• Printing Barcodes Without an IPDS Printer

  June 23, 2004 Hey, Mike

  I’ve been given a challenge and don’t know where to start. I’ve been asked to add a “code 3 of 9” barcode to a picking list, which is an SCS report. The only way they’ve ever produced barcodes is with an IPDS printer. They want the iSeries to print to a laser printer instead, since laser printers are cheaper than IPDS printers. They also would prefer not to embed printer control codes in RPG output. Is this doable?

  

  –Thad

  It is possible (and easy!) to print barcodes on a laser printer if the printer file is externally described.

  First, use

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• Updating Through an SQL Cursor

  June 23, 2004 Hey, Ted

  Thanks for the many SQL tips you and others provide in Four Hundred Guru. The more I learn about SQL, the more I like it. Maybe you can explain something I have yet to figure out. I have learned how to change a set of records in one fell swoop with the UPDATE command. What I have not learned how to do is to update a single record that was read through a cursor.

  

  –Matt

  SQL provides a special phrase, CURRENT OF, which you place in the WHERE clause. The words CURRENT OF, followed by the cursor name, refer

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• Admin Alert: Changing the Limits on OS/400 Job Spool Files

  June 23, 2004 Joe Hertvik

  Recent versions of OS/400 let you set the number of spool files that a job can generate. While some administrators might view this feature as a blessing, others may think that it doesn’t do enough to stop runaway jobs. OS/400’s ability to limit a job’s spool files is an interesting but limited capability that is important to understand.

  

  With V5R1 and higher versions of OS/400, IBM provides a global system value called Maximum Spool Files Per Job (QMAXSPLF), which controls how many spool files any OS/400 job can generate before it stops producing printouts and displays error message CPF4167: “Job

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• V5R3 Advances DB2 UDB for iSeries

  June 16, 2004 David Morris

  When you look at reliability, security, and ease of use, DB2 Universal Database for iSeries is ahead of any other database and is the main reason to have an iSeries. The V5R3 enhancements to DB2 UDB for iSeries keep it ahead and add lots of neat new features. Along with SQL enhancements, V5R3 delivers all kinds of other improvements. For example, you can reorganize a file while it is being used, automatically set up journaling of all tables in a library, or set up partitioned tables.

  

  With V5R1, IBM began rewriting the underlying support for DB2 UDB on the iSeries

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• Effective Messaging, IBM’s Way

  June 16, 2004 Hey, Ted

  There is a major problem with using global Monitor Message (MONMSG) commands. If no one reads the job logs, the problem goes unnoticed and will not get fixed. Let me give you an example.

  

  We had a standard date-handling program that had a global monitor message. During Y2K conversion, I removed the global MONMSG command, because I don’t believe in them. Guess what? We found a bug in this program that had gone unnoticed for years! Luckily there was no damage, because the buggy code was rarely executed.

  My opinion of global monitor messages is that you should not

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• Vincent’s Standards

  June 16, 2004 Dear Readers

  As I mentioned in “Effective Messaging, IBM’s Way,” a reader named Vincent had some good ideas that are standards in his shop. All of them are simple, common-sense tips that can make life run a little smoother. I offer them to you for your consideration, along with a few comments and examples of my own that follow in italic type.

  

  –Ted

  1. If you call QCMDEXC, use SNDPGMMSG MSGTYPE(*INFO) to display the command to be run in the job logs for later debugging.

  The job log shows a call to QCMDEXC, but not the parameter values. Instead, there is

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• Pooling Your DataSources

  June 2, 2004 Marc Logemann

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

  

  In my last article, I explained how to use the IBM Universal JDBC Driver to connect to DB2 for iSeries in the Tomcat 5 environment, using JNDI for looking up the DataSource. You should now know how to define DataSources inside Tomcat and how to get the DataSource inside your Java code. I have not yet covered the definition and using a connection pool, which is important for creating well-performing applications.

  CONNECTION POOL CHOICES

  In the last article you had a choice between two JDBC drivers for

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• Don’t Let Overrides Deceive You

  June 2, 2004 Cletus the Codeslinger

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

  

  Overrides have some nice advantages. Without overrides, I would have to clone programs in order to use different files of the same format. Overrides also let me use different members of a multi-member file. Sometimes it’s helpful to know which file or member was used to produce a certain report or display. OS/400 includes an easy-to-use API that eliminates the confusion.

  The API I’m referring to is Retrieve File Override Information (QDMRTVFO). Maybe the best way to introduce it is to show the prototype member I /COPY into

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• Query/400 and Multiple Detail Lines

  June 2, 2004 Hey, Ted

  Help! I need to add more fields to the detail line in Query/400, but the line is already full. Do I have to get another query tool?

  

  –Jack

  I’d recommend it. There are some good non-IBM query products on the market that have strong formatting abilities. But you can get through this crisis while you’re evaluating them.

  Go ahead and select the additional fields on the “select and sequence fields” display. Select the fields in order by line and position. That is, select all of the fields that go on the first line, from left to right. Then select all

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• Admin Alert: Checking Your iSeries Batteries

  June 2, 2004 Joe Hertvik

  You may not realize it, but your iSeries boxes contain a set of nickel batteries, which are used as cache battery packs on your systems’ I/O adapters. And, like any battery, they eventually have to be replaced; otherwise your system may start to malfunction. This week’s “Admin Alert” explains how to check the batteries on your system, so you can determine when they need to be replaced.

  

  Most people don’t pay attention to their cache batteries until they spot an OS/400 error message stating that their cache battery is about to die. If you’re under maintenance, you can call IBM

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