What is this Orion Editor RPG thing?
A browser based IBM i code editor which is Open Source, Powerful and just plain saucy. Is the ORION Editor really a free RPG Editor?
In the details of the IBM i 7.3 announcement you will find that the Orion editor will be shipped for free as part of the OPS product on IBM i.
It even supports free form RPG. Orion works very well with Git which is an open source, fast and robust source control facility.
Both of these are just now available via PTF, the details can be see on the 5733=OPS Orion IBM Garage Methodology page.
So what is Orion?
Orion is an open source development tool from the Eclipse Cloud Development team.
Create, edit, run, debug, and manage source control in one place
The Eclipse Orion Web IDE is a web-based, integrated development environment where you can create, edit, run, debug, and perform source-control tasks. You can seamlessly move from editing to running to submitting to deploying.
The Web IDE is part of the IBM Cloud® Continuous Delivery service.
Simply put, it is a basic browser-based tool written in JavaScript:
IBM has ported this tool into option 8 of the Open Source Licensed Programs 5733OPS and provided us with a RPG verifier as a syntax checker.
Finally moving source out of the old fashioned *SRCPF and into the IFS is a great move, and to use Orion your source files for RPG must reside in the IFS. Source residing in the IFS has been available for some time, but something I’ve rarely used. I’m excited to move in this direction.
I think most RPG developes will say “YES” to all these questions:
- Are you still using PDM/SEU/RLU?
- Do you also use RDI / WDSC / MiWorkplace / ‘your editor of choice”?
- Would you like to store your source in IFS and remove all file naming constraints?
Here is a snippet from a review of the Orion Free RPG Editor
Installing
Even though I have the latest, and greatest, operating system 7.3 installed on my companies IBM i, the install media did not contain the Orion development tool. This is provided by loading PTF SI60170 onto the server. This PTF can also be loaded onto any Version 7 IBM i Operating System, having said that, I had no problems with this PTF, but there seems to be other users that have had problems. Time for an IBM PMR if you have problems.
Starting
Once the PTF had been installed, we need to start the Orion server.
This is achieved by running a QShell command:
QSH CMD ( ‘/ QOpenSys / QIBM / ProdData / OPS / Orion / Orion’)
This command can be added to your startup programs, if you require it always to be available.
We can then see the Orion jobs running in our QHTTPSVR subsystem.
If you need to stop the server, run the command:
QSH CMD ( ‘/ QOpenSys / QIBM / ProdData / OPS / Orion / StopOrion’)
First thing we have to do is to register. Unfortunately, there is no link here between our user profiles and Orion. This would be a nice touch IBM.
We have to point our browser to port number 2025 on our server.
Once we have the Welcome Page, we need to register.
After registering, we need to create a new project.
And then give the project a name.
Once the project is created, let us create a new RPG source.
We can now enter some RPG.
A question from a colleague at work:
I wonder if Orion could be used to edit source in QRPGLESRC if you use the /QSYS.LIB/MYLIB.LIB/QRPGLESRC.FILE/SOURCE.MBR nomenclature.