New features released in WebSmart 10.8

BCD Software (now Fresche Solutions) has released the latest version of their rapid PHP and RPG development tool for creating desktop and mobile applications, WebSmart.

WebSmart 10.8 includes a number of new features for the ILE edition, including:

Inline RPG editing

BCD Software’ new feature gives programmers more flexibility when developing web applications.

Developers will now be able to write ‘free-format RPG code inline in WebSmart ILE PML procedures’ giving them an opportunity to further leverage their existing skillset. They will, for example, be able to reuse a piece of free-format RPG code they’ve ‘already written by inserting it directly into the WebSmart code or work around anything you can’t do in PML without changing the generated source’.

New PML operators

New PML operators (-=, /=, *= and **) added to WebSmart ILE provide expanded mathematics capabilities to manipulate expressions more efficiently.

Other PML functions added include:

• New PML functions for string padding, strpadr() and strpadl()
• New PML function, getstrmfinf(), to retrieve IFS file attributes

JSON Manipulation

Often used with Web Services and API calls, JSON is a common data format. WebSmart ILE includes a new suite of functions that enables developers to create and manipulate JSON objects and convert them to and from strings. PHP already includes similar functionality, which can be used in WebSmart PHP.

HTML5 charts and jQuery

BCD Software is committed to providing users of their IBM i development tools with the very latest technologies available on the platform. Therefore, they have updated the versions of SmartCharts and jQuery that are used in WebSmart.

WebSmart’s templates have been updated to the latest version of jQuery and jQuery UI. Version 10.8 features a new widget, selectmenu, and improved stability.

IDE shortcuts

WebSmart IDE includes several new shortcuts in the latest release, including:

• Right-click a segment to create a new one
• CTRL+W to close the current tab
• Right-click in the Fields window to Find/Find All
• Ctrl+Alt+T to create a new text file (previously Ctrl+T)
• Ctrl+Alt+J to create a new JavaScript file
• Ctrl+Alt+C to create a new CSS file.

Othe new features:

• Increased the size of query in sqlexec above 4096
• Replaced MySQL PHP templates with PHP Data Objects templates.