Editor's Note: For the convenience of readers, below is a lightly edited version of the IBM announcement regarding the 70-day evaluation window for Rational Open Access: RPG Edition. The complete IBM announcement, with additional details readers may need, is located on the company's website, and may be accessed from the link found at the end of this extract.

Effective last Friday, IBM Rational Open Access: RPG Edition V1.1.1 was made available in the IBM Entitled Software Support (ESS) website for evaluation. Because it is not included in the IBM i Keyed Product media, …[users] can download the product in ESS for internal evaluation, testing, or demonstration purposes for 70 days without a valid license key. 

After 70 days the product will not operate without a valid license key. To continue using the product after 70 days, ...[the user] must then obtain a valid license key by purchasing the product. 

IBM Rational Open Access: RPG Edition allows: 

• Organizations to reuse existing skills when creating modern RPG-based applications by providing a way for RPG developers to use the simple and well-understood RPG I/O model to access resources and devices that are not natively supported by RPG 

• Software tool vendors, business partners, services organizations, and users to create and offer I/O handlers to access the wide range of available resources and devices, creating an innovative array of options for RPG development organizations 

To download IBM Rational Open Access: RPG Edition V1.1.1, for evaluation from ESS, follow the steps below: 

1. Access

https://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess 

2. Click "IBM i Evaluation, Try&Buy and NLV download" option in the left pane

3. Select your customer number

4. Select the machine to download the software product for

5. Select product ID 5733-OAR

6. Click to continue

For instruction on how to burn CDs/DVDs, go to

http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/software/delivery/en_US/burningcds.html 

Further details about ESS software downloads can be found in the help section:

http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/software/delivery/en_US/downloading.html 

For ordering, users should contact their IBM representative or an IBM Business Partner. For more information contact the Americas Call Centers at 800-IBM-CALL (426-2255). Reference: AE001 

The RPG IV programming language has a strong record of being an efficient and productive language for writing business applications on IBM i. With each IBM i release, the language has been continuously enhanced, including the latest 7.1 release. These enhancements allowed RPG IV to interoperate with other languages in today's mixed environments, with improved application maintenance and quality, and kept RPG IV current with system enhancements. 

Other major enhancements, such as the introduction of the Integrated Language Environment (ILE) and local files support in procedures, have allowed organizations to write modular, reusable code following programming best practices. 

To further modernize the language and allow RPG-based applications to interface with the wide range of new devices and resources, enhancements were made to RPG IV in IBM i 7.1 and 6.1 to open up the file I/O capabilities. This allowed anyone to write innovative I/O handlers to access other devices and resources such as: 

• Browsers

• Mobile devices

• Cloud computing resources

• Web services

• External databases

• XML files

• Spreadsheets 

Software tool vendors, business partners, services organizations, and users write the handlers that extend RPG IV's I/O capabilities to new resources and devices. IBM Rational Open Access: RPG Edition provides the runtime enablement for the I/O handlers. RPG developers can access the resource or device in their applications using native RPG file specifications and I/O operations, allowing developers to reuse their existing skills and gaining the programming efficiency that organizations, typically expected from RPG. 

IBM Rational Open Access: RPG Edition is required on partitions where programs using I/O handlers are running. 

Open Access is a full-featured version of the limited support provided by RPG SPECIAL files. It provides a way for RPG programmers to use the simple and well-understood RPG I/O model to access devices that are not directly supported by RPG. 

When the HANDLER keyword is specified on a File specification, the RPG compiler will generate code to use the specified handling procedure for I/O operations to the file rather than generating code to call the system's data management functions. 

The HANDLER keyword can be used for any RPG device, DISK, PRINTER, or WORKSTN. The provider of the handling procedure can choose the RPG device-type that best fits the function that the handler provides. For example, a user interface application could map to a WORKSTN file, an Excel document could map to a PRINTER file, and a web service could map to a keyed DISK file. 

IBM Rational Open Access: RPG Edition opens up the RPG file I/O capabilities, allowing software tool vendors, business partners, services organizations, and users to write custom I/O handlers that can access new devices and resources that are not directly supported by RPG. This allows RPG developers to write applications that can directly access these devices and resources while still using the regular RPG I/O model. 

IBM Rational Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) performs runtime transformations of 5250 applications, allowing existing applications to be extended to the web, web services, portlets, rich clients, and mobile devices. Because HATS transforms the 5250 data stream, it does not require any changes to the application source code and is effective for organizations needing a quick, low-cost solution. It is also effective when the source code for the application is not available. 

IBM Rational Developer for i for SOA Construction provides the development tooling for Enterprise Generation Language (EGL), a high- level business language designed for portability and to simplify the development of Web 2.0 and SOA solutions. EGL shields developers from the underlying middleware and programming languages. These abstractions allow developers to use a single language for all aspects of the applications: user interface, controller logic, and business logic. EGL has built-in language support for calling batch RPG and COBOL programs and service programs on IBM i so organizations can reuse existing business logic. 

IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software provides Java and Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) development tools, helping teams design, develop, test, profile, and deploy portal, Web/Web 2.0, web services, and SOA applications. Java can call batch RPG and COBOL programs and service programs on IBM i so organizations can reuse existing business logic. Rational Application Developer should be used by teams using Java as a platform for modernizing their IBM i applications with Web user interfaces and Web services interfaces. 

IBM Rational Developer for Power Systems Software: RPG and COBOL Development Tools for i provides a modern integrated development environment for creating and maintaining RPG-, COBOL-, CL-, and DDS-based applications on IBM i, independent of the style of application or technology used for user interface, services interfaces, or database technology. IBM Rational Developer for Power Systems Software can be installed into the same workbench as HATS, IBM Rational Developer for i for SOA Construction, and IBM Rational Developer for Power Systems Software: RPG and COBOL Development Tools for i, providing developers with a single workbench for creating and maintaining all aspects of their applications.

For additional details, see IBM United States Software Announcement 211-253.