Turnover 5.4 Change Management – the IBM iSeries [AS400] has a Pulse

Upgrading TURNOVER is easy

So, today I’m upgrading the IBM ISeries Change Management system from Turnover version 5.3 to 5.4

I’m also going to switch from the old Jurassic Green screen methods to the funky space-age GUI that comes bundled with TurnoverV5R4. This new Turnover Client is an addon to the open-source editor – Eclipse. I’ve played with Eclipse but am far from a knowledgeable user or even a total convert, as I find it clunky and slow to use. But here is a good opportunity to retrain me to use Eclipse and perhaps pick up on some of the seeming squillions of benefits that WDSC and Eclipse users harp on about… 😉

(i) Grab yourself some Java

You know you want to. The latest and greatest version of Java is a free download from the Java homepage.

(ii) Snaffle a free copy of Eclipse!

Eclipse is Open Source (I love that) but it’s also been developed by lots of different people and therefore has a huge number of different versions and flavours (I hate that). This is whats made it so confusing in the past. Even the description of what Eclipse is, from the Eclipse homepage, is confusing:

Eclipse is a collection of open source projects built on the Equinox OSGi run-time… started as a Java IDE, but has since grown to be much, much more. Eclipse projects now cover static and dynamic languages; thick-client, thin-client, and server-side frameworks; modeling and business reporting; embedded and mobile; and, yes, we still have the best Java IDE.

Still a little dazed and confused I had a look through the list of Eclipse IDE’s and selected: Eclipse SOA Platform for Java and SOA Developers (137 MB)

Eclipse SOA Platform is a runtimes and tools integration platform for SOA developers. It makes easy to get the environment you need for developing and executing SOA. It includes a Java IDE, Swordfish Tooling, the Plugin Development Environment (PDE), an XML Editor and a WSDL Editor.

I opted to download it and unzipped it to my desktop.

Eclipse can be run by clicking eclipse in the desktop/eclipse folder.

(iii) enhance Eclipse with RPG NEXT GEN

I only though of this while playing with Eclipse. So, I downloaded the latest version of RPG Next Gen and unzipped it in my Eclipse folder on the desktop. I was very surprised to find that the RPGNG addin apears perfectly when I launch Eclipse.

So, with bated breath and nervous excitement I decided to go for step four…

(iv) install the Turnover CMS addon for eclipse

First things first, Plop the first DVD in the drive and follow the instructions to install the TUrnover Client

TurnOver Client is a set of software components that you can install into any Eclipse 3.x-based client or IDE, such as WDSC, Rational Application Developer, or into our own standalone TurnOver Client. With these components you get the same TurnOver support you’ve always trusted, regardless of where or how you develop your software. Underneath, its the same TurnOver – only with more opportunities for flexibility and control than before.

So, now to have a play with it and I’ll report back…

I am a professional procrastinator so it might take a while 😉