Model 204 and Janus — simply the best!

The eleventh annual Sirius User Group meeting was held from Sunday, October 9 to Thursday, October 13, 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference theme was “Model 204 and Janus — simply the best!” Attendees learned how the easy to use Object-Oriented Application Programming Interfaces of the various Janus products complement User Language to unlock the true power of Model 204. Presentations from users at the leading edge showed the way to exciting new applications while providing useful insights on leveraging existing applications.

Foils and handouts from the presentations are available online. All presentations are available in a variety of formats, assistance locating viewers is available online to help you find the viewer appropriate for your platform.

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Presentation Title			Speaker		Available Formats
Understanding Objects			Alex Kodat		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	This tutorial will review the basics of Object-Oriented Programming, starting with objects and classes. The challenges of complex object forests and memory management will be discussed as well as the issue of global objects.
Introduction to XML processing			Dave Evans		PDF document FreeLance pres
	This tutorial will review the basics of XML processing, including a brief overview of XML document structures – both in serialized and tree forms. An explanation of the XPath navigation language and namespaces will complete the foundation for discussing the Janus SOAP XML API and how it simplifies XML processing. A presentation of the Janus SOAP XML API will show how its Object-Oriented approach simplifies XML processing. Examples will demonstrate how easy it is to publish or consume Web Services from User Language. The presentation concludes with a brief overview of advanced topics, including XML Schema.
Understanding Methods			Alex Kodat		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	This tutorial will build upon the introduction of objects to discuss methods and object instantiation. It will also the cover the construction of User Language classes as well as system-provided classes. The StringList OO implementation of $-lists will be used to demonstrate the elegant simplicity of OOP with a practical 4GL approach.
Simplifying Janus Programming with Helper Objects			George Walter		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	The Janus product suite now includes many high-level APIs that use an elegant Object-Oriented approach to dramatically simplify common tasks such as requesting web services, sending e-mail, and accessing directories via the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. This tutorial will present an overview of the various APIs and demonstrate their use though examples.
Installing and Maintaining Sirius Products with Model 204			Tom Thoresen		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	This session will cover all aspects of installing and maintaining the various Sirius products. Starting with the basics of installation – how to get an ID for the Sirius web site, downloading documentation, downloading product files, linkage editing the Model 204 load modules, and basic parameter changes. Adding in how to report problems, download and install maintenance (including applying zaps to the load modules). Concluding with an overview of common configuration issues and the various commands and parameters usually involved in their resolution.
Configuring and Managing Janus			Tom Thoresen		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	This presentation will walk through the setup and configuration issues for various Janus port types. Starting with the basics of port configuration it will then address more intricate topics like DNS configuration, multi-homing, tracing and debugging. Examples of Janus rules and their usage will complete the presentation. This session will be especially useful for the System Manager with little exposure to TCP/IP networking.
Sirius Software Products – Making Model 204 Do More for You			Jeffrey Schaefer		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	Sirius has developed a broad array of add-on products for Model 204. In addition to the cutting-edge middleware of the Janus product suite, we have many other useful products that can help System and File Managers. This presentation will offer a brief overview of all of our products, with time allowed for questions. This will be especially useful for newer customers who might not be aware of the full depth and breadth of our product offerings.
Sirius Update			Gary Gregory		PDF document FreeLance pres
	The session will present the latest developments from Sirius Software. A review of our latest product releases will be coupled with a discussion of the industry trends affecting our longer term directions. An advance peek at our upcoming releases will show how we are meeting your future needs.
Web tricks and tools			Don Essick - Northrop Grumman		PDF document PowerPoint show
	This session will present several useful tricks of the trade for dealing with common web problems such as the dreaded “double submit” — where a browser user gets impatient and presses the SUBMIT button of a form twice. Example materials from the presentation are available as zip archive. Don is an employee of the Information Technology division of Northrop Grumman under contract to the DEA. Don has been spearheading a broad effort to modernize the Model 204 systems at the DEA using Janus middleware.
Introducing the Janus Debugger			George Walter		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	The widespread emergence of web-based applications and rapid adoption of Service Oriented Architectures has created unique challenges for debugging applications. Old techniques suitable for 3270-based applications are no longer effective. Specialized tools are needed to track the execution of a transaction as its components execute on a variety of platforms. This session will introduce the new Janus Debugger product and demonstrate how it significantly improves the productivity of programmers debugging complex applications.
Standing Up for The Expert User			Alex Kodat		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	With "Ease of Use" as an industry mantra many application platforms are being "dumbed down" to the point that it limits the efficiency of expert users. This non-technical presentation discusses why maybe more attention should be paid to the expert users and into turning more of your users into experts.
SOA Implementation Utilising Best of Breed at Centrelink			Guy Hutchison - Centrelink		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	Guy is an Integration Architect with Centrelink, the Australian federal agency responsible for service delivery across many branches of government. Centrelink have been implementing a prototype to test out its understanding of SOA and to benchmark the WebSphere J2EE platform. This presentation discusses the progress of the prototype and how J2EE and Model 204 have been interfaced for our Customer facing applications.
