ProData Now Supports Database Utility on Linux

OS/400 developers can now work with their DB2/400 files from behind a Linux, Unix, or Windows workstation with the new release of ProData Computer Services DBU/GUI, the graphical client that works with ProData’s DB2/400 database utility, DBU 6.0. The Nebraska software company is also working on a new product called DBUnifier, which can be used to quickly create interactive maintenance and inquiry applications.

DBU fills the need for a data access utility that provides direct access to DB2/400 databases and allows people to change or delete records as needed, without programming. ProData says its tool is easier to use than IBM‘s Data File Utility (DFU), which may explain why more than 15,000 DBU licenses have been sold over the years.

Alongside the core DBU utility, ProData sells an add-on called DBU/GUI, which provides a Java-based graphical user interface for DBU. This Java program can install as a stand-alone application on a computer, or function as a plug-in to iSeries Navigator or WebSphere Development Studio Client, giving DBU users a range of options, in addition to the traditional green-screen interface.

This month ProData announced a series of enhancements to the DBU/GUI utility as part of a refresh that includes an upgrade to a new Java engine. As a result of the new Java engine, DBU/GUI runs faster, is more stable, and has better memory management, and, ProData says, it has been certified to run desktop operating systems besides Windows. DBU/GUI also has been given several new features, such as new print/print preview and copy/paste functionality (these capabilities already existed in the green-screen interface). Status and trace logging, which keeps an audit trail of database activity, has also been enhanced, the company says.

In other news, ProData announced a new product called DBUnifier in its spring 2004 newsletter. DBUnifier is a collection of DBU utilities designed to allow users to build interactive maintenance and inquiry applications for the DB2/400 database with full field prompting and field/record validation. While DBU can be used to build DBU “applications” (which refers to a method of saving the DBU screens, files, and fields in the way that a user has designed them), we’re guessing DBUnifier can do this more quickly.

DBUnifier is currently being tested at a DBU user’s site and is not yet generally available. The DBUnifier price was advertised for $1,495 to current DBU users in the ProData newsletter. Licenses for DBU 6.0 are $1,995, which contains one license for DBU/GUI; additional DBU/GUI licenses can purchased in increments of five licenses for $250. For more information, go to www.prodatacomputer.com.

This article has been corrected since its original publication. IBM’s Data File Utility (DFU) was misidentified as “FEU.” Guild Companies regrets the error. [Change made 6/23/04]