Is anyone still using ABF 4GL?

[nikosv]

Really,is anyone still using it? I'm still stuck with maintaining and developing new features for a legacy app made in the 90s and still goes on , especially adding interoperability with third party APIs or web services.
I'm talking ABF not openroad.
Just wondering.I think in the UK there's some usage still.

[Roy Hann]

Yes! I am helping a customer go live on Saturday with a new release of
Inrgres 11.2 and an ABF application that literally runs their business.
It's nationally important food wholesaler.

We have other customers running ABF in important areas of their
business. ABF just works.

That said, if you want something a bit more mobile-friendly or
graphical, that conserves the value of your Ingres database, we have
solutions.

Roy

[nikosv]

wow!
Have they ever thought of migrating to a new app/technology/platform or are they fans of the
"If it works do not touch" mentality?
The truth is, as I have found out throughout the years, is that really ABF apps are resilient despite outdated.
We really do abuse "call system" to access external tools/apis.

[G Jones]

"Legacy app" made me smile. At my previous workplace the dev team leader would bristle at the ABF apps being called that, saying that they were current, under active development and relied on by the business.
Every place I've worked used ABF (at the time, I can't say whether they still do). It's still in use where I am now, though only for 1 fairly small application.
ABF projects developed over many years can be large and difficult to break down into more manageable chunks, should it be necessary to move functionality into something with a more modern look+feel. Back when I used ABF regularly I remember wishing that "call application" had options to pass globals around.

[Colin Hay]

Yep still have one client who use it for batch only in Ingres 11.0 - even though they lost the source code a few years back ;-)