2 1 3 Universal Model

Visual LANSA

2.1.3 Universal Model

You may choose to develop a large portion of your LANSA applications using the Universal model. The application interface is described as Universal because it can be used in all LANSA products. For instance, a Universal application can be executed natively on the IBM i, under Microsoft Windows, over the Internet in a browser environment, or on any number of computing devices using XHTML or XML. The Universal model takes full advantage of LANSA's repository-based 4GL architecture. It is an excellent example of portability and platform independence.

Using the universal model, a LANSA application on an IBM i can appear like this:

The same LANSA application, compiled for Windows or the Web, can appear like this:

However, because the user interface is Universal, it cannot be optimized to take maximum advantage of the unique characteristics of any single environment. The universal interface has some graphical capabilities (based on the IBM Windows Icon Mouse Pointer constructs). It supports features such as action bars, push buttons, radio buttons, drop downs, lists, etc. The programs are procedural and use a character-based application style. Under Windows, a Universal application does not have the full range of event-driven capabilities.

When you develop a Universal style application, you can use either the LANSA for i or the Visual LANSA development environments. The applications use a full range of repository features and RDML commands. The Universal application is based on LANSA RDML Functions. (Refer to Creating Application Using Functions.) Universal applications do not require Full RDMLX features. (Refer to RDML and RDMLX Partition Concepts in the Administrator Guide.)

To deploy to specific platforms, you simply use the Visual LANSA development environment to recompile and deploy the application. Developing applications under the Universal model provides the greatest range of flexibility for your application.

Universal applications share a common repository with Windows Optimized and Web Optimized applications.

Ý 2.1 Types of LANSA Applications