Plex 2E

We continue to pay our maintenance fee for Web2E, but more and more of our customers are using alternates now that Microsofts Internet Exployer is going away.

When I queried CA, they said they have no plans to support any others within the tool. Does that mean CA is ignoring Web2E? What does that mean for any company that offers Web2E as the portal to their application? What have others done to get Web2E to work with other browers? We have thousands of screens in our application, we need a solution that is automatic with the HTML generation. Are their others out there in the CA community with this concern?

Politician's answer: You make an interesting point and think you should submit it as an idea to get the community voting on it.

Cantankerous answer: You have pointed out your users are using alternates to IE. You will be to blame in the end by your users if your application is not fit for purpose. You need to plan now to move away from Web2E option now because of your findings and not to wait for a new solution that CA have told you have no plans to create. Luckily IBMi environment offers many legacy options to reach your users varying UI demands for today and tomorrow. Yes CA should be developing a new solution but you being right will matter a jot to your users, a tool vendor who you perceive have left you in the wind should make you determined to move away instead of trying to convince them to create a new product and for you to pay a new licence fee.

i like the look of Genie - Refacing Tool for 5250 Screens | Profound Logic Software purely because of the talent behind it now Press Releases | Profound Logic Software

Mr. Cantankerous,

Thanks for the laugh...

Crispin.

I feel sorry for tool vendors such as CA today as there are so many ui options and in my opinion some, i stress some, vendor's customers have unreleastic hopes and perceptions on what an exisitng vendor should or should not support. People should check out the good work CA are doing with API development which is a good intiative and could allow 2E / Plex to reface and get another 10 years or so out of their data models.

sorry my apologies John I should say CA  AND CM First work on API (RESTful APIs for CA 2E and CA Plex)

Always liked Web2e and Quickstep for that matter. Edge Forum Archive - [Edge] Advantage 2E/Plex Off the Subject - Plex Victory

But recently (last 3 assignments over the last 10 years) my desire to remain using Plex/2E for UI has been arguably seen as self serving by management, so damed if you do damed if you dont.....So laughter aside I advocate planning a future away from CA UI offerings  and sticking with CA DB and Logic offerings.

Me, I'm using ExtJS for UI. Wiring that into backend 2E or Plex business logic/databases, but as far as Plex/2E UI's I have no choice. Plex is a strong Microsoft UI, and 2E is just 5250, and Web option ties you into the 5250 workflow (but you can do a lot with the UI if you have the desire)...

Crispin.

I'm pretty sure this has already been raised as an idea, and Simon Cockayne asked for more input about it in this thread:  https://communities.ca.com/thread/100268231

When I looked at it some years ago (we don't use it where I work now), the WEB2E generated HTML is pretty basic and seemed to work on most browsers. Have you tested it on other browsers and are there any specific issues?  

WEB2E Runs in any browser. There was an issue in the original JavaScript with supporting the Command Keys for browsers other than IE, but that was resolved with the latest release (8.7). It is documented in the release documents. I think there is a small issue with Safari in supporting F5, but that's Safari for you.

From the release notes.

Command Key Processing (Mouse-click and Key-press)

CA 2E Web Option provides access to command keys on the browser interface using mouse-clicks and pressing keys on the keyboard across the browsers listed below:

■ Internet Explorer 8 and 9 version.

■ Safari 6 or a later version for Mac.

■ Safari 5.1.7 or a later version for Windows.

■ Chrome 24.0 or a later version.

■ Firefox 19.0 or a later version.

Note:

■ Internet Explorer version 8 and 9 are the only officially supported browsers. Check the compatibility matrix on CA 2E Product page for the latest information.

■ Changes have been made to the YMLSSYNRFP syntax file to support Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. For these changes to take effect, regenerate skeletons for functions that you wish to use in these browsers.

This information is also documented in the following documentation deliverables:

■ Web Option User Guide

Here's what they say about Safari

Safari for Windows - F5 Key Behavior

Web Option does not suppress Safari default refresh behavior for F5 key.

During Web Option runtime, if you press the F5 key on the keyboard, a dialog opens with the following message:

“Are you sure you want to send a form again? To reopen this page Safari must resend a form. This might result in duplicate purchases, comments, or other actions.”

We recommend that you do not use the F5 key. However, if it is inadvertently pressed, select the Cancel option in the dialog box.

Frankly, we have been supporting ANY browser using WEB2E for a decade or more in our implementation. It was just a matter of making the (small amount of) javascript work across browsers. It really wasn't a huge technical hurdle, and anyone that wants to do anything more than out of the box WEB2E should have the technical skills to have been able to achieve it without needing CA to do what they did for 8.7, but I digress.

Now, that CA would tell you that they are not supporting other browsers, well, all I can say is you must have go the wrong support person...well, other than that's what their documentation states. I think that's a little overboard, and as I have already noted, we support all browsers through our implementation...

Crispin.

I completely agree with Crispin on this. Yes, there is some JavaScript and CSS customization required to implement a cross-browser Web2E app, but it can be done fairly easily. I hate to break it to folks that who are still living in a nice clean 5250 world, but that sort of customization is going to be the case for any HTML web app regardless of technology. Browsers move forward fairly rapidly, and each browser vendor has their own ideas on how to implement new web standards.

Browsers, tell me about it. I just spent the last two weeks banging my head against a brick wall with IE because the ExtJS framework had an issue that caused IE to stop rendering charts. Worked just fine in Chrome and Firefox. 2 weeks of refactoring code and pinning it down to a single method in a framework, and then figuring out how to write code specific to IE to get it to work. And that's with a framework that supports multi browsers out of the box. It's meant to be transparent.

I agree completely with you John, it has just become part and parcel of modern application development. Now, let's get into different device platforms...phones, tablets, android, apple...oh it's never going to be as simple as 5250...

Crispin.