbers and I hope that you got something out of it.).   Anyhow.  Two minutes and the door opens and it was Jill with the primed laptop. I connected it to the projector and then I was able to talk through my 2009 (updated with loads of new content) slides. I understand that these will all be made available online at some stage. However, I have also decided to type up the notes for each slide and will post on this blog.

06/02/2010 - I will do this in the coming weeks.

So, session delivery complete it was time for me to enjoy some additional sessions and attend a couple of demo's. Gavin (my mate from SA) regarding his security and validation pattern and with Soren and Anders discussing in some detail the TransacXML product. Very very very useful. Check them out on http://www.websydian.com/ and Gavin http://www.arad.co.za/

A final note on the conference. The sessions were great, the food was great, the company and friendship was great. Also that iPhone stuff I mentioned can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2eplex2009. If you want to just see the application in a normal phone or online then you can go to http://conf.desynit.com/

Once all was concluded a few of us went to Hooters (you can google this, but I would suggest you google for Hooters Restaurant) for a meal and quite a few beers. After all, it was Friday night.

That's just about wrapped up the 2009 conference. Hope to see you in 2011.

UPDATE - 28/09/2009 - Just found the presentation. It was on the laptop all the time. I had downloaded it using the download manager and I have just spotted it in there. I won't be making that mistake again!!!!!!

Thanks for reading.
Lee.