Basic -> Java

[Steve Roberts_7]

Needing to migrate a character cell application (VMS,BASIC,SMG,RMS) to GUI, and considering Java in VMS with Xcursion so that GUI screens from converted portions of application can be invoked from character-cell screens of original application. Looking for 2 things:
1) Comments on this approach
2) Success stories with this or other approaches.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

[Willem Grooters]

Use Bridgeworks - can do it in java and in C.
It even is possible to keep your basic program as it is, it's just wrapped in java code. Even nicer: the application van be accessed with a standard brwoser.

No extra license required!

(I myself have no experience with the product but collegues have done nice things with it)

Willem

[Antoniov.]

Hello,
I'm evaluating migration my software based on old characters cell application.
On preliminary study I persuaded myself major trouble is not interface but the software approach.
GUI software is based on events while traditional software is based on sequential processses; so only migration on GUI interface without reengineering make a poor result :-(
I started some years ago in reeingeneering, converting software approach (I used Cobol85) with a precompiler (as C++ before C) to create a event driven software but leaving character cell interface.
Now I'm curious how migrate to a true GUI but I can't help on this aspect of problem.

@Antoniov

[Hein van den Heuvel]

I asked around some, and it sounds like Bridgeworks (free!) should be condidered.
www.hp.com/go/bridgeworks

V2.1A and T3.0 available, V3.0 any day now (supposed to have shipped yesterday).

It can be used to create Jave 'wrappers' around your existing DECBasic subroutines. You can then call that from the GUI or use an application manager like Weblogic + jsp.
This will also position the application nicely to go truly distributed.
And you can keep just about everything on OpenVMS

hth,
Hein.