IBM i Global

 View Only

  • 1.  Institutional Editor and Language Server for RPGLE and CLLE

    Posted Wed February 23, 2022 11:19 AM
    This is a continuation to ace ace's post in the is "IBM i dead" thread (i don't want to give that topic more attention)

    ace ace said:

    > Still, I insist on the concept that we need an "institutional" editor, connected,
    > published from the host, IBM native, you don't have to mess with license on your
    > laptop or install, a go-to editor, ready, always there, where you sit and connect and work (like SEU); 

    Your idea about an "institutional editor" is not far-fetched. What the people from VSCode have done is invent the LSP (Language Server Protocol). Basically, it means that we only have to write the editor complexity once (parsing, syntax checking, outline, code completion, formatting, etc.. etc..) Then this "server" can be hosted inside an LSP-aware editor that can then edit ALL languages that have implemented an LSP. Eclipse has such an editor, VSCode has such an editor and if there is a web variant, it will make this "institutional editor" very easy to build [1].

    IBM obviously knows about this and has already built a COBOL LSP [2].

    If IBM creates the language servers for RPG, and CL, we would have a myriad of editors to choose from.

    I am not sure if people are allowed to create an RPG language server, I have no idea about the copyrights of RPG.

    Cheers, Wim

    [1] https://microsoft.github.io/language-server-protocol/implementors/tools/
    [2] https://langserver.org/

    ------------------------------
    Wim Jongman
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Institutional Editor and Language Server for RPGLE and CLLE

    Posted Wed February 23, 2022 03:24 PM
    Hi,

    well there is a sort-of "institutional editor" for IBM i with Orion. It's part of 5733-OPS and browser based. But AFAIK it only supports sources in the IFS - but it has support for GIT.
     
    (Screenshot)

    Due to the browser basement you wouldn't have to install anything and of course it supports JS and typical IBM i languages like RPG, COBOL, DDS.

    IBM doesn't do any marketing for Orion, and I haven't used it - I'm using RDi and I wouldn't want to use anything else.

    Kind regards,
    Daniel




    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Institutional Editor and Language Server for RPGLE and CLLE

    IBM Champion
    Posted Wed February 23, 2022 03:31 PM
    There is also open source work going on with a plugin to VSCode. It's being discussed in the IBMiOSS group on Ryver.
    Also see this: https://www.seidengroup.com/2021/06/21/visual-studio-code-rpg-and-ibm-i/​

    ------------------------------
    Jack Woehr
    IBM Champion 2021 -2022
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Institutional Editor and Language Server for RPGLE and CLLE

    Posted Thu March 10, 2022 09:22 AM
    Edited by ace ace Thu March 10, 2022 09:25 AM
    Interesting.
    Of course the editing capability for standard source physical file tables (not only IFS) would be a requirement. I personally like sources in physical source files, because you can add in case additional metadata (i.e. like the standard date) in a more structured and searchable and efficient way... I always thought plain stream file as "basic/plain" way to store a source but of course useful to have and useful for posix compatibility (ie. external source, git integration...).

    Also a decent debug integration would be a requirement.... actually, nowadays ACS client has a pretty integrated debugger that some people aren't aware of (found under "run SQL scripts / system debugger" app).... thus, given the pervasive presence of ACS, if one doesn't want to reinvent the wheel using the web, indeed it would be appropriate by IBM to include directly in ACS such editor as SEU replacement, maybe a stripped down RDi version, without license requirements... with full free form RPG support, syntax checking and compile/debug workflows.

    ACS being an IBM product already tracks in capabilities the IBMi server part, it is also patchable via PTFs directly on the i product directories, so the whole integrated lifecycle is under control and distributed with the i binaries.... so any feature added (say, a new RPG opcode awareness ) could be easily "integrated" in a new ACS patch.

    IBM: think about it, ACS would be a nice place to put such common editor and SEU replacement (like "run SQL script" GUI replaced STRSQL).

    ------------------------------
    ace ace
    ------------------------------

    Original Message