Uniface User Forum

Hi all,

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm working with a customer who is considering  modernizing old Uniface 7 & 8.4 applications.  In the scenario where these apps remain in Uniface, they will be migrated to Uniface 10.4.

I would like to understand the available tools and effort involved in order to add a web interface to the most important screens in the applications, while leaving the rest of the screens as they are. 

I saw a white paper describing some of such abilities in the new Uniface versions, but it appears rather vague. Is there a document that explains these abilities more technically?

Could you share from your experience how you have added a web interface to old Uniface applications, what tools you found useful to speed up the process and how much effort was involved?

Do you know if when modifying some screens of the Uniface app to be web based while not modifying other screens in the Uniface app - can both of these types of screens be accessed from the same virtual terminal (such as Citrix or Jetro)? 

The alternative to staying in Uniface would be to migrate the app to a three tier architecture (either thin web or thick web), or to a desktop web client/server architecture. Any feedback or reference to folks who have done such migrations and the tools and utilities that were helpful in such a migration would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Yaki.

Hi all,

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm working with a customer who is considering  modernizing old Uniface 7 & 8.4 applications.  In the scenario where these apps remain in Uniface, they will be migrated to Uniface 10.4.

I would like to understand the available tools and effort involved in order to add a web interface to the most important screens in the applications, while leaving the rest of the screens as they are. 

I saw a white paper describing some of such abilities in the new Uniface versions, but it appears rather vague. Is there a document that explains these abilities more technically?

Could you share from your experience how you have added a web interface to old Uniface applications, what tools you found useful to speed up the process and how much effort was involved?

Do you know if when modifying some screens of the Uniface app to be web based while not modifying other screens in the Uniface app - can both of these types of screens be accessed from the same virtual terminal (such as Citrix or Jetro)? 

The alternative to staying in Uniface would be to migrate the app to a three tier architecture (either thin web or thick web), or to a desktop web client/server architecture. Any feedback or reference to folks who have done such migrations and the tools and utilities that were helpful in such a migration would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Yaki.

Hi Yaki,

It's a little bit complicated....

In older Uniface applications, a lot of the code is activated through LFLD, NFLD and <DETAIL> triggers.
So, where / how to move those code snippets??  That's a separate discussion...

Older Uniface applications maintains session and state - even through 10 or more forms.
The web is stateless - so you'd have to design and implement a new, temporary, storage mechanism
in case you want to roll back the whole thing (think create new customer as a part of creating a new order),
Simply storing and committing the data for each screen (to their correct tables/entities) isn't really 
what's you'd like to do.  Of course, you could create a 'tidy up' process to deal with that mess...

Unfortunately, there isn't really a 'one-size-fits-all' solution since each application have their own
unique use cases and behavior... 

Sorry that I cannot be of more specific help.

Regards,
Knut

Hi all,

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm working with a customer who is considering  modernizing old Uniface 7 & 8.4 applications.  In the scenario where these apps remain in Uniface, they will be migrated to Uniface 10.4.

I would like to understand the available tools and effort involved in order to add a web interface to the most important screens in the applications, while leaving the rest of the screens as they are. 

I saw a white paper describing some of such abilities in the new Uniface versions, but it appears rather vague. Is there a document that explains these abilities more technically?

Could you share from your experience how you have added a web interface to old Uniface applications, what tools you found useful to speed up the process and how much effort was involved?

Do you know if when modifying some screens of the Uniface app to be web based while not modifying other screens in the Uniface app - can both of these types of screens be accessed from the same virtual terminal (such as Citrix or Jetro)? 

The alternative to staying in Uniface would be to migrate the app to a three tier architecture (either thin web or thick web), or to a desktop web client/server architecture. Any feedback or reference to folks who have done such migrations and the tools and utilities that were helpful in such a migration would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Yaki.

Hi all,

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm working with a customer who is considering  modernizing old Uniface 7 & 8.4 applications.  In the scenario where these apps remain in Uniface, they will be migrated to Uniface 10.4.

I would like to understand the available tools and effort involved in order to add a web interface to the most important screens in the applications, while leaving the rest of the screens as they are. 

