Step by Step: RPG IV and Interactive Web Pages

March 31, 2004 Shannon O'Donnell

[The code for this article is available for download.]

I’m always surprised to talk to AS/400 programmers and discover how many shops still are not taking advantage of the Web. Most shops decide not to move from green-screen applications because they think the learning curve for Java is too steep or that learning CGI concepts and programming is too much work, and no one has offered any clear, simple examples. This article explains how easy it is to use RPG programming skills to build interactive Web pages.

THE CONCEPT

The basic concept of this article is to

Determine Elapsed Days, Weekdays, and Workdays

March 31, 2004 Hey, Ted

Finding the number of days between two dates is a common requirement in IT shops. We have a method that works well for us. It lets us include or exclude holidays and weekends.

We have a calendar file that has a record for every date between January 1, 1940, and December 31, 2039. It has quite a few fields, but the three that pertain to this discussion are DATE, DAYOFWEEK, and HOLIDAY. DATE is the date itself, defined with the date data type. DAYOFWEEK is a one-digit packed decimal number in the range 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday), the same

Thinking in Sets

March 31, 2004 Hey, Howard

I have an interesting problem and was wondering if you could show me how to code it in SQL. I have a file that records changes to packages in our facility. The file has a package ID number, date of activity, time of activity, and activity code. I want to find the last date and time of activity for each package but can’t get the query to work, because using MAX on the date and time can return a time value for when an activity did not occur.

–Michael

This is a really interesting problem, Michael, because your schema does

Admin Alert: Moving ASCII Data Between IFS and Windows

March 31, 2004 Joe Hertvik

Last week, I discussed how to get started using the QNTC file system, which lets you access Windows server data from OS/400 applications. This week, I’ll explain how to use QNTC to move ASCII files between Windows file shares and the OS/400 Integrated File System.

The OS/400 IFS generally refers to the subsection of the OS/400 file system that supports stream file data and directory structures that are similar to what you would find in a PC Windows or Unix operating system environment. Although the QSYS.LIB file system (where all the DB2 UDB files that are natively accessed inside

OS/400 Alert: Virus Programming for the Novice

March 31, 2004 Shannon O'Donnell

Viruses spread so fast, it’s a wonder that all computers are not infected all the time. If you’ve ever wondered how viruses are created with such alarming regularity, you will want to read this week’s “OS/400 Alert” on writing your own viruses. I’ll also share some of the more outrageous programming practices IT professionals have reported. Read this tongue-in-cheek article and see how many of these “techniques” are used in your own shop.

WRITING VIRUSES HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER

Ever wondered how there can be so many viruses dancing around the Web? There are dozens of new viruses found each