I'm working on a business application modernization project where I need to call existing AS400 programs (RPG, CLP ...) from a .NET 8 app.

These RPG programs have I/O parameters with complex Data Structures (DS) and I need to create/parse these DS from/to POCOs.

Our server is AS400 V7.4 on Power 9 but that doesn't really matter here.

Assume the DS empl below and a program EMPLPGM taking this DS as first parameter :

dcl-ds empl qualified;
    name char(10) inz('Unknown'); 
    salary packed(9 : 2) inz(0);
end-ds;

The corresponding POCO in .NET for this DS would be:

public class Employee {
    public string Name {get; set;}
    public decimal Salary {get; set;}
}

Now what I'd like to achieve is the following:

var empl = new Employee() {
    Name = "Foo",
    Salary = 50000.0M
};

//Calling program in a "dapper way"
//Does this exist or can be achieved ?
someClass.SomeMethodToCallProgram("EMPLPGM", new[] {P1 = empl});

Console.WriteLine(empl.Name); // I/O Parameter, output data is relevant

Is it something achievable or do we need to reconsider the project?

EDIT 1

As suggested I'm investigating direct call through the network. Here is a list of TCP/IP ports for the different services. Do anybody know if the Remote Command service can be used to call a program from a remote client over the network ? Any idea to find a documentation of the underlying protocol ?

EDIT 2

I came across a 3rd party solution called Aumerial nti. It seems to provide remote program call. Has anyone ever tested this ? I cannot see any feedback out there.

This snippet on their website here caught my attention:

//Open connection
var conn = new NTiConnection(connectionString);
conn.Open();

//Create parameter list:
List<NTiProgramParameter> parms = new List<NTiProgramParameter>() {
  new NTiProgramParameter("Hello", 10).AsInput(), //CHAR(10) INPUT
  new NTiProgramParameter("World", 10).AsInput(), //CHAR(10) INPUT
  new NTiProgramParameter(new byte[] {0x00}).AsInput(), //CHAR(10) INPUT
  new NTiProgramParameter(128).AsInput(), //INTEGER (BYTE(4)) INPUT
  new NTiProgramParameter("", 128).AsOutput(), //CHAR(128) OUTPUT
  new NTiProgramParameter("", 50) //CHAR(50) I/O
};

//Program call
conn.CallProgram("MYLIB", "MYPGM", parms);

//Data retrieval from return variable (parameter n°5)
string message1 = parms[4].GetString(0, 64);
string message2 = parms[4].GetString(64, 64);

//Closing the connection
conn.Close();

Looks like I have a good candidate to solve my issue here, waiting for an answer from the editor...