iModernize - The Profound Logic Software Blog

Are you looking for a way to bring your business' legacy IBM i (AS/400) applications into a more modern and robust look? You are not alone. Many business are worn out by the use of their 5250 green screens and want a more modern and user friendly interface. With today's technological advancements, many companies are looking for a modernization approach to update the interface capabilities of their IBM i systems. 

How we access our data has grown leaps and bounds in the last decade; we now have any piece of information at our fingertips with our mobile devices. But many business still use outdated technology to store their data which prevents them from accessing that data unless they are in front of a standard desktop computer. If your workforce requires access to vital business information frequently, you might think about developing a mobile application to allow them to access the information where and when they need it. A mobile application can help support your remote workers and can even benefit your customer interaction with your business. 

As the demand for mobile enterprise applications in your business grows, and you feel the pressure to deliver, it becomes vital to make those applications as impactful as possible. But when you're a traditional RPG developer with no or limited mobile development experience, it can be overwhelming. In fact, you could be tempted to simply make your desktop applications responsive. If you’re still using green screens, you may even be tempted to use a mobile emulator for 5250. However, are those the best choices for your mobile application design?

Experts say ‘no’. While responsive desktop apps and emulators might be a tempting shortcut, you could also be robbing your end users of the elements they need to get the most from your apps. The good news is that there are many ways to deliver high-impact mobile applications, even if you have limited or no mobile development experience, thanks to rapid-development tools like Profound Mobile.

Here are three tips for designing mobile applications that have staying power:

The Visual Designer in our Profound UI suite is the easiest way to quickly create browser-based interfaces for your IBM i desktop applications. But did you know that the same technology is available for mobile development?

Profound Mobile offers all of the features that make Profound UI great - including the Visual Designer and RPG Open Access Handler - but streamlined for mobile application development.

In this blog post, I'll walk you through a sample application that I created using Profound Mobile. Aside from a few design considerations for a mobile layout (vs. a desktop application), the development is very similar to what you would create with Profound UI. I've included the Rich Display File DDS, RPG, and CL source for this application at the bottom of this article. The application is driven by a standard RPG program, using the Open Access Handler.

According to Forrester’s 2013 study, 29% global information workers have 3 or more devices, work from multiple locations, and use many apps in 2012. As a result, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) has emerged as a solution to help businesses save time and money when deploying mobile applications to their workforce.

During every customer demo, the following question is asked, “How is Profound UI different and why should we go with your solution?” It is one of the most important questions customers ask and it deserves a well thought-out answer. Because, in a world of abundant choices, it is important to understand not only why our IBM i modernization solution is great, but how it differs from available solutions!

Mobile is a major initiative for many businesses in 2013, including those that run on the IBM i platform. If you have limited experience with creating mobile applications, this can be a daunting prospect. There are multiple approaches to going mobile, and some are not as difficult as you may think!

In version 4.6 of Profound UI we introduce our new mobile client that makes it dead simple to create powerful mobile apps. This feature is designed to make it easy for RPG programmers to write ILE RPG programs that run on IBM i, but send their screen output so that they look and feel like native mobile apps running on an Apple iOS or Android device.

Profound UI version 4.6.0 is scheduled for release in early June. With this update comes a set of new features that will help you take your mobile application development to the next level. This article gives a breakdown of the upcoming goodies. Subsequent articles will show how each of them can be used to give your mobile applications that extra bit of functionality and polish.