iData from ProfoundLogic Software

At COMMON Nashville ProfoundLogic Software introduced their iData product.  David Russo (lead developer of the product) handed me a copy of it and told me to check it out.  iData is basically a really nice looking browser based physical file editor; at least that is what I use it for though it has more capabilities.

I installed it on my AS400 (very easy install btw) and have been using it the past months since COMMON and thought I would drop a plug for it here being I feel it is most definitely worth checking out.  The thing I like most about it is that I don’t need to install anything on all the programmers PC’s and instead it is all on the server and delivered via the browser.  Below is a screen shot of the application running on my Ubuntu (Linux) desktop.

The other very cool aspect of it is that they have a free version.  Basically after the trial expires you can still use the tool, you just don’t have the most advanced features or some of the features that make the tool slightly quicker to use (i.e. grid editing of table data).

You can check it out at the following URL: http://profoundlogic.com/prodidata.rpgsp

Till next time, this is Aaron Bartell telling you to keep your eyes set on your true love (RPG) and away from other programming langauges that muddy the waters :-)

UPDATE: After I had initially posted this blog entry I thought of other ways people try to gain access to data on the AS400 from their PC’s. One is to use QuantumDB from Eclipse which is a free plugin you can add to WDSC.  Then I remembered that WDSC has a built in browser that allows you to display web pages.  I put two and two together and got three – bring up iData in WDSC! ;-)  Check out the screen capture to the right to see how it looks.  Note that iData allows you to actually update your data vs. QuantumDB’s method is read-only.

Just one more use for iData!