After my last blog post on using publicly available web services to quickly and easily add new functions to your RPG applications (https://eradani.com/2020/10/26/quickly-add-exciting-new-capabilities-to-your-rpg-applications-using-open-source/), I had several requests from readers for additional API use cases. So here goes…
We have spoken with several customers who have been using Advanced Function Printing Utilities on the IBM i for printing barcode labels. They are looking for alternatives since IBM ended support for AFP Utilities with release 7.2 of IBM i OS. It turns out that there are a variety of Open Source modules that will print barcode labels. They will even generate the proprietary code for printers (eg. ZPL for Zebra printers). Now with Eradani Connect and just a couple lines of RPG code, you can send the label data to these modules and have them create and print the labels for you.
6 Million Dollar Man Modernization – Better, Stronger, Faster
For those of you old enough to remember, the 6 Million Dollar Man was a TV program that told the story of Steve Austin – the first Bionic Man. After an injury, doctors rebuilt him with parts made from the latest technology, making him “better, stronger, faster”. With IBM’s new connector technologies and open source on the IBM i, you can now do this for your RPG applications. Combined with Eradani Connect, these technologies provide the high performance necessary to call open source functions right from within an RPG or COBOL process. Response times are measured in single-digit milliseconds. So, now you can add new features and functions to your applications using Python, JavaScript or other modern languages without worrying about performance degradation. This will allow you to take advantage of the thousands of open source components that are freely available and will simplify the recruitment of new engineers to work on your applications.
IoT Device Support
An increasing number of customers are connecting their applications to Internet of Things devices in order to get real time data. Transportation companies want to know the exact location of their trucks. Health care providers monitor their patients in real time. Warehouse managers need real-time information on shipment locations, inventory levels and staff productivity. With Eradani Connect, connecting sensors and gathering data is now simple and high performance. With just a few lines of JavaScript, Python or other code, IoT developers can pass information to the IBM i or request data from IBM i applications.
These are just a few of the things you can do quickly and easily using IBM i technology and Eradani Connect. If you are ready to start turbocharging your applications using API technology, check out our webinar on Wednesday December 10th (https://eradani.com/top-5-things-you-didnt-know-you-can-do-using-open-source-on-your-ibm-i/) or visit our website at: www.eradani.com.
