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Article
· Feb 26 6m read
The Case for IRIS and JavaScript

Introduction

My guess is that most IRIS developers create their applications using its native ObjectScript language or, if using an external language, then most likely using either Java, Python or perhaps C++.

I suspect that only a minority have considered using JavaScript as their language of choice, which, if true, is a great shame, because, In my opinion and experience, JavaScript is the closest equivalent to ObjectScript in terms of its ability to integrate with the IRIS's underlying multi-dimensional database.

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It's not clear to me, when using the InterSystems Container Repository, which version is the best / most recent non-preview Community Edition version to use.

I see lots of 2023.2.x versions, a single 2023.3 and 2024.1 version, but also a latest-cd and latest-em (with no explanation as to what cd and em mean).

I assume the trick is to use one of the latest-xx ones? If so, which?

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any explanatory information anywhere about the nomenclature conventions used.

Many thanks

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Article
· Apr 30, 2024 3m read
mg_web for ObjectScript Developers

A few weeks ago I posted an announcement about a JavaScript-based interface for our mg_web WebServer interfacing addon module. mg_web isn't just restricted to use by JavaScript developers though. Many readers will be ObjectScript developers who are more used to using CSP as their web gateway. Some may even have much older legacy WebLink-based applications (and be wondering how to support them given that IRIS does not support WebLink).

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Announcement
· Apr 5, 2024
Introducing mg_web

Hot on the heels of our announcement last week about our ultra-high-performance mg-dbx-napi JavaScript interface for IRIS, we are now pleased to announce a significant new technology - mg_web - which not only represents a new paradigm for JavaScript Web Frameworks, but also delivers significantly higher performance than even the fastest of the established Node.js Web Frameworks, whilst leveraging all the benefits of the big-three industry-standard Web Servers.

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You may have heard about our mg-dbx-napi interface for IRIS which provides insanely fast access from Node.js. If you've been following recent developments in the server-side JavaScript world, you'll be excited to know that mg-dbx-napi also works with Bun.js, the latter proving to be significantly faster than Node.js for many/most purposes.

Of course, if you're a Node.js user, you'll probably wonder how mg-dbx-napi compares with the Native API for Node.js that is included with IRIS.

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I'm using a customised IRIS Community Edition Docker Container: Node.js has been added and the Native API for Node.js directory moved to a node_modules folder in /home/irisowner. I've changed the _SYSTEM password using the Management Portal (which connects to IRIS just fine)

If I shell into the running container and try to connect with a JS script file containing this:

const IRISNative = require('intersystems-iris-native');

let connectionInfo = {

host: 'localhost',

port: 1972,

ns: 'USER',

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Question
· Oct 10, 2023
Creating a Custom IRIS Container

I think there have been articles published here before but I'm struggling to find them:

I'd like to be able to create my own customised version of the official IRIS Community Edition Container, eg with Node.js and a number of modules pre-installed. So, for example, can I create my own Dockerfile that begins with something like:

FROM containers.intersystems.com/intersystems/iris-community-arm64:2023.2.0.227.0

and then I can add my own stuff to it?

... or is there another recommended approach?

Any info appreciated

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I'd like to announce the release of something really rather interesting - revolutionary in fact. That may sound like hyperbole, but I don't think you'll have seen anything quite like this, or even thought it possible!

We've pushed out a new JavaScript/Node.js module named glsdb which you can read all about here in detail:

https://github.com/robtweed/glsdb

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Article
· Dec 20, 2021 1m read
Holiday Reading: What Lies Beneath!

For those of you who might be new to IRIS, and even those who have used Cache or IRIS for some time but want to explore beyond its usually-assumed boundaries and practices, you might want to dive into this detailed exploration of the database engine that is at its heart, and discover just what you can really do with it, going way beyond what InterSystems have done with it for you.

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At the heart of IRIS and Cache is a very interesting database architecture that we, at M/Gateway Developments, refer to as "Global Storage". If you ever wanted to know more about the fundamentals and capabilities of this underlying database, you might want to read a major analysis we've put together:

https://github.com/robtweed/global_storage

Amongst other things you'll discover that:

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QEWD is assumed by most people to only integrate with IRIS (or Cache) via a connection through IRIS's high-performance C interface. This requires QEWD (and its Node.js environment) to be installed and configured on the same machine as IRIS.

I'm frequently asked if QEWD can run on a separate server (or servers), and access IRIS (or Cache) over a network connection. The answer is yes it can, but the information on how to set it up in this way has been admittedly a bit tricky to discover.

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Those of you who are following the FullStack competition here in the Developer Community will know that I submitted an entry named qewd-conduit. I wanted to summarise why I think it's something worth you taking a bit of time to check out.

qewd-conduit uses the Node.js-based QEWD framework alongside IRIS to implement the back-end REST APIs for something known as the RealWorld Conduit application:

https://github.com/gothinkster/realworld

Open Exchange app
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The latest WebComponent-based, SB Admin 2-themed QEWD Monitor application now includes a cool D3-based viewer for visualising your IRIS or Cache Globals - see example below

This qewd-monitor-adminui application is automatically installed when you install QEWD on a Windows machine

See here for details on installing QEWD on Windows:

https://github.com/robtweed/qewd-microservices-examples/blob/master/WINDOWS-IRIS-2.md#initial-steps

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If you're interested in building a browser-based CRUD application for maintaining data on IRIS, check out the detailed, step-by-step tutorial at:

https://github.com/robtweed/qewd-microservices-examples/blob/master/WIND...

To get a preview of the application you'll build in the tutorial, along with background on its technology stack, watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-NICYqv_2s

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