• Shutting Down WRKSBMJOB Options

  October 5, 2005 Hey, Joe

  I want to hide some of the options on the Work with Submitted Jobs command display (WRKSBMJOB) from my users. I don’t want certain user IDs to run option ‘2’=Change Job or option ‘3’=Hold job. I need to do this for specific user IDs belonging to a certain group profile. For other users, I’d like these options to be usable. Do you have any suggestions?

  –Pankaj

  

  The simple way to do this would be to limit authority to the commands that WRKSBMJOB calls when you type in option ‘2’ or option ‘3’. Option ‘2’ calls the Change Job command (CHGJOB)

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• API Corner: Database APIs

  September 28, 2005 Shannon O'Donnell

  The code for this article is available for download.

  If you want to gather some information about an OS/400 database, there are several ways you can go about it. You could use the DSPFD (Display File Description) command to display top level information about a file. Or you could use the DSPFFD (Display File Field Descriptions) command to display information about each field. However, neither command has a very convenient method of getting the resulting information into a format that can be easily used by your applications. To do that, you need to use the database APIs.

  

  The Database

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• SQL Record Selection with Dynamic Lists

  September 28, 2005 Ted Holt

  SQL’s IN predicate provides an easily understood, practical way to select records (rows) of a database file (table) by comparing a field’s (column’s) value to a list of predetermined values. However, when using IN with a dynamic list, i.e., a list whose values and number of values are not specified until run time, IN has a drawback, namely that the programmer must allow for the number of values in the list in advance. This article will give you three ways to deal with dynamic lists.

  

  But first, a brief review of the IN predicate is in order. One way to

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• Admin Alert: Limiting the Long Reach of OS/400 Security Officers

  September 28, 2005 Joe Hertvik

  It almost goes without saying that i5/OS and OS/400 administrators should limit the number of users who have security officer authority (SECOFR). In the wrong hands, SECOFR users can delete files, manipulate information for ill-gotten gains, corrupt system configurations, and compromise organizational and customer secrets. So as a general operational principle, the fewer people who possess security officer access, the better.

  

  But in some organizations, it isn’t enough just to limit the number of people who are security officers. You may also be required to limit where and when the few security officers you do have can sign on. This

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• When There’s No Room for Special Values

  September 21, 2005 Ted Holt

  It’s trivia time, esteemed colleagues. The LEN parameter of the PARM command, used to define parameters in CL commands, will accept up to three values. Character data types need one value in the LEN parameter. Decimal values accept one or two. (If only one is specified, the decimal variable is assumed to have zero decimal positions.) What data type allows you to specify three values in the LEN parameter?

  

  You may use three values with the *X data type. This type is supposed to be used with IBM commands, but I don’t know of any reason we mortals can’t use

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• Odd Ways to Round Numbers

  September 21, 2005 Hey, Ted

  SQL’s ROUND function allows me to round to the nearest whole number. How can I round to the nearest half?

  –Chad

  

  The ROUND function accepts two arguments–a number to be rounded and the number of decimal positions to round to. If the second argument is zero, the first argument is rounded to a whole number. If the second argument is positive, the number is rounded right of the decimal point (i.e., to tenths, hundredths, thousandths, etc). If the second argument is negative, the first number is rounded left of the decimal point (to tens, hundreds, thousands, etc).

  The following example

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• Admin Alert: A Checklist for Creating OS/400 User Profiles, Part II

  September 21, 2005 Joe Hertvik

  In the Admin Alert from last week, I presented a checklist of questions to ask when you are creating a basic OS/400 user profile. This week, I am expanding that checklist to include additional questions for configuring a user profile to run application programs. Using both checklists, you can confidently set up a user profile that is uniquely configured to run existing applications on your system.

  

  OS/400 provides two ways to create user profiles. You can use the green-screen Create User Profile command (CRTUSRPRF) or you can use the iSeries Operations Navigator (OpsNav) user profile function. For this checklist, I’ll

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• Much Ado about Nothing: Interesting Facts about Null

  September 14, 2005 Ted Holt

  In one of my son’s favorite M*A*S*H episodes, a certain Captain Tuttle is given accolades for his bravery and humanitarianism. What gives the show its humor is that Captain Tuttle does not exist. I would like to share some interesting facts about the relational database’s counterpart to Captain Tuttle–the null value. I have found, as did Hawkeye Pierce and the gang, that non-existent things can be useful.

  

  1. Null indicates that a field has no value. A field with a null value is not equivalent to an alpha field with blanks or a numeric field with zeros. Such fields have

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• Great Minds Agree: It’s Good to Save Access Paths

  September 14, 2005 Hey, Ted

  In your article entitled “Avoid Changed Default Values,” I believe that you are providing a disservice to your readers with your answer. Your answer to the question centers around hard-coding a default IBM value in a CL command when it should have been to remind everyone to read the IBM Memo to Users before upgrading to a new release of the operating system.

  

  I have just finished reviewing said document and on page 38, a change is documented. Furthermore, the information provided in the article is WRONG. IBM did not change the default value of the access path (ACCPTH)

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• Admin Alert: A Checklist for Creating OS/400 User Profiles, Part I

  September 14, 2005 Joe Hertvik

  As an OS/400 administrator, you are already well familiar with creating user profiles. But while user profile creation may seem obvious, there are a few subtleties you need to be aware of to ensure that every profile you create is fit for the job at hand. To that end, let’s review a checklist for gathering information when creating new user profiles on an OS/400-based machine.

  

  User profiles can be created through two interfaces. You can use the green-screen Create User Profile command (CRTUSRPRF) or you can use iSeries Operations Navigator’s (OpsNav) user profile function. For this checklist, I’ll use the

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