Walkthrough Step 10 - Using the Wings Application

Using the Wings Application

Building the Wings Project should open a browser window (or tab) containing a login page much like the one in Figure 10-1; note the strong similarity to a 5250 sign on page. Later in development you may wish to modify this page, for example eliminating certain fields your users won't need; like all other Wings pages, this one is entirely and easily customizable.

Figure 10-1.

Enter your login information as you would for a normal 5250 login and populate the other fields with:

• Port – 5102
• Program/Procedure – imwings
• Menu – Leave this field blank.
• Current Library – RPMONGERH

Each of these fields should look as shown in Figure 10-1. You can then press Enter, or click the Enter button on the upper left. The screen will be greyed out and spinner will appear to let you know that Wings is working (and to stop double-submits). When it's done, a modernized version of CUSTINQ (as shown in Figure 10-2) will pop up.

Figure 10-2.

The Wings-modernized page retains a great deal of fidelity with the 5250 display: The records, options, and functions are virtually identical to those seen back in Figure 1-1. The most notable structural change is the substitution of dropdown boxes for the input selection fields to the left of the records. Click on the down arrow beside the first entry, and it will open a dropdown showing all of the available options (in this case, 0, 2, 3, 5, and 11). Click option 2, and then click the Enter button in the upper left to open CUSTDSPF and see how Wings has modernized it.

The page that opens up should look a lot like Figure 10-3. As with CUSTINQ, the modernized version is extremely faithful to the 5250 version out of the box:

Figure 10-3.

The fields are laid out exactly as they were in Figure 9-1 and, for that matter, Figure 1-2. Now, go back to CUSTINQ, either by pressing F12, or clicking Cancel (or Exit) in the upper left. This will return you to the Wings CUSTINQ page.

Click the down arrow beside the first record to open its dropdown menu, then select 11. Click the Enter button and Wings will open ORDHDSPF in the built-in 5250 emulator. The results will look like Figure 10-4.

Figure 10-4.

The screen generated by the Wings emulator is styled to appear similar to the modernized Wings pages, while being functionally identical to the green screen version in Figure 1-3. While the 5250 emulator lacks the customizability of a true Wings site, it can be configured to match most pages. For more information on the emulator, see the Terminal Emulation help section.

Conclusion

Congratulations! The display files you used while following along have now been modernized by Wings, and the aspx pages created by the process can be modified like any other web page without touching the business logic. While that's the end of this walkthrough, it's only the snow on the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with Wings.

From here you can continue to explore the application you've modernized, or you can go deeper into our Help to find out more about specific topics. Some good starting points include:

• Technologies used in Wings provides a detailed examination of the technologies that Wings uses to bridge the gap between the RPG and Web Browser worlds.
• The "Wings Display File" takes a deeper look at the files and components that come together to make a fully functional Wings site (seen in the Solution Explorer).
• Developing a Solution covers the process of creating and improving a Visual Studio Solution for Wings in detail.
• Using Wings Design Aid explains in detail how to work with Wings Design Aid, the integrated Visual Studio tool we've been using for most of this walkthrough.