• OS/400 Alert: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Beta

  June 2, 2004 Shannon O'Donnell

  This issue of “OS/400 Alert” brings you up to date on defective IBM PTFs. Using the list provided, you can analyze your own PTF strategy to see if you need to apply patches or remove PTFs before they cause problems on your system. In addition, users of Microsoft Windows XP will want to read on to find out how they can take part in the Windows XP Service Pack 2 beta program.

  

  WINDOWS XP SP2 BETA ALMOST READY

  If you are one of those folks who like to be on the bleeding edge of new technology, and you are a

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• Creating Dynamic Queries

  May 26, 2004 Bruce Guetzkow

  If you’ve ever created a “one time” query, you know it is extremely likely that you will end up running that query on a regular basis. Typically that means manually changing the selection criteria each time it runs. While Query/400 does allow you to dynamically change the selection criteria, it can only be done if the query is executed interactively, which is usually frowned upon for performance reasons. This article outlines a method for creating a query with dynamic selection criteria and still executing the query in batch.

  

  A SOURCE FILE FOR YOUR QUERY

  The key to making a query

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• Security and DDM Files

  May 26, 2004 Hey, Wayne

  While implementing an “application-only access” security program, I ran into a problem with DDM files. The job running in the communications subsystem runs under user QUSER, which typically falls under *PUBLIC authority, so my DDM files cannot be set to *EXCLUDE, as recommended by the application-only-access security strategy.

  

  Can the job be modified to run under a different profile, or is it best to give QUSER access to the desired DDM files? Or should we assign QPGMR as QUSER’s group profile, since the files are owned by QPGMR? QUSER has no password and cannot be signed on to.

  –Doug

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• Calculate Ages with Query/400

  May 26, 2004 Hey, Ted

  I love to read Four Hundred Guru. It always contains great ideas and techniques!

  

  We need to calculate an age using Query/400. The database file that we are using has an eight-digit zoned-decimal birthdate field, in the format YYYYMMDD. Can you help?

  –Greg

  You need to convert the zoned decimal field to a date field. Then you will be able to subtract it from the system date to get a date duration. A date duration is an eight-digit field representing years, months, and days. For more information about date durations, see my answer to Helen’s question.

  The following

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• OS/400 Alert: V5R3 Has Many New Admin and Operations Features

  May 26, 2004 Shannon O'Donnell

  OS/400 V5R3, or, as it is called now, i5/OS V5R3, will contain a veritable fountain of new and enhanced features for the areas of administration and operations. This week, I’ll pick three of the more interesting new functions and enhancements in the new operating system. I will highlight more in coming weeks as I get a chance to digest them. I also will go through some new PTFs related to multicast IP addresses and the problems they can cause.

  

  V5R3: A CORNUCOPIA OF NEW FEATURES

  Advanced Job Scheduler. Most of us are familiar with OS/400 Job Scheduler functions. Typically,

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• Date Handling in RPG IV

  May 19, 2004 Joel Cochran

  After spending time on RPG-related e-mail lists, like RPGIV@yahoogroups.com or rpg400-l@midrange.com, you find some of the most frequently asked questions are about using dates in RPG IV. This article covers the basics of date handling in RPG IV. Since most of us are not at the most recent level of the operating system, yours truly included, the techniques and methods discussed here will work with V5R1 or later. This article will not cover the use of dates with embedded SQL, which has special considerations.

  

  WHEN IS A DATE A DATE?

  Dates typically have been stored as numeric variables. Sometimes we

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• A Solution to the Numeric Parameter Problem

  May 19, 2004 Hey, Ted

  A common gripe I hear over and over again in midrange circles concerns the way numeric parameters of a CL CALL command are passed from the command line and from the CMD and RQSDTA parameters of the Submit Job (SBMJOB) command. I found a way around this problem.

  

  A brief explanation of the problem seems in order. When a CALL command is executed within a CL program, variable parameters are passed as they are defined, but literals are passed with default formats.

  • Character literals that are less than 32 characters are padded with blanks to a length of 32 characters.

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• Read a Data Area As a One-Row Table with SQL

  May 19, 2004 Hey, Ted

  Is it possible to treat a data area as if it were a one-record physical file in an SQL query? We currently copy the data area to a one-record file, which we use in our queries. However, occasionally the data area gets updated but the refresh lags behind.

  

  –W.G.

  I’ve never thought about it, but that’s an interesting idea. In my S/36 days, I frequently wished it were possible to treat the local data area as a one-record disk file in Query/36.

  To answer your question: yes, it’s possible if you’re at V5R2. You will need to create a table

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• Admin Alert: A Lotus Notes Adjustment for Fighting Spam

  May 19, 2004 Joe Hertvik

  When you’re in charge of an organization’s Lotus Notes-based e-mail system, you’re going to spend a lot of time thinking about and fighting spam. Spammers are notorious for sneaking e-mail into all kinds of companies, but if you have a Notes 6.0.x server, there’s one simple adjustment you can make that just might cut down on the amount of unwanted e-mail your users receive.

  

  I found this particular setting when my Domino 6.0.1 users started experiencing a dramatic increase in the amount of spam making it to their desktops. Even users who didn’t normally receive spam were getting several

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• Tomcat 5 and DB2 for iSeries

  May 12, 2004 Marc Logemann

  Tomcat 5 was released several weeks ago, and already there has been a massive adoption by the industry. Tomcat 5 offers many new features, like Java Management Extension (JMX) monitoring, integrated session clustering, and improved taglib handling, and its performance and management capabilities are greatly improved. This release also reunited the Tomcat developer group, which had been split into two branches. Since my last article about DB2 for iSeries, many things have changed, so an update is important.

  

  ACCESSING DB2 FOR ISERIES WITH DB2 UNIVERSAL DRIVER

  Many people ask me about the JDBC setup with Tomcat and the JDBC

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