iSeries Navigator: A World of Wizards

February 18, 2004 Shannon O'Donnell

When learning to do something, whether programming on a computer or playing a song on the banjo, it is always easier when you have someone standing by to teach you all those little tricks and tips that make the task easier. When it is not possible to have such an expert on hand, the next best thing is to have a tool that can teach you. In iSeries Navigator, the experts are wizards.

A wizard is a piece of software or a program that was written to guide users through completing a task, usually by using a straight-forward, logical sequence

A Super Way to Display a Date

February 18, 2004 Hey, Ted

Here’s a subprocedure I wrote that you might want to publish in your newsletter. My routine uses the ILE CEE APIs to format a date as day of week, month name, day, and year, like this:

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

I use the CEEDAYS API to convert a date to Lilian date format, which is the number of days elapsed since October 14, 1582. Then I use the CEEDATE API to format the Lilian date into a character string. In the case of an error (for example, a date before October 14, 1582), I return the ISO character representation of

Short Circuit Evaluation

February 18, 2004 Hey, Ted

Here’s a simplification of the code for subprocedure EqAnyNum, which you published on January 28. I was able to shorten the code because of a feature called short circuit evaluation, which is explained in chapter 21 of the V5R2 RPG IV reference.

–Mel

Thanks to Mel for bringing short circuit evaluation to my attention. Here’s Mel’s code.

C/free                                    
     if %parms >= 2 and BaseVal = Val01 or
        %parms >= 3 and BaseVal = Val02 or
        %parms >= 4 and BaseVal = Val03 or
        %parms >= 5 and BaseVal = Val04 or
        %parms >= 6 and BaseVal = Val05 

OS/400 Alert: Creating a Private Subsystem

February 18, 2004 Joe Hertvik

By default, OS/400 comes with one interactive subsystem called QINTER, which is where all 5250 green-screen jobs run. For most scenarios, this is adequate, but many times you may want to segregate interactive work into different subsystems.

For the purpose of security, you could limit the time of day or days that certain users can sign on. If you have consultants who are authorized to use your system only during working hours, you could segregate their workstations into their own private interactive subsystem and shut down that subsystem during off-hours.

For maintenance purposes, you could create a separate subsystem for

OS/400 Alert: Virus Targets AIM

February 18, 2004 Shannon O'Donnell

Do you use the AOL Instant Messenger program to communicate with your friends and coworkers? If you do, you might become the recipient of a new virus that’s spread through the program. In this issue of “OS/400 Alert,” I’ll give you the lowdown on this sneaky new virus. I’ll also tell you about several other viruses and updates that you should be aware of.

AIM BECOMES TARGET OF SNEAKY VIRUS

If you use AOL Instant Messenger, you may become the target of new virus-like software attacking AIM users. I say virus-like because it is not truly a virus. Virus