• XML Validation with Regular Expressions

  September 15, 2004 Hey, David

  The code for this article is available for download.

  

  I want to set the date field in a schema to YYYYMMDD format and use this to validate an XML document. Will I have to have to write any Java code to support this? I also want to set the format of an amount to numbers, with 18 digits followed by 3 digits decimal value. The separator can be either a comma or a decimal point.

   

  –Satish

  From your description, it looks like you can use XML Schema’s pattern-matching capability. With pattern matching, you supply a regular expression that is

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• Admin Alert: Three Ways to Tighten OS/400 Security

  September 15, 2004 Joe Hertvik

  No matter what type of OS/400 shop you run, chances are good you can tighten your password and sign-on security. On i5, iSeries, and AS/400 boxes, this is a relatively easy thing to do; you just need to know your options and set security values accordingly. To that end, here are three easy ways that OS/400 can help you to tighten your system security.

  

  Before starting, I should note that these values can be changed either through a green-screen 5250 session or through the graphical iSeries Navigator interface (still sentimentally referred to as OpsNav). To view and change these values

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• Sifting Through the Java Quagmire

  September 8, 2004 Kevin Vandever

  Four Hundred Guru has published a range of articles on the Java language. As much information as we’ve provided, however, I still don’t think we’ve solved the Java mystery for many iSeries professionals. I still hear the how, when, and why questions from many of you out there. So I’d like to take a step back and provide some high level answers to these questions, so you can sift your way through the quagmire to what you really need to understand.

  

  The reason for so many questions from the iSeries community is not that we are incapable of learning Java

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• Define Compile-Time Array Data in D-Specs

  September 8, 2004 Hey, Ted

  For performance reasons there are certain tables that I would prefer to implement as compile-time arrays rather than as physical files. But I don’t want to hard-code the compile-time array definitions in each RPG program that uses them, since that would require manual modification of each program if an array’s definition or data changes. Loading each array from a file at program startup is also an option, but I’d prefer to avoid the unnecessary I/O. I came up with a method to store compile-time array definitions in a copyable source member, but it has one little problem.

  

  Here’s my idea.

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• CRTDUPOBJ and Logical Files

  September 8, 2004 Hey, Ted

  I want to build some test libraries from my production libraries. I am having trouble duplicating logical files that are stored in one library but point to physical files in another library. I thought Create Duplicate Object (CRTDUPOBJ) would create a logical in one test library but point it to another test library if the library list was set correctly. What is the best method to copy logical files and point them to the correct physical files?

  

  –David

  You have to be careful when using CRTDUPOBJ with logical files. Which physical file the new logical file is based on depends

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• Reusing HTML and Form Filling with RPG CGI

  September 1, 2004 Shannon O'Donnell

  The code for this article is available for download.

  

  In “Step by Step: RPG IV and Interactive Web Pages” I demonstrated how easy it is to use your RPG skills to push content out to a Web browser. The Web pages displayed in the article were built from within the RPG IV code. This article explains how you can reuse HTML documents in an RPG CGI program. You will also learn how to pre-load HTML form fields from RPG before displaying the document in the browser.

  For an RPG CGI program to be truly useful, you really have to

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• Using DRDA to Execute SQL Statements on Another iSeries

  September 1, 2004 Michael Sansoterra

  For iSeries shops using SQL with multiple machines or logical partitioning, IBM’s Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA) may help with SQL administration tasks. For example, it is common to develop an SQL routine on a test box and then duplicate the routine on a production box, which requires a cut and paste of SQL text or some other mechanism to propagate the routine. Or, sometimes it may be handy to know what’s in a file on the live system while working on the test system, without having to go through the pain of starting a new 5250 session or using

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• Admin Alert: Finding More Elusive OS/400 Commands

  September 1, 2004 Joe Hertvik

  In my last column, I discussed several ways to find and execute OS/400 green-screen commands, even when you don’t know the exact spelling of the command name. While I covered three different ways to find elusive OS/400 commands–using the Major Command Groups menu, the Select Command (SLTCMD) command, and the Verb Commands menu–several readers wrote in to tell me about a few other tricks that accomplish the same thing. Here’s what I learned.

  

  Jerry Thornton and Ben T. Ray Jr. pointed out that you can get to the various command submenus listed on the Major Command Group, Subject, or

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• Use Named Constants to Write Clearer Code

  August 18, 2004 Ted Holt

  You’d expect experienced programmers to know and use techniques that less experienced programmers might not know. But even programmers with little experience know how to define named constants in one or more languages, although they may not know how to use them effectively. Yet named constants can contribute so much to program clarity, as I wish to show you now. I use RPG IV to illustrate, since that’s the language I use most often, but the principles apply to any language that supports named constants.

  

  THE PROBLEM WITH LITERALS

  The purpose of named constants is to avoid using literals, a

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• Securely Resetting Disabled User Profiles

  August 18, 2004 Hey, Wayne O.

  We have set system values QMAXSGNACN and QMAXSIGN to disable user profiles after three invalid sign-on attempts. Therefore, a common daily function that we do is to enable users that have typed their password incorrectly three times. As a result I have provided several people in the IT department with *SECADM authority. However, this allows them to change most, if not all, parameters in the user profiles that they have access to.

  

  Is there a way to remove the *SECADM authority but still allow them to be able to change only the “status” parameter in the user profile from *DISABLED

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