Gumbo Spices Up IBM i Spool Tools
February 4, 2014 Alex Woodie
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When it comes to manipulating the spooled file output of IBM i applications, few ISVs have the breadth of coverage of Gumbo Software. Over the past year, the Seattle, Washington, company has bolstered several of its products, including Dicer, SpoolMail, Spool-a-Matic, Excel-erator, and Report Manager. In January, Gumbo unveiled the V1R9 release of Dicer, a utility for merging, sorting, dicing, and duplicating the content of IBM i spooled files. The main new feature in this release is the addition of three new parameters to the Merge Spool File (MRGSPLF) command that enable the IBM i user to specify the owner of the generated spooled file, the user data, and user defined data assigned to the generated spooled file, respectively. In August 2013, Gumbo rolled out the V2R8 release of SpoolMail, which automatically e-mails spool files as ASCII or PDF attachments. The new feature with this release includes new special values for the PDF font imbedding parameter that should help correct erroneously rendered PDFs. Other enhancements targeted IFS service programs, national language support, and changes to the PDF and RTF generators, among others. In July 2013, Gumbo debuted the V2R5 release of Report Manager, a tool for automating the report distribution and spool file management process. The new release fixes difficulty that some customers experienced with program conversion upon upgrading to IBM i version 6.1. The software also features better CCSID file conversions, an easier PTF upgrade progress, and changes to the font processor and IFS service programs, among other changes. In June 2013, Gumbo launched the V2R6 release of Spool-a-Matic, which is used to convert IBM i spool files into PDF, RTF, HTML, and other PC formats and then place them in a predefined location on the IFS. Like the new release of SpoolMail, this release of Spool-a-Matic fixes issues with PDF fonts, bolsters national language support, and enhancements to the PDF and RTF generators. Finally, in March 2013, Gumbo rolled out the V2R1 edition of Excel-erator, a handy utility for scraping data from the DB2 for i database and converting it into a spreadsheet file (Excel or OpenOffice Spreadsheet) that’s placed on the IFS or sent as an email attachment. This release introduces a new Parameter Freeze Pane function that allows a user to specify rows or columns that do not scroll, which is handy for keeping record and field names visible. It also includes changes to national language support, and email priority settings, among others. For more information, pricing, and downloads, see the vendor’s website at www.gumbo.com. RELATED STORIES Gumbo’s Dumpster Dives Into i5/OS Spool Files Gumbo Delivers New Goodies in Dumpster Gumbo Creates Digitally Signed PDFs from i5/OS Spool Files
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