Customization Capabilities with Genie

Genie does much more than simply web-enable your green-screens. It offers both global and screen-by-screen customization capabilities to quickly enhance, integrate, and add value to your existing System i applications. Its patent-pending visual screen designer runs directly in a browser window, so you can enhance your green-screens to functional web interfaces quicker and easier than ever before. This integrated Web 2.0 design capability is exclusive to Genie and is not offered by any other green-screen modernization solution currently on the market.

Any Green-Screen Can Now Be Enhanced Visually

Browser-based Designer

A browser-based customization interface offers many unique benefits over clunky old desktop tools. Some of these are listed below:

Accurate WYSIWYG View - The designer tool produces a completely accurate WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) view of all application screens. Unlike Windows-based tools, the Genie designer runs within the same browser window as the final output, so it can produce accurate results.

Integrated Development - All tasks are integrated into one browser session, making it easy to prototype, develop, test, and deploy.

Dynamic Architecture - Genie's browser interface is built to handle modifications in real-time. That means your GUI and backend changes will instantly merge. You never have to recompile, reconvert, or run complicated processes.

Effortless Deployment and Management - Application deployment and management is strictly server-based. All user interface updates are made in one central place on the System i. So, your developers and end-user only need a browser, and all major browsers are supported, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Unlike other solutions, Genie does not require a multitude of servers and desktop software to be installed.

Automatic Screen Discovery - Identifying and modifying application screens is easy with Genie. Screens are automatically discovered by navigating the original application in the browser.

No Programming Required * - Coding is hidden from the user through a visual point-and-click environment. In fact, it's so easy to use that some customers have end-users prototype and help develop their own interfaces.

* Although custom programming is not required to achieve great results, it is fully supported by Genie and can be done using a variety of server-side and client-side languages, such as RPG, PHP, .NET, Java, as well as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

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Rich Functionality

Unlike modernization tools of the past, Genie does not simply generate minimal top-down HTML. Instead, it offers a Rich Internet Application (RIA) platform, with built-in support for AJAX, Dynamic Charts, Tab Panels, Calendars, and many other advanced graphical user interface elements that can be implemented without manual programming.

According to Gartner research, Rich Internet Applications (RIA) are the next evolution of the Web, and more than half of application development will include RIA technology by 2010. Rich browser-based interfaces provide real and quantifiable advantages over traditional development models. Thick-client desktop applications, on the other hand, are becoming less and less common. This is especially true in the System i world.

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WYSIWYG Graphical Elements

The Genie Visual Designer provides you with codeless point-and-click support for dozens of graphical elements. You will be amazed at how much you can do without writing a single line of code. Below are some of the GUI elements included in the designer:

	AJAX Containers - The AJAX container brings in content from other Web applications. It integrates with RPGsp, Java, PHP, .NET, and other Web technologies. The content is typically dynamic and can accept information from the screen as parameters. You can place the container anywhere on the screen, size it in any way, and specify properties to control borders, backgrounds, vertical and horizontal scrolling, etc.
	Buttons - You can turn existing screen elements into buttons or add new buttons for new functionality. Buttons can initiate function keys, bring up pop-up dialogs, or execute code (client-side or server-side).
	Charts - Genie is packaged with many different types of flash charts, and they are extremely easy to integrate with your applications. Simply pick the chart type and point at the DB2 table on the System i for chart data. Or, if you want to generate chart data on the fly, this can be done in any Web capable language that can produce XML. Our RPGsp tool even provides wizards to generate RPG code to output the required XML for you.
	Checkboxes - Any existing application field can be turned into a checkbox. You simply specify which values represent a checked state.
	Date fields with pop-up calendars - Adding a pop-up calendar to any field is very simple and requires no coding. Genie supports many different date formats. Genie can also add calendars to all date fields on a global level.
	Field Set Panels - This element offers an easy way to organize screen information into professional-looking panels.
	Graphic Buttons - Graphic buttons act just like regular buttons, but allow the combination of icons and/or text to be placed within the button.
	HTML Containers - The HTML container allows you to create your own custom elements using HTML code. The HTML code can be static or dynamic. Dynamic HTML can utilize values from other fields on the screen.
	Hyperlinks - Hyperlinks can link to other applications, initiate function keys, submit menu options, bring up dialogs, or execute code.
	Images - Image files stored on the System i IFS or on a Web server somewhere else can be displayed using this element. You can display dynamic images just as easily as static ones. For example, you can display a product image based on a product number in your inquiry application.
	List Boxes - A list box allows the user to select one or more items from a list. In Genie, the list can be a static list of items or a dynamic list loaded from a DB2 table using an SQL expression.
	Output Fields - An output field displays application text on the screen. In Genie, output fields can be styled in many different ways.
	Password Fields - Password fields are textboxes that mask the characters that are typed into them. They are similar to non-display input fields on the green-screen.
	Radio Buttons - Genie allows you to easily turn existing application elements into radio button groups, so that the user can pick from several different choices. All you have to do is arrange the radio buttons on the screen and relate them together.
	Select Boxes - The select box allows the user to pick a value from a drop-down list of items. You can provide the items as a static list or as a database-driven dynamic list.
	Tab Panels - Genie's tab panels provide a super-easy way to organize information on a cluttered green-screen. Everything is done in a point-and-click manner. Simply pick some tab names, and then drag and drop the elements onto the various tabs you created.
	Text Areas - A text area is a multi-line input control. You can join multiple textboxes on the green-screen into one multi-line field.
	Textboxes - The textbox element is a standard input box that accepts free-form text entry or text entry based on auto-complete suggest values from a DB2 database or from a custom list.

With each of the elements, you have complete control over the look and feel, as well as functionality. The elements have hundreds of various properties that you can easily modify, and all of these changes can be made with the designer's user-friendly properties panel.

All properties are straight-forward and easy to use. You can effortlessly modify colors, fonts, backgrounds, borders, hover tooltips, and much more. If you are not sure what a property is supposed to do, simply refer to the help text at the bottom of the panel. There you will find a detailed description of each property, as well as some examples of how it is used. The properties panel in the Genie Designer allows you to modify all HTML attributes and CSS styles without any coding. If you have dabbled with HTML and CSS in the past, you will immediately appreciate how much effort the Genie Designer saves you.

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Powerful Global Options

With Genie, you can also control many settings globally. For example, you can stripe alternating rows in all of your subfiles with certain colors, convert all function key labels into buttons, or turn menu options into hyperlinks. These things are easily done by creating and managing your skins in the Genie Administrator Interface. Like everything with Genie, you access this interface through a browser.

With the Administrator, you can also manage screens, and promote them from test to production when necessary.

Global customization capabilities are taken even further with Genie's client-side scripting. The scripting capabilities in Genie are incredibly powerful, and you can automate any customization on a global level. For example, you can define one or more rules such as the following: Whenever there is a question mark on the screen, turn it into a button which sends the F4 key to the System i application. Many more rule types are possible as well. The Genie scripting language is a superset of JavaScript, which makes it a very capable and comprehensive high-level language.

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With Genie's global customization options, along with its browser-based designer, your possibilities are endless and you will be modernizing and enhancing your applications in no time at all. Want more information? Contact us today for a free no-obligation demo.