IBM Bolsters Run SQL Scripts In ACS 1.1.9.6
August 12, 2024 Alex Woodie
IBM last week shipped a new release of Access Client Solutions (ACS) that contains several user-requested updates for Run SQL Scripts (RSS), the popular tool that allows users to execute SQL statements. ACS 1.1.9.6 also brings enhancements to the data transfer, IFS, and 5250 emulator components of ACS, among others.
ACS, of course, is the universal Java-based utility that IBM unveiled 12 years ago to replace Client Access. It’s a must-have tool for any IBM i user, as it contains a slew of facilities for interacting with the system, including RSS, data transfer, IFS file viewing, spool file management, 5250 emulator, 5250 printer emulation, and a virtual console for LAN and HMC management.
RSS has seen a lot of attention from the IBM i community lately, especially as IBM has focused its own internal development efforts on enhancing the IBM i SQL environment and encouraging administrators to shift from using traditional commands to using their modern SQL equivalents. IBM encourages users to play around with SQL in their own environments by providing an abundance of SQL examples, which is where RSS shines.
IBM delivered several updates to RSS in ACS 1.1.9.6, which it rolled out last Thursday. For starters, users can now modify an existing SQL example in RSS, instead of continuously creating new ones.
In previous releases, if a user fixed or otherwise improved an existing SQL example, the only option for saving his work was to create new one. What’s more, it wasn’t possible to remove old ones. Now, IBM allows users to update and delete SQL examples.
Users appreciate all the SQL examples that IBM provides in RSS, but some of them complained that the examples were too simple. IBM responded to the user requests by providing several “Insert from examples,” particularly around MERGE SQL statements.
RSS also now will automatically reopen a user’s tabs when the user restarts RSS, which was another update requested by users through the IBM Power Ideas Portal.
The RSS open file dialog box will no longer waste so much space.
IBM rectified another pressing concern with RSS: the inability to change the size of the “open” dialog box. One user complained that much of the dialog box was “completely unused” and that there’s not enough room to expand columns to handle “real-world file and folder names.”
What’s more, users have to resize the dialog box every time it’s opened, which is “unacceptable behavior for a modern application,” wrote the user submitting the change request through the IBM Power Ideas Portal. IBM delivered these requested changes, but only for ACS running on Windows.
Another RSS enhancement that’s been a long time in coming: Allowing users to drag and drop SQL files from the IFS panel to the RSS panel, as opposed to using the standard open dialog box. IBM has supported native drag-and-drop functions to the IFS in other IBM i facilities for some time, but it hasn’t supported it in ACS, until now.
Want to open a file from the IFS in ACS? Users have been trained to double-click their mouse to open files, but that would simply open the “view” dialog box in ACS, the same as a right-click. IBM changed the behavior with ACS 1.1.9.6, and now users can open a file by double-clicking it.
The double-click division at IBM must have been busy, because IBM added more double-click capabilities in the Data Transfer component of ACS. Specifically, two presses of the mouse button in rapid succession will now open details of a scan when using the “Create IBM i Database File” to import data.
IBM also made user-requested enhancements to the 5250 display emulator, which lets users interact with the system through a green screen. The emulator has supported screen captures via the “save screens as images” function, but it didn’t keep track of when the screen was grabbed. That’s been fixed with the addition of a timestamp option in this release.
Screen grabs are often used as part of internal audits for compliance purposes, as well as for procedural training. IBM provides an archive viewer for this purpose. With this release, IBM added a screen convert (SCRCONV) plugin that allows users to save a file path in order to save the screen captures in a folder.
IBM also delivered several general enhancements with ACS 1.1.9.6, all of which were requested by users through the IBM Power Ideas Portal. For instance, IBM updated the command line plugin, “cfg,” to enable users to create LAN console connection configurations.
Two ACS enhancements will make it easier for users to change their passwords. First, IBM adapted the greenscreen plugin for password changes, “pwchange,” to provide a GUI option, which should make password changes easier for casual users with limited access to the system. IBM also made the “description” and “group” columns sortable in the password change panel, which will streamline password changes for users who want to reset their passwords on multiple systems at once.
IBM also made various other fixes with ACS 1.1.9.6. You can read all about these fixes, as well as the enhancements discussed above, at this link.
