Linoma Targets Programmer Productivity with RPG Toolbox 3.2

by Alex Woodie

Like a good carpenter, any programmer worth his salt relies on tools to make his job easier and to bring ideas to reality. In the case of RPG, Linoma Software sells a bundle of productivity tools called, appropriately enough, the RPG Toolbox. A new release of the RPG Toolbox is shipping this month that should make programmers more productive through enhancements to its three components: RPG Wizard, SEU Plus, and Source Snippets.

With the new Compile Analyzer included with the SEU Plus component of RPG Toolbox Version 3.2, programmers can eliminate time wasted looking at compile errors, the Omaha, Nebraska, company says. Instead of browsing over irrelevant compiler information and low severity errors, the Compile Analyzer displays important compiler errors in a pop-up window, allowing developers to quickly see the status of a compile for RPG, CL or DDS code. As developers address the problems, the Compile Analyzer lets the developers mark them off as "fixed" on the screen, allowing them to quickly move on to the next issue.

Several other enhancements have been made to SEU Plus, which is an add-on to IBM's Source Edit Utility (SEU) that gives SEU more than 70 additional functions. Some of the new functions available with the latest release of SEU Plus include a new command that shows programmers the fields within a key list or a parameter list; a new command that lets programmers see the used number indicators within an RPG IV program; a new capability to quickly place modification markers on source lines; support for source files with up to 162 byte record lengths; and the capability to replace source lines with "clipboard-like memory." What's more, Linoma says, many of these new enhancements in SEU PLUS also work with COBOL, DDS, CL and CMD source code, in addition to RPG.

The second Toolbox component, the RPG Wizard, has new RPG conversion capabilities with this release. Linoma says the newest version of RPG Wizard performs a more comprehensive conversion of source code, to either fixed- or free-format ILE RPG, including the conversion of CAT operations to EVALs.

Finally, Toolbox users will find new snippets in the Source Snippets component, which provides 190 usable pieces, or "snippets," of tried and proven RPG source code that users can plug into their very own RPG applications. With this release, Linoma added new source code snippets for the built in functions that IBM included with OS/400 V5R2. The utility's snippet generator now includes intelligent prompts for every BIF up to V5R2, the company says.

RPG Toolbox 3.2 is available now. Software licenses range from $995 to $1,995 per iSeries processor and include a free copy of RPG IV Jump Start, a book by Bryan Meyers. Free 30-day trial downloads are also available from Linoma's Web site, at www.linomasoftware.com.