• Guru: Beyond The Basics Of Code Conversion

  March 19, 2018 Paul Tuohy

  Today many RPG programmers are tasked with having to modernize existing programs. These programs often have long and varied history. They may be RPG IV programs or they may be RPG IV programs that were originally RPG II or RPG III programs, or any permutation or combination you can imagine. There are tools available to help us convert from fixed-form RPG to free-form RPG and, within RDi, we have options to help us reformat code and refactor variable names. But these tools can only go so far. We finally reach the point where we have to put fingers to the …

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• Guru: Ready Or Not, Big Changes in RDi V9.6! Part 1, Key Behavior

  February 26, 2018 Susan Gantner

  Version 9.6 of RDi has many new features. If you’ve upgraded your RDi, you have undoubtedly noticed some of the enhancements, because most of the new features are enabled by default. Just in case you’re not a huge fan of some of those features, most can also be disabled to make things work as before if you know where to look.

  In this series, we’ll take a look at some of the new features and how to enable and/or disable them. In this first part, we’ll study two new key behaviors and how to control them.

  Many of the enhancements …

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• A Skills Shortage Solution Alert

  October 23, 2017 Dan Burger

  Employee development doesn’t get the credit it deserves when it comes to talent acquisition. Putting the right people in the right place and giving them the right tools is not a new concept. Many of the top programmers work for companies where this concept has been in place for years. They are homegrown. It follows a pattern: Hire programmers with useful skill sets and if that doesn’t include modern RPG, train them.

  The steep green-screen learning curve and natural tendency for young developers to resist the old fixed format RPG isn’t really a factor with modern free format RPG and …

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• RDi Jumps Aboard The TR Train

  October 9, 2017 Dan Burger

  What is it going to take to convince IBM i developers that RDi, a modern Eclipse-based development environment with an impressive list of productivity enhancements, is a better development tool than the traditional green-screen tools that were designed decades ago? While IBM hasn’t upgraded the green-screen development tools in years, the investment in RDi continues. The latest Technology Refreshes, announced last week, embellished the list of productivity features RDi offers.

  Most IBM i shops that are using modern RPG coding techniques are familiar with RDi and the value of modernizing applications that are significant business assets. It is the organizations …

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• IBM i And RDi: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire

  October 2, 2017 Dan Burger

  Evaluating the future of your IBM i environment should be on your mind. It should be on the mind of your boss and the minds of everyone at the C-level where you work. Maintaining and modernizing existing applications means being prepared for today and tomorrow, even if that requires technological changes that test the outer limits of your comfort zone.

  The need to integrate technologies and reuse existing business logic may vary from foggy to laser sharp, but continuing to get more from IT is probably happening to some degree, or it soon enough will. Are you prepared to become …

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• A Fast Idle For IBM i Development

  September 27, 2017 Alex Woodie

  One thing that’s clear about Liam Allan is he doesn’t take things slow. At just 20 years of age, Allan is one of the brightest young developers on the platform. Now the British coder is sharing his latest creation with the IBM i world: a lightweight ILE development tool dubbed Idle.

  There are many options when it comes to IBM i development tools, especially if open source, Web-native languages are your thing. There’s no shortage of environments for creating PHP, Node.js or Java apps. The opening of the IBM i platform has been a great thing in that regard.

  But …

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• Guru: Remove Unwanted Trailing Blanks With LPEX

  September 11, 2017 Ted Holt

  Giving up RDi and going back to developing with PDM and SEU would appeal to me as much as giving up electricity and running water and moving into a pup tent. RDi has so many nice features that enrich my life. However, RDi does have its quirks, and occasionally I run into one of them.

  One of the nice features is the ability to comment and uncomment blocks of code in one fell swoop. In case you’ve forgotten (or didn’t know about) those shortcuts, Ctrl+/ comments out a line or block and Ctrl+\ removes the comment markers. I recommend you …

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• ARCAD Magnifies The i In Its Multi-Platform Array

  September 6, 2017 Dan Burger

  While RDi development gets some help from one IBM i vendor, another vendor is enhancing its RDi-specific software. ARCAD Software, makers of ARCAD Pack for i, has enhanced its IBM UrbanCode Deploy and improved support for deployment to IBM i.

  IBM’s UrbanCode is a tool for automating application deployments by expediting user feedback, and for providing audit trails and the approvals process. UrbanCode is being used primarily by large companies to deploy multi-platform code from a central point. It provides standardized tools and methodologies for managing all sources–including IBM i, z/OS, AIX and other Unix OSes, and all the …

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• If RDi Was Free, Would You Go For A Ride?

  August 16, 2017 Dan Burger

  Some interesting developments have occurred with the Rational Developer for i (RDi) team. First came the extraction from IBM Software Group and relocation within the IBM i development organization. Then came the integration of RDi development efforts involving IBM and HelpSystems. What’s next? Perhaps a free lightweight version of RDi designed to entice more IBM i developers to trade in their old tools and take a closer look at what they can gain with RDi.

  A new request for enhancement (RFE #108558) may gather enough momentum to bring a free RDi to market. That leads to the question of whether …

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• Guru: How Do You Do That With RDi? Part 3: Complex Compiles

  June 19, 2017 Susan Gantner

  In an earlier tip I tried to convince RDi users to give up compiling in PDM because the RDi compile interface has the time-saving Error List to offer. I offered some tips that help me with my compiles in RDi. Here I’ll continue my “Compile in RDi” campaign by offering some additional ideas for those who have more complex compile processes.

  There are two common issues I hear that keep people returning to PDM for their compiles. One is that their library lists aren’t set up correctly for the compile and the other is that they need to do something …

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