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WebSmart PHP 2.0 Aims to Accelerate Enterprise Development

WebSmart PHP, a rapid PHP Web-application development tool for servers running IBM i, has been enhanced with new features designed to bolster developer productivity, leverage existing RPG programs and facilitate working in environments with multiple database or server platforms.

WebSmart PHP is offered by Business Computer Design, Int’l. Inc., a leading vendor of modernization software for IBM i and System i servers. WebSmart PHP, first introduced in September, 2007, has become a successful addition to BCD’s integrated System i ClearPath Modernization suite that also includes WebSmart ILE, Nexus Portal, Clover Query, Catapult and SmartCharts, BCD says.

Application development gets a boost in version 2.0 with a new wizard that eliminates the need to code the many required lines of PHP to call existing RPG programs. The wizard guides developers by prompting them for the program name, library and parameters and generates the PHP code.

Template capabilities are expanded in version 2.0. WebSmart templates include powerful built-in programming logic and functionality and help developers create professional-looking programs. Through its support desk, BCD discovered that developers frequently create custom templates to match the appearance and functionality of other programs in the enterprise. In response to this, WebSmart PHP 2.0 now facilitates the creation of custom program template families with a new feature that allows them to copy elements from existing program templates. More than 75 complete, pre-configured application templates are included in WebSmart PHP. The copy templates feature will create a new template family and incorporate the template files on your PC, and all related CSS files on the IFS will properly reference the new CSS file and directory in the new templates automatically.

Separate System i repositories have been incorporated into version 2.0, so each time WebSmart PHP is installed on a new server, the tool will create a separate repository for all of the business rules used on that server. Developers can easily toggle between these repositories with a dropdown box in the WebSmart IDE Repository window.

WebSmart PHP offers a wide variety of platform options for hosting applications on different servers, accessing different databases and working on multiple System i machines. A new define developer environment feature can be useful for programmers who work on multiple systems or databases. This feature enables programmers to set up entire Web-application development environments in a single WebSmart IDE. An environment consists of configuration settings for the servers that you can manipulate in WebSmart, including the System FTP, Database servers and System i.