Midrange News for the IBM i Community


Posted by: Bob Cozzi
Rogue Programmer
Cozzi Productions, Inc.
Chicagoland
About MidrangeNews.com
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Published: 01 Feb 2011
Revised: 17 Jun 2019 - 1737 days ago
Last viewed on: 19 Mar 2024 (32225 views) 

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About MidrangeNews.com Published by: Bob Cozzi on 01 Feb 2011 view comments

What is MidrangeNews.com

In 2009 RPG IV advocate Bob Cozzi set out to create a Content Management System or "CMS" to publish web content using IBM i and RPG IV. This system had 4 requirements:

  1. It had to run on System i (IBM i operating system)
  2. It had to be created using standards based technologies, such as HTML and JavaScript
  3. The back end had to live on IBM i DB2 database
  4. Most of the back-end had to be written in RPG IV, or SQL iQuery

The early prototype was a website called ClassAnova.com and is still in use today, albeit for non-midrange purposes. After ClassAnova.com was built, Cozzi set out to make the core engine work for anyone who wanted to set up a CMS on their IBM i server without resorting to Perle, PHP, Java, or other technologies. While those technologies can certainly work CMS, Cozzi realized they added very few benefits and were not incorporated into this CMS.

Release 2 of the CMS was renamed NOVA or more accurately, "NOVA CMS". Most people think this was a shorted form of the CLASSANOVA name from the original beta version of the CMS engine. But the reality is, it was named after the model of the first (used) car Bob Cozzi purchased; a 1972 Chevy Nova.

The first production release of NOVA CMS is midrangeNews.com a global place for IBM i Developers to share solutions. Cozzi has always been an advocate of giving people solutions rather than trying to impress them with what he knows. In fact when he started his own small business in 1983, its slogan, which is still applicable today was "Providing the Solutions".

User Participation

midrangeNews.com is unique in that it allows its members to create content and get published directly on the midrangeNews.com website. It is not a Wiki, however; The author of the content has control over what is published and for its accuracy. They can mark something Private which means only they can view the content until such time as they change it to Public. Other members have the ability to comment on published/public content, which should help keep everyone honest.

 

Prevent Our emails from being marked "SPAM" or "JUNK"

To ensure delivery of our email updates to your inbox, please add follow@midrangenews.com to your email address book, adjust your spam settings, or follow the instructions from your email provider on how to prevent our emails from being marked as "Spam" or "Junk Mail."

 

How It Works

Membership, User ID, and Following (aka, Subscriptions)

When you create a user ID you become a member of midrangeNews.com, the primary user-created technical information repository for IBM midrange platforms, commonly known as IBM i (formerly known as "AS/400"). Not only is midrangeNews.com content created by the legendary IBM i evangelist Bob Cozzi, but any member in good standing may also create and post content on midrangeNews.com, subject to our terms of service agreement.

Membership allows you to create content to share with our users, it also allows you to "follow" and "unfollow" content. When someone posts a comment or the author updates the page, you'll be notified. Just click the little button to start following. If successful, it will turn into a button. Click it again to unfollow and turn off your subscription to that item.

Membership Fee

As of January 2015, MidrangeNews.com is a free service. No subscription fee is charged.

Your Information

We never sell, publish or trade the information published on this site. All material rights are retained by the original owner/poster however a perpetual license to publish said content is hereby granted to Cozzi Productions, Inc. for all material published on midrangeNews.com and its affilated sites. Passwords and User IDs are not stored in plain text on our system. They are encrypted and stored. We have no way to retrieve your password should you forget it. You may however, ask for an email that will allow you to reset your password and create a new one.

So join today.

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