Model 204 V6R1: Opening New Doors			Gina Scinta - CCA		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	In June of 2005, CCA delivered another major release of Model 204: Version 6.1 (V6R1). This exciting new version greatly expands the capabilities of Model 204 and opens new doors to applications that are faster, more powerful, and more integrated than ever before. It further emphasizes the fact that Model 204 is not just a database management system, but also a robust, agile, modern business tool that can give your enterprise competitive advantage in today's highly connected world. Gina is a senior technical consultant for the Computer Corporation of America. Gina will highlight the new features in the latest release of Model 204 that collectively build upon Model 204's four major strengths: scalability, availability, flexibility, and extensibility.
Build or Buy?			Gary Gregory		PDF document FreeLance pres
	Many factors are fueling the resurgence of applications developed "in house". Costs for packaged applications are up as the CRM market consolidates and the "customization" costs are being driven out of sight by shortages of programmers trained in the applications inner workings. Hear how the return to purpose-built applications plays to the unique strengths of Model 204 and Janus.
Post-Hoc Debugging of Applications			George Walter		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	Model 204 programmers have adopted a variety of techniques for debugging applications under development, including interactive debuggers like the Janus Debugger. Once an application goes into production, however, subtle data-driven errors can prove very difficult to diagnose, sometimes appearing years after the application is rolled out. This presentation demonstrates use of SirFact, the Sirius post-hoc debugging tool.
New vistas beyond the 3270			Alan Brooks		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	This presentation will demonstrate how web enablement of Model 204 applications opens up new vistas for presenting information. The theme for various demonstration programs will be the presentation of tabular information, like a typical report. Examples will show how tabular information can be presented as dynamic charts and graphs or downloaded as spreadsheets. All the code from the examples will be posted in the JANUS file distributed with Sirius products.
Daemonic Programming			Alex Kodat		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	Daemon objects, introduced by Version 6.7 of the Sirius Mods, allow a User Language program to control the execution of another Model 204 thread. Learn how this technique can be used to solve a variety of vexing program packaging issues, extending the power of Model 204.
Service Oriented Architecture and Model 204			Ben D'Herville		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	Centrelink have been traveling the Service Oriented Architecture road for some time and are now getting into the heavy traffic. Centrelink chose Janus middleware from Sirius to help connect Model 204 and J2EE, driving numerous refinements of Janus SOAP. Centrelink knew it wasn't going to be easy to support their Service approach. This presentation will relate how hard it has been and how far they have come. Ben is a member of the Technical Architecture team at Centrelink, primarily working on developing patterns to support SOA with Model 204.
XPath Performance Considerations			Dave Evans		PDF document FreeLance pres
	The Janus SOAP XML API uses the industry standard XPath language for navigating and selecting nodes from XML documents. Different XPath expressions that accomplish the same node selections can vary widely in their performance. This presentation will discuss XPath performance and implementation details.
Tuning Model 204 V6R1 and Sirius Mods 6.7			Gary Gregory		PDF document FreeLance pres
	Many powerful tuning controls have been added to over the past few releases. Some of these can be used to improve the performance of Sirius $-lists, as well as the Object-Oriented constructs provided by the Janus SOAP User Language Interface. This session will review some of the more recent parameters in Model 204 and discuss tuning from the perspective of the Janus customer.
Improving File Reorgs with Fast/Reorg			Robert Hutchinson		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	Robert is a Senior Technical Analyst in decision support for Geisinger Health Systems (an Eclipsys SDSM customer). This presentation will focus on real-life user experiences with the Sirius Fast/Reorg product.
Janus SOAP support for XML Schema			Dave Evans		PDF document FreeLance pres
	The next release of Janus SOAP (Version 6.8) adds support for validating an XmlDoc using a schema document. Learn how this facility can simplify XML applications while improving error diagnostics.
XML Applications using LOBs with Janus			Alex Kodat		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	Learn how the binary and string Large OBjects introduced by version 6.1 of Model 204 enable exciting new applications using various Janus components to process XML documents. This presentation will include a high-level demonstration of an application as well as some lower-level technical details of its implementation.
Janus SOAP at Texas Health Resources			Robert Waggoner		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	When Texas Health Resources had a requirement to add XML support to an existing complex Model 204 application they chose Janus middleware from Sirius. This presentation relates their experiences at the leading edge. Robert is the founder and CEO of Nodus, Inc., a company that specializes in providing training and application consulting services for Model 204.
WSDL – Connecting Janus to .NET™			Alan Brooks		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	Web Services Description Language (WSDL) is a standard for describing Web Services that is based upon XML. WSDL enables the automation of certain interface code used by clients when invoking a Web Service. This presentation will cover WSDL in general as well as certain dialects used by Microsoft. A tool for generating interface code for Janus SOAP will be demonstrated.
Inheritance Without the (Performance) Tax			Alex Kodat		PDF document PowerPoint Show
	Learn what Inheritance and some other seemingly inscrutable O-O terms really mean and how they're being used in the Janus SOAP User Language Interface. Learn how SOAP ULI supports Dynamic Dispatch According To Object Type with essentially no performance penalty.
Rich Enough and Thin Enough?			Gary Gregory		PDF document FreeLance pres
	The ubiquitous nature of browsers has enabled widespread access to “public” applications hosted over the internet. These so-called thin client applications eliminate the distribution and versioning problems associated with classical client/server approaches. Unfortunately, the User Interface provided by a browser is not very rich and performance is typically “choppy”. Recent developments in Internet application architecture have produced the AJAX paradigm, which stands for Asynchronous Javascript And Xml. This session presents the key concepts of AJAX as well as some of the proprietary alternatives that also seek to provide thin, yet rich clients.