Last month, Larry Bolhuis discussed PTFs and keeping them current. This is extremely important, and I want to continue along on that theme of staying current. So, this month we will discuss determining the level of firmware of your Flexible Service Processor (FSP). If you don’t know what level it is currently running, you won’t know if it is up to date or not. It’s just as important to keep this up to date as your PTFs, your release of IBM i, or your Hardware Management Console (HMC) firmware. In all my travels, it seems people aren’t keeping their

If you read this august publication, you probably know what a scratch file is. (For those of you who know nothing about computers and read this publication solely for its sterling literary merit, a scratch file is a database table or stream file that is used temporarily within a job.) Today I invite you to consider that the advantages of scratch files also extend to scratch message files.

Consider superb RPG program SUPERBPGM2:

ctl-opt  dftactgrp(*no);

dcl-pr  SuperbPgm2    extpgm('SUPERBPGM2');
   ouStatus       likeds(Status_t);
   inPlant        char(12);
end-pr;

dcl-pi  SuperbPgm2;
   ouStatus       likeds(Status_t);
   inPlant        char(12);
end-pi;

dcl-ds  Status_t    qualified  template;
   MsgID          char( 7);
   ProgramName    char(10);
   Plant          

This is just another great DB2 feature tip, calling attention to some useful features available in the recent releases of DB2 for i. To determine whether you can use these recent features, check with your IBM i administrator to make sure your database group PTF levels are up to date. For IBM i 7.1 the database group PTF level should be at least 34, and for 7.2 the database group PTF level should be at least 5.

VARCHAR_FORMAT_BINARY and VARBINARY_FORMAT

Two new functions were added to the DB2 for i built-in function arsenal that will assist developers with the annoying