FHG Volume: 7 Archives - Page 11 of 14

Reader Feedback on Using the SQL SET OPTION Statement

March 21, 2007 Hey, Michael

I just read your article about the SET OPTION statement. Here are some minor comments about the OPTION CLOSQLCSR. There is a difference between closing a SQL cursor with the SQL statements CLOSE or COMMIT and closing a cursor at either *ENDMOD or *ENDACTGRP (or the other options for non-ILE programs).

When closing a cursor with the SQL commands, only a soft (or pseudo) close will be performed, that is the ODP (if reusable) stays cached and will only be reactivated the next time the SQL statement will be executed.

Closing a cursor at the end of a module (*ENDMOD)

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Changing ODBC Sign-On Pop Up Values

March 21, 2007 Hey, Joe

I have a new user starting, and I need to change the default user ID sign-on information that ODBC uses to connect her machine to our i5 partition. This computer was previously assigned to another user, and that user ID keeps appearing in the Signon to iSeries box whenever the computer starts an ODBC connection. How do I change the default user ID that ODBC uses for an i5 connection?

–Bruce

ODBC connection values are defined in the Connection Options screen inside their ODBC driver. It’s fairly simple to view and change these values for an i5, iSeries, or AS/400

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Release That Record Lock!

March 14, 2007 Dear Professional

Have you ever changed your password, then forgot what you changed it to? No, of course you haven’t. But I have, and on more than one occasion! Have you ever revoked your own authority to an object? It seems to me I’ve done that, too. When I do such things, I lock myself out of some resource. Recently, I was asked to work on a program that had locked itself out of a database record. I’ve seen one program lock another program out of a record many times, but I can’t ever remember a program locking itself out of a

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Giving RSE a Split Personality

March 14, 2007 Susan Gantner

A commonly asked question by WebSphere Development Studio Client (WDSc) and Remote Systems Explorer (RSE) newbies is: “How do I view source in split screen like I can in SEU?” The answer is that you can’t do it exactly like SEU, but then why would you want to? The RSE editor offers far greater flexibility.

How do you split your RSE editor screen? There are basically two types of split screen modes and they are accomplished very differently. I’ll cover the easier one first, which is to split your editor screen into two views of the same source.

Having two

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Admin Alert: The Better Way to Send Break Messages to Active Users in i5/OS

March 14, 2007 Joe Hertvik

Note: This article has associated code, which you can download here.

In a recent column, I described how to create a custom program that selectively sends break messages to signed-on users. After publication, several readers informed me that i5/OS already covers that same ground with standard menu options and APIs. This week, I’ll update my earlier solution by reviewing how to accomplish the same goals by using native i5/OS functionality instead of custom programming.

Going for the Goals

In my target scenario, I want to send a message to all signed-on interactive 5250 users, asking them to perform

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Multiple Display Files in One Program

March 7, 2007 G'Day, Ted

I have a client that has many old apps running in the S/36 Execution Environment. I had converted one of the inquiry programs into an ILE RPG program, keeping the program-described workstation definition, so that I could easily call this program from other programs. After some time, it was decided that we needed to display some information in a subfile-like format from this program. Not wanting to go through all the hassle of defining all the input and output specifications, I tried something, and to my surprise, it worked.

I created a second workstation file containing just the subfile record

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Three Little Words That Simplify Debugging

March 7, 2007 Susan Gantner

I had struggled with using the debugger in WDSc for a long time when I asked a friend that I knew to be an expert on the subject to help me understand how to use it. She told me that I only needed to know three little words–Service Entry Points–to make my debugging life easier. She was right!

If you have not yet learned the joys of debugging with Service Entry Points, try it today. In the Remote Systems view (RSE), choose a program object. Right click on the object and select Debug (Service Entry) –> Set Service Entry Point.

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Admin Alert: Better Subsystem Throughput Via Multiple Job Queues, Part Two

March 7, 2007 Joe Hertvik

Last week, I demonstrated how to create new i5/OS job queues for increased subsystem throughput, segmented workloads, and to run jobs in sequence. But the best subsystem architecture won’t provide any benefits if no one uses it. So in this column, I’ll show you how to configure user profiles, scheduled job entries, and batch jobs to take advantage of the new job queues that I created last time.

Why Create and Assign Your Own Job Queues

All system i5 partitions use job queues to stage work for processing, and job queues are assigned to a subsystem through the use

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Determining the Value of Built-in I/O Functions

February 28, 2007 Hey, Ted

What follows is a question that I have paraphrased from the emails of various readers of this august publication, who all seem to be encountering a similar issue: “Is it possible to view the value returned by built-in functions, such as %EOF and %FOUND, when working in the green-screen, full-screen debugger?”

The short answer is “No.” The debugger will not show you the result of any function, built-in or user-defined, unless that function is defined to the debugger. (See Undocumented Debugger Function .) The reason for this behavior is that a function is not a variable. A variable is a

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Customize the Tab Key in WDSc

February 28, 2007 Jon Paris

One of the things I like about WebSphere Development Studio Client (WDSc) is having the ability to use the Tab key to move through an RPG spec without having to prompt as I would in SEU. But it is WDSc’s ability to customize the tab key behavior that I really like.

To change the standard tab settings, open the Preferences dialog from the Windows menu pull-down and then drill down to Remote Systems –> iSeries –> LPEX editor parsers -> ILE RPG as shown below: