Midrange Guru

In the October 25 Midrange Guru article, "SQL to the Rescue!", a reader named Jeff provides an example that requires a file with one record. IBM provides such a file for just that purpose:

Thanks for the information, Yannick. QSQPTABL is in library QSYS2. It has one column (field), which is a four-byte integer field called INTCOL (INTEGER_COLUMN). The only row in the table has the value 1.

It occurred to me that this technique is probably worth further exploration. SQL has a rich set of scalar functions, and IBM adds more functions with new releases. Besides, enterprising programmers can write functions of their own. Learning to use this selection technique against one record provides a way to tap into these functions.

Here are three more examples to help the reader who is not accustomed to using SQL to carry out internal data conversions in RPG. The first example uses SQL's DAYOFWEEK function, which returns a number from 1 to 7 to indicate Sunday through Saturday:

The second example produces a hex representation of a character string. If charvalue is ARITHMETIC, hexvalue becomes C1D9C9E3C8D4C5E3C9C3:

The third example uses the TRIM function to remove leading zeros from a number stored in a character variable. If NBR has the value 000000048.20, EDITEDNBR takes the value 48.20 and has a length of five bytes:

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CASS certified means the software has passed the test. When you use CASS software to update and maintain your mailing file, then your mailing file becomes CASS certified. What does this mean to you?

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That means the costs of postage, printing, paper, and overhead for undelivered mail are wasted. That means if you spend $100,000 on a direct mail campaign, as much as $30,000 could be completely wasted.

CASS software provides a number of intangible benefits. With CASS certification and bar coding there is a good likelihood that that your mail will be delivered sooner. If your invoices are delivered one day sooner, you may receive payment one day sooner.

If you CASS certify your mailing file, you can move on to the next step which is postal automation. This means applying a POSTNET bar code.

POSTNET is that little row of tall and short bars you see on your mail. POSTNET is a special bar code used by the Postal Service to allow automatic sorting machines to work.

It has been reported that bar code standard class (the old third class) mail gets delivered about as soon as first class, instead of the usual 2 or 3 weeks.

The bottom line is that using CASS software will help you keep your customers' address information in much better shape than they would be otherwise. Your mail may be delivered sooner at less cost and that means more bottom-line dollars for your company.

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