As my years as a developer whiz by, I often find myself ignorant of the newest features available. For example, I’ve used the Copy From Import File (CPYFRMIMPF) and Copy To Import File (CPYTOIMPF) commands so often that I just became (as my old boss used to say) “fat, dumb, and happy” when using them, not realizing IBM has added new features since the time I first studied these commands. I’ll briefly share a few of the relatively recent enhancements to these commands.

First of all, in i7.1 Technology Refresh 5 (TR5), CPYTOIMPF has been enhanced with a new parameter

Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here.

Every week someone asks me why the computer did what it did. For instance, not long ago a buyer asked me why the computer did not send our requirements for a certain item to the vendor who supplies the item. I started digging through the program that generates the files we send to vendors. Then I realized there was a better way. Let me tell you about it.

In many shops, business rules are embedded in source code. Sometimes rules are hard-coded. I’ve seen code that directly referred

A new year always brings new challenges in administering your IBM i machines. Here are the top four things on my 2013 calendar that IBM i shops should look at in 2013, starting this month.

#1: Check Your Job Scheduling Date Objects In January

If you haven’t already done so, look at any date-dependent job processing objects on your system and change them to ensure that they will still work correctly in 2013. These objects might include:

• Any data areas that affect date processing.
• Files that need to go through yearly purge routines.
• Any RUN and OMIT date objects that