Embedding SQL in /free

March 2, 2005 Joel Cochran

I’ve been hooked on free-format RPG since I first upgraded to V5R1. In fact, I have immersed myself so deeply into /free that I almost feel uncomfortable when I have to maintain fixed-format code. I’ll assume if you are reading this article that you are already aware of the virtues of free-format. In total fairness, I will also acknowledge that working with free-format certainly has some undesirable aspects. Listing and discussing them would be an entire article in its own right, and maybe one I’ll contemplate soon. But in this article I’d like to address the one that personally bugs

Much Ado About an Override

March 2, 2005 Ted Holt

Just when I think I’ve seen it all, along comes something unexpected. A dedicated reader of this column, one of the several Davids who writes me regularly, recently sent me an email with a line of CL code and the question, “Why does this work?”

This is the CL command:

OVRDBF FILE(REPORT) TOFILE(QSYSPRT)

If nothing appears out of kilter, then take a look at the following RPG file specs:

Fqsysprt   o    f  132        printer oflind(*inof)
Freport    o    f  132        printer oflind(*inov)

Or, if you prefer, the COBOL equivalent from the environment division:

Select print1 assign to printer-qsysprt.
Select print2 assign 

Admin Alert: IBM Has Changed the +/- One Release Rule for V5R1 Upgrades

March 2, 2005 Joe Hertvik

In a previous column on upgrading OS/400 V5R1 to version V5R3, I stated that the primary partition of an OS/400 machine must be running OS/400 V5R2 in order to support multiple secondary partitions running either OS/400 V5R1 or V5R3 (the +/- one release rule). I was wrong, as I recently learned that IBM had changed the +/- one release rule, enabling you to run an OS/400 V5R3 secondary partition under a V5R1 primary partition.

To refresh your memory, the +/- one release rule means for OS/400 V4R5 and V4R4 (the first two releases to support logical partitioning), the OS/400