Back To Basics: The Date Data Type
by Kevin Vandever

How many times this year have you had to cross out the year on a check or some other document you signed because you forgot we are now in 2003? I know, I've done it too. Well, this article will not help with that problem one bit; but it will provide an overview of a data type that is not only easy and flexible to use but also significantly eases many business calculation and display issues that existed up to the point of their introduction. I'm talking about the date data type. READ MORE >

Supercharge Your Search and Replace Tasks
by Michael Sansoterra

As a programmer, not many things make me cringe more than a customer requesting something like the following: "We want to change company three to company one. We need you to substitute a 1 for a 3 in every occurrence of the company field, in every relevant file." A few years back, I received just such a request from a MAPICS customer. After I picked up my jaw from the ground, I thought about how I would identify every company field in every one of the gargantuan number of tables in the entire MAPICS application. The fruit of that effort is the Global Data Change utility (GLBDTACHG). READ MORE >

Tired of Resetting Terminals on the AS/400? Let Someone Else Do It
by Doug Mewmaw

Last year I passed our help desk area on the way back from a meeting and heard two coworkers talking about a problem they were working on. Apparently, users were getting stuck in an application and the help desk was getting flooded with calls to reset terminals. Seeing the obvious frustration and wanting to help, I asked for a little history on the problem. Apparently, the "hung" terminal problem was something that happened frequently. So I decided to research this problem further. READ MORE >

Extending the Windows Shell with VBScript
by Howard Arner

You may have noticed that when you are in Windows Explorer and want to create a new folder by clicking the File and New menu items, you have lots of file types on your computer, and that you get a huge list of different new things that you can create. It's a more than just a bit annoying to me, and I have always wished there were a new-folder menu item that would appear when you right-clicked a folder. If this is something you'd like to have, too, then read on. READ MORE >

Reader Feedback and Insights

We value your feedback and your insights into the OS/400 market. Feel free to send a letter to the editor. We will consider your letter a candidate for the reader feedback column associated with this newsletter, but we will contact you before we make your email public. READ MORE >