ASNA Mobile RPG® Reference Manual

Installation Prerequisites

This document describes the hardware and software you will need to use ASNA Mobile RPG.

There are two environments in which an ASNA Mobile RPG application runs:

  1. Development environment – The environment where an ILE RPG program is developed.
  2. Production environment – The runtime execution environment where your ASNA Mobile RPG applications run after deployment.

Each environment has two needs: hardware and software. This section discusses what you need for each environment to create ad deploy applications with ASNA Mobile RPG. The next section provides installation instructions for all of the components.

The Development Environment

A high-level view of the development environment is shown below. This environment requires the Windows PC to be connected to the IBM i through TCP/IP. To get started with ASNA Mobile RPG application development, you only need this environment. You will be able to test your mobile applications, for a single user, in this environment.

The requirements for the Mobile RPG development environment are:

Hardware requirements:

  • Windows 7, Windows 8.x Pro, or Windows 10 Pro PC with at least 2MB of memory
  • IBM i V6R1 or Higher with Rational Open Access for RPG installed.

    Software requirements on the Windows PC:

  • Visual Studio 2022 (Professional or Community).
  • ASNA Mobile RPG – This is the Windows client component of Mobile RPG. Upon installation, the Mobile RPG Design Aid tightly integrates itself with Visual Studio. During application development, you will use the Mobile RPG Design Aid exclusively inside VS since Mobile RPG does not surface its own user interface.

Software requirements on the IBM i:

  • IBM i V6R1 or higher
  • IBM Open Access RPG Edition (licensed program 5733)
  • ASNA DataGate for IBM i – This provides access to the IBM i for reading display file and message file definitions.

The Production Runtime Environment

You will need the production environment setup for deploying your Mobile RPG applications for all of your users. A high-level view of the production runtime environment is shown below. The Windows Web Server hosts your ASNA Mobile RPG applications making them available to users on your network.

Remember that you do not need this environment to start application development with Mobile RPG but you will need it to deploy your ASNA Mobile RPG applications for end-users.

Users access your Mobile RPG applications through their browser. There is nothing additional to install on a user's PC. Mobile RPG works with most modern mobile browsers.

The requirements for the Mobile RPG runtime production environment are:

Hardware requirements:

  • Windows Web Server 2008 R2 or later – The configuration of this server will vary for different environments, but at minimum we recommend 2MB of memory and at least a single core processor (preferably at least a dual core).
  • IBM i (IBM i V6R1 or higher) – In most cases, this will be the same IBM i used in development, but it does not have to be.

Software requirements for end users:

  • Web browser – ASNA Mobile RPG can produce web pages compatible with any mobile or desktop browser, but they've been tested to funxtion best in the following environments:
    Operating System Phone Samples Tablets Samples Preferred Browser
    iOS versions 5 Apple iPhone 3GS, 4 Apple iPad 2 Safari
    iOS versions 6 Apple iPhone 5 Apple iPad Mini Safari
    Android Gingerbread Samsung Galaxy S II Samsung Player 4 Firefox
    Android Ice-cream-sandwich Samsung Galaxy S III HTC One Asus Transformer Firefox
    Android Jellybean HTC Droid DNA Google Nexus 7 Stock Chrome
    or Dolphin (for full screen)
    Windows 8 Nokia Lumia Microsoft Surface RT Microsoft Surface Pro IE10*

Software requirements for the Windows Web Server:

  • Internet Information Server (IIS) – The HTTP server that comes with Windows Server 2008 R2 or later.
  • ASNA DataGate Webpak – Provides ASNA Mobile RPG the runtime access to the IBM i.

Software requirements for the IBM i. Note that if this is the same IBM i you used to perform ASNA Mobile RPG development, it already has the software installed for runtime production. These requirements are:

  • IBM i V6R1 or higher
  • IBM Open Access RPG Edition (free in V6R1 and up)
  • ASNA DataGate for IBM i – This provides access to the IBM i for reading display file and message file definitions.