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WebSmart V7 Includes LDAP Support, More Productivity Boosters

A new version of WebSmart is now available from Business Computer Design, Int’l. (BCD) . Headquartered near Chicago, BCD provides modernization software for IBM Power Systems running IBM i.

Ensuring compatibility with IBM i V6R1 requires the conversion of all programs that use the IBM i MI. This conversion enables programs to take advantage of forthcoming operating system enhancements that improve its reach and performance.

BCD says customers can be confident that programs created with WebSmart V7 will be compatible with, and take full advantage of future operating system releases. WebSmart’s support for LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol) now gives the ILE edition the ability to interact with an LDAP server. These new features let users connect to different LDAP data sources and create, display, modify and delete entries in those sources.

The WebSmart PHP edition received support for LDAP in a previous release. LDAP is a cross-platform client server protocol used for querying and modifying directory information such as authenticating for user and password and storing e-mail addresses.

BCD has added SmartSnippets to WebSmart 7 to accelerate program development, the company says. SmartSnippets are wizards that help code PML and PHP functions. Several additional SmartSnippets will be added to WebSmart in future releases.

Another new feature, copy templates, accommodates WebSmart users who create their own custom template families. While WebSmart ILE ships with more than 150 application templates that can be used to define the appearance and functionality of a Web page, most customers create their own custom templates by copying the existing ones. The copy template family feature helps speed this task up. The copy feature creates a new template family, prompts you for your logo and includes the template files on your PC. It includes related CSS files on the IFS and will properly reference the new CSS file and directory in the new templates.

With V7, each time you install WebSmart ILE on a new IBM Power System running IBM i, WebSmart will create a separate repository for all of the programmatic components used on that server.

Support for multiple developer environments helps set up entire Web application development environments in a single WebSmart IDE. An environment consists of configuration settings for the servers you can work on in WebSmart, including the System i, FTP and Database servers. This feature is useful for customers who work on multiple System i machines.