RDi Elevator Pitch

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I'm getting ready for an RDi customer demo for Monday and my co-presenter asked what are the main points I normally cover for RDi. Since I typed up the email, I figured I'd post it here as well. So here is my RDi elevator pitch (provided it's the CN Tower elevator):

• Modern Eclipse / Rational SDP tools for the IBM i RPG and COBOL developers.
  • SEU / DPM tools are old and don't have even the basic features that developer on other platforms take for granted.
  • Things as simple as the ability to undo and redo changes.
  • Things as advanced as the ability to generate a visual overview of the structure of an application.
  • RDi can do the things green screen tools can do and more.
• Improved productivity
  • RDi tools are tightly integrated to improve productivity.
    • On the green screen developers have to open SEU to edit, then close and run the compile command. After the compile completes, developer has to open the compiler spool file and look for the error messages. Find the error message and note the line number. Then re-open the member and position to the line number corresponding to the error.
    • In RDi, you open the member in the editor, launch compiles directly from the editor without closing. When the compile finishes, the errors are automatically downloaded and displayed in the Error List view. Double clicking on an error automatically positions the editor to the corresponding line.
    • Open multiple members at the same time, split screen editing of different members, or the same member.
    • Language specific help is integrated with editor (F1 help and content assist)
    • Run remote searches, and results are automatically displayed in the search results view, double click to open editor and position to search result line.
    • Easily attach the integrated i debugger to any job using service entry points (batch, interactive, stored procedures, programs called from the Web)
    • Tools to help developers better understand their large, monolithic source members
      • Color tokenizing lets developers quickly see what are comments, keywords, fields
      • Outline view provides high level overview of source, file records and fields, and makes navigating the source a lot easier.
      • Filtering, searching, and visualizing block nesting are just a few of the editor features
      • Application Diagram can generate a visual representation of the structure of the application. This includes a call graph for CL, COBOL, and RPG source and a binding diagram for ILE programs and service programs. Using split screen editing you can see a visual representation while editing the source!
    • Screen Designer provides visual layout and editing for display files screens
• Designed to make the transition easier
  • RDi was designed to make the transition from SEU / PDM easy
  • Filtering is similar to WRKLIBPDM, WRKOBJPDM, WRKMBRPDM
  • Editor supports prefix commands, source prompting, format line
  • Object table view provides PDM like view for those not comfortable with the tree view
• First step in moving forward
  • Adopting RDi for RPG and COBOL development is the first step in enterprise modernization.
  • Allows developers to learn the new tool while doing the same tasks they normally do.
  • Then they can branch into other areas of enterprise modernization tasks like Web development, Web services, Java or EGL development.
  • As well as new tools like Rational Team Concert for i for change management