The Portable User Interface Builder for RM/COBOL

Give your RM/COBOL applications a whole new event-driven look-and-feel with true GUI functionality, while maintaining complete object portability. Whether you're developing a new application or updating an existing one, you'll now be able to develop screens with pulldown menus, scroll bars, check boxes, list boxes, radio and push buttons, multi-line editing, help, and error messages ? everything that makes graphical user interfaces so easy and appealing to your end-users.

Interactive Tools Make Design Easy

Ease is the name of the game for the developer. Creating prototypes and implementing screens are fast with this interactive tool. So is making changes. You can quickly alter panel colors and other field attributes ? then globally reconfigure the attribute in seconds without having to recompile the underlying RM/COBOL application.

Pop-up features and windows are also easy, since RM/Panels automatically makes use of the Windows manager. With the full-screen Panel Editor, you'll have complete control over the design and testing of panels, and over the configuration and contents of panel libraries.

Update Existing Applications

RM/Panels simplifies conversion of existing applications. In addition to quick prototyping capabilities, RM/Panels provides an import/export facility for capturing screen images. For applications written using screen handling routines or screen management packages, an extended application programming interface (API) lets you directly convert existing screen handling information. The extended API gives you complete access to all the design functions available in the RM/Panels editor, so you can dynamically create and modify libraries, panels, and fields.

No Need to Alter Underlying Source

By separating screen definitions from the underlying logic, RM/Panels allows developers to modify the application's presentation without altering or recompiling the COBOL source. For example, you can deliver a single program with separate panel libraries to support multilingual requirements. And because RM/Panels creates and maintains definitions completely outside the program code, you can treat each panel as a reusable object.

Portability at Two Levels

RM/Panels includes the same level of portability as the underlying RM/COBOL application, allowing you to develop programs on a wide variety of platforms supported by RM/COBOL. The resulting program objects can be readily deployed to supported environments without recompilation through the runtime system.

RM/Panels takes portability one step further. When deploying in a Windows environment, RM/Panels simply translates panels' attributes into true GUI elements such as pulldown menus, push buttons and scroll bars. This simple approach ? unique to application development ? means the same application can support different interface environments. Thus, RM/Panels provides portability at both system and interface levels.

RM/Panels Features

• Full application portability across systems and interfaces
• Common User Access objects, such as pulldown menus, list boxes, push buttons, and radio buttons
• WYSIWYG screen editor
• Modal or modeless operation
• Mouse support for DOS and Windows
• Option to dynamically create and remove panels and fields
• Forms-based user interface
• Full control of color and screen attributes
• Automatic field validation facilities
• Automatic help screens and error messaging
• Object-oriented referencing of panels from application program
• Panel prototyping facilities
• Library of panel and field default characteristics
• Ability to print all panel-related information
• Ability to generate all source required to interface with the RM/Panels runtime
• Tools for migrating applications into RM/Panels
• Simplified language localization of screens for international use
• End-user version for distributing alternate panel applications
• Ability to import ASCII screen images

Supported Platforms

RM/Panels is available on all platforms supported by RM/COBOL.