• Yet Another Way to Build CSV Files

  February 2, 2005 Hey, Ted

  I know offshoring gets a lot of blame for the decline in programmer positions these days, but there’s another culprit that I never hear about: the vast array of reporting and data-mining tools available to users.

  

  Twenty years ago a programmer had to write code to build a report program. Now users create their own reports with Microsoft Excel. In my shop, that means we have lots of programs that create CSV (comma-separated values) files. Let me add a simple but effective technique to the Copy to Import File (CPYTOIMPF) command and the plethora of third-party products that create files

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• Admin Alert: Things to Check After Upgrading OS/400 V5R1 to V5R3

  February 2, 2005 Joe Hertvik

  In the last few columns, I’ve covered basic information on upgrading a multipartitioned OS/400 V5R1 machine to V5R3 (i5/OS). This time, I’ll switch gears and cover some items to check after the upgrade is done. Here are some things that I recently discovered after performing three such upgrades.

  

  Checking Out What’s Changed

  The best reference for finding V5R3 operating system changes is an IBM manual called iSeries Memorandum to Users: Version 5 Release 3 (June 2004 Update) (in PDF format). This manual reviews many of the changes IBM made between OS/400 V5R2 and V5R3, and it should be

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• An Introduction to WDSc Table Views

  January 26, 2005 Bruce Guetzkow

  Although Programming Development Manager has always been a powerful green-screen tool, IBM has been pushing programmers to move from PDM to WebSphere Development Studio client. The reason for this push is that IBM will no longer be enhancing PDM or Source Entry Utility (SEU), and is instead concentrating its efforts on WDSc. To make the transition to WDSc easier, I’ll compare and contrast the iSeries Table view and PDM. You’ll see that there are many similarities between the two, as well as a few notable differences.

  

  The iSeries Table View

  The tree structure of the Remote Systems view, of the

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• Another Reason to Use P-Fields

  January 26, 2005 Hey, Ted

  Within a subfile, I am using an indicator to highlight a field if the value of that field is invalid. Is there a way, when I read a subfile record, to analyze the attributes of the field to see if the indicator was switched on or off when the subfile record was written? My problem is that the display attribute is losing its original setting.

  

  –Alan

  I don’t know of a way to determine the original setting. I have included hidden one-byte fields in a subfile to store the settings of indicators so I could reset the indicators before updating

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• The Save-Restore Commands

  January 26, 2005 Hey, Ted

  We have a new machine and have joined the world of logical partitioning. We have a partition for production and one for development. I am struggling with copying data and source code between the two machines. FTP copies source members without a problem, but it drops the modification dates on the source records. To copy data files, I’ve been transmitting save files in binary mode, which is a hassle. Also, I’d like to set up a scheduled job to refresh certain files on the test system from the production system at night, and while FTP would work, it would be

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• Date-Handling in CL Procedures

  January 19, 2005 Ted Holt

  The code for this article is available for download.

  

  A common saying is, “It’s the little things that get you.” The maxim was certainly true recently in one iSeries shop. I may not have all the details exactly right, but it seems nobody was able to pry any information out of the computer. Investigation revealed an unanswered message to QSYSOPR and a queue of jobs eagerly waiting for a chance to run. Apparently, the unanswered message owed its existence to the fact that some human being had entered an invalid date value into a prompt screen.

  My impression is

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• Extracting Zoned and Packed Decimal Values from Character Fields

  January 19, 2005 Hey, Ted

  I have a physical file that includes a large alphanumeric field that is defined differently for many different record types. I am creating logical files for each of the record types and must redefine this large field in different ways for different record types. For some of the record types the field contains packed decimal values. How do I define a substringed field (one created with the SST keyword in DDS) as packed decimal?

  

  –Mary

  Your situation is not unusual, especially in shops that use packaged software. Since developers can’t foresee everything users may have to store, they sometimes include

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• Admin Alert: More on Preparing for OS/400 V5R1 to V5R3 Upgrades

  January 19, 2005 Joe Hertvik

  In my last column, I started documenting my experiences in upgrading a multi-partitioned OS/400 V5R1 machine to the i5/OS V5R3 operating system (which IBM also refers to as OS/400 V5R3). I covered several pre-installation tasks you need to perform, including retrieving installation manuals, reviewing any third-party software, and obtaining V5R3 PTFs. This week, I’ll discuss some other important prep items that affect how long your upgrades will take, and what to do after the upgrade is complete.

  

  Use the Installation Manual

  As I mentioned last time, make sure you download and thoroughly study IBM’s installation manual for OS/400 V5R3,

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• More on RPG Encapsulation

  January 12, 2005 Joel Cochran

  The code for this article is available for download.

  Reader response to my July article, “Encapsulating File Access in a Service Program,” filled my mailbox for some time. Most of the feedback has been extremely positive, with readers wanting information on some of the more advanced techniques I referred to but didn’t have column space to explain.

  Many of the questions had to do with embedded SQL and how to incorporate that into the service program to offer more flexibility. In this article, I address a number of these questions and offer some more techniques to employ in this

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• Advanced Pattern Matching in RPG

  January 12, 2005 Michael Sansoterra

  The code for this article is available for download.

  

  SQL has many great features, including the LIKE predicate. LIKE’s power is manifest in its ability to have multiple wild cards in a search pattern. Unfortunately, RPG’s closest analog to LIKE is the %SCAN built-in function, which is limited to searching a string for a single substring.

  Even though %SCAN’s power is limited, a little extra code can be used to simulate LIKE. The code in program LikeR.RPGLE contains subprocedure Like. The parameters for the Like subprocedure are:

  Like(search string:pattern[:wildcard])
  

  An indicator variable is returned by Like to indicate

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