I saw a white paper describing some of such abilities in the new Uniface versions, but it appears rather vague. Is there a document that explains these abilities more technically?

Could you share from your experience how you have added a web interface to old Uniface applications, what tools you found useful to speed up the process and how much effort was involved?

Do you know if when modifying some screens of the Uniface app to be web based while not modifying other screens in the Uniface app - can both of these types of screens be accessed from the same virtual terminal (such as Citrix or Jetro)? 

The alternative to staying in Uniface would be to migrate the app to a three tier architecture (either thin web or thick web), or to a desktop web client/server architecture. Any feedback or reference to folks who have done such migrations and the tools and utilities that were helpful in such a migration would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Yaki.

------------------------------
Yaki Beja
Rocket Forum Shared Account
------------------------------

Hi all,

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm working with a customer who is considering  modernizing old Uniface 7 & 8.4 applications.  In the scenario where these apps remain in Uniface, they will be migrated to Uniface 10.4.

I would like to understand the available tools and effort involved in order to add a web interface to the most important screens in the applications, while leaving the rest of the screens as they are. 

I saw a white paper describing some of such abilities in the new Uniface versions, but it appears rather vague. Is there a document that explains these abilities more technically?

Could you share from your experience how you have added a web interface to old Uniface applications, what tools you found useful to speed up the process and how much effort was involved?

Do you know if when modifying some screens of the Uniface app to be web based while not modifying other screens in the Uniface app - can both of these types of screens be accessed from the same virtual terminal (such as Citrix or Jetro)? 

The alternative to staying in Uniface would be to migrate the app to a three tier architecture (either thin web or thick web), or to a desktop web client/server architecture. Any feedback or reference to folks who have done such migrations and the tools and utilities that were helpful in such a migration would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Yaki.

Thank you all  for your thoughtful responses. You certainly provide important issues to consider.

@Ingo Stiller wrote:

> It works quite well with very simple masks, but when it gets a bit more complicated ..

Indeed our concern is regarding the more complicated scenarios.

@Knut Dybendahl wrote:

> In older Uniface applications, a lot of the code is activated through LFLD, NFLD and <DETAIL> triggers.
> So, where / how to move those code snippets??  That's a separate discussion...

I'd be happy to learn about the pros and cons of the various alternatives to moving such code.

@Roger Wallin wrote:

>Why do you need some forms to be web based? Just to show your customer/customers that it's a modern application or to have a more flexible application, considering >installation capacities and a better resources utilizing?

A primary reason is that the users are used to web based interfaces and the old Uniface applications feel old and outdated, which creates resistance among users to using these applications.

>If we have needed a more "layered" installation, we have used Uniface Anywhere to achieve this, which actually is the same as using some other virtual terminals, also >considering the license costs etc.

I understand that Uniface Anywhere is a rebranding of GO-Global from Graphon Corporation. Any particular advantages for using it with Uniface applications when compared to other virtual terminal products such as Citrix/Jetro?

@David Akerman, thank you for the in depth explanations and the referrals to the course material. I'm sure they will prove very useful.

Yaki.

Hi all,

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm working with a customer who is considering  modernizing old Uniface 7 & 8.4 applications.  In the scenario where these apps remain in Uniface, they will be migrated to Uniface 10.4.

I would like to understand the available tools and effort involved in order to add a web interface to the most important screens in the applications, while leaving the rest of the screens as they are. 

I saw a white paper describing some of such abilities in the new Uniface versions, but it appears rather vague. Is there a document that explains these abilities more technically?

Could you share from your experience how you have added a web interface to old Uniface applications, what tools you found useful to speed up the process and how much effort was involved?

Do you know if when modifying some screens of the Uniface app to be web based while not modifying other screens in the Uniface app - can both of these types of screens be accessed from the same virtual terminal (such as Citrix or Jetro)? 

The alternative to staying in Uniface would be to migrate the app to a three tier architecture (either thin web or thick web), or to a desktop web client/server architecture. Any feedback or reference to folks who have done such migrations and the tools and utilities that were helpful in such a migration would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Yaki.