Open-source Informix-4GL toolchain

Keep your investment in business logic — now with Open Source.

Aubit4GL compiles your existing Informix-4GL source unchanged and runs it on PostgreSQL, Informix or MySQL. The VENTAS Desktop Client then wraps that same logic in a modern interface — desktop and mobile. Open source. No licence fees. No lock-in.

Get running in 15 min Browse the source

4GL-ALLIANCESCREENFORM

Toolchain..........................Aubit4GL compiler

Client..........................VDC — desktop · mobile

Databases..........................PostgreSQL · Informix · MySQL · ODBC

Language..........................x4GL · embedded SQL

Licence..........................GPL / LGPL — open source

Status..........................maintained

The compiler

Aubit4GL is a GPL, Informix-4GL–compatible compiler. Existing 4GL source compiles and runs — connecting natively to PostgreSQL, Informix and MySQL, or anything via ODBC.

The client

The VENTAS Desktop Client (VDC) renders 4GL screenforms as a modern GUI — buttons, tabs, date pickers, maps, grids — over an XML protocol. Same logic, new front-end.

The alliance

A vendor-neutral home for the open-source x4GL ecosystem, bringing scattered work — compiler, clients, docs, community — under one roof.

See it running

Your 4GL logic, a modern client

This is a real ERP — drawn by the open-source VDC straight from Informix-4GL code. The same business logic you already have, wrapped in a contemporary desktop interface, with not a line of GUI code written by hand: you write the program, the client draws the windows.

A complete ERP running in the VDC client

A full business application in the VDC — dark theme, dockable panels, an action toolbar. Compiled from 4GL.

Light and dark themes side by side — Light and dark, switched in a click

Live world-clock widget — Rich widgets — even a live world clock

From the people who shipped it

Not a museum piece — a migration tool in production

Real reports from teams that moved real Informix-4GL systems onto open databases with this toolchain.

Fantastic work — allowed us to move off a legacy system within two months and onto PostgreSQL with Aubit4GL under Debian 10.

★★★★★ SourceForge review

13,647 4GL program modules — all compiled fine with Aubit4GL. The few runtime differences were fixed in record time; the programs run the same as the original i4GL.

comp.databases.informix

We've already successfully migrated a large system from Informix SE to PostgreSQL with just a few 4GL source-code changes.

Aubit4GL developers list

Reviewers call it suitable even for large corporate situations, with support they describe as “exceptional.”

Get running in 15 minutes

From 4GL source to a window on screen

With the Aubit4GL tools and a VDC client available, three steps take you from nothing to a running GUI. The full walkthrough is in the Developer Guide.

Point your shell at the tools and the client

A 4GL program runs on the server and talks to the VDC client over an XML protocol. Set these once:

export AUBITDIR=/opt/aubit4gl            # your Aubit4GL install
export PATH=$AUBITDIR/bin:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$AUBITDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

export A4GL_UI=XML                       # speak the VDC's XML protocol
export AFGLSERVER=127.0.0.1              # where the VDC client is listening
export AFGLPORT=3490                     # the client's port

2
Compile & run your first program

Prove the compiler works — text only, no GUI yet. Put this in hello.4gl:
```
MAIN
    DISPLAY "Hello, 4GL!"
END MAIN
```
Then compile it to a runnable .4ae and run it:
```
4glpc -o hello.4ae hello.4gl
./hello.4ae                              # -> Hello, 4GL!
```
3
Open a window in the VDC

A GUI program is a form (.per, the screen) plus a program (the logic). Compile the form, compile the program, and run it with the VDC client listening:
```
fcompile -xml hello.per                  # compile the form the client renders
4glpc   -o hellogui.4ae hellogui.4gl     # compile the program
./hellogui.4ae                           # a window opens in the VDC client
```
Full getting-started (forms, INPUT, MENU) ↗ The whole Developer Guide ↗