Aldon's Change Management System Has Full Support for SQL

by Alex Woodie

Aldon Computer Group has issued a new release of its change management system for AS/400 and iSeries environments, Aldon/CMS Version 7.2, which has full support for SQL objects. Handling of SQL objects was limited with prior releases of the system, but the new release supports SQL objects just like it does every other OS/400 object, which should streamline SQL development on the box and improve code portability.

More AS/400 and iSeries programmers are using SQL since IBM improved SQL performance in recent releases of OS/400. To satisfy this increasing demand, Aldon, one of the preeminent providers of change management systems for the OS/400 platform, needed to improve the handing of SQL objects in Aldon/CMS, its change management software suite for traditional OS/400 development.

With Aldon/CMS 7.2, Aldon lets developers manage the array of SQL objects--such as tables, views, indices, aliases, functions, user-defined types and triggers--in exactly the same way that Aldon/CMS handles other iSeries objects. This expanded SQL support provides greater control of the iSeries development process, Aldon says, and also gives iSeries development shops the advantage of portability of data, data definitions, and code across distributed machines.

Aldon substantially improved SQL object handling capabilities, according to Bonnie Roditti, Aldon's director of iSeries research and development. Previous releases of Aldon/CMS couldn't handle long SQL names, which meant customers would have to assign these long names manually each time the objects were created in each environment, Roditti says. Also, support for stored procedures and user defined functions now ensures that the SQL catalog is properly updated and eliminates the requirement for programmers to write exit programs to update the catalog. "We now create these objects in each environment so that the SQL catalog is always correct," she says.

Another improvement builds on the limited support for referential constraints in previous releases. "We now can preserve existing constraints and add new ones automatically as objects are checked out and promoted," Roditti says. A final SQL improvement has to do with generating SQL statements. Before this release, Aldon supplied its own SQL generator, but "this generator lagged behind IBM's capabilities, so that we often had to ship special updates to customers," she says. "We now use a system-supplied API to generate SQL when none is supplied by the customer. This API is maintained by IBM and remains current."

Aldon/CMS 7.2 has other enhancements in addition to improved SQL support, including new archiving and distribution features. The new dynamic system archiving in this release lets programmers create archives any time during development. Being able to archive work before development, during development, and during the testing and production phases allows managers to respond appropriately to changing business needs, the company says.

Object distribution, yet another aspect of the development lifecycle that is managed by Aldon's software, has also been improved in Aldon/CMS 7.2. With this release, users can override the distribution process if something goes wrong; the software also includes rules that let managers determine who has authority to do this. A new failure recovery feature restores the system to its prior state, following a failed distribution. Lastly, Aldon has added new function keys that enhance the control, speed, and accuracy of the distribution process, the company says.

Aldon/CMS 7.2 is available now. Contact Aldon for pricing information. For more product information, go to www.aldon.com.

Sponsored By S4I SYSTEMS

A Great Way to Clean-up with an Exciting End of Year Offer! Reclaim & reorganize disk space with S4i DASD-Plus. A cost-effective alternative to upgrading your DASD or iSeries is to get that space back and track DASD consumption. S4i offers tactical & strategic tools to automate this process & analyze your DASD with surveys & reports to communicate your biggest DASD consumers & forecast future DASD growth. Get in one more project this year and, if you mention this ad, you can purchase S4i DASD-Plus and pay nothing until January 2004! Call 800-231-5280 or Click here for a free trial! Visit www.solution400.com