• Distinguish between Record Types without Indicators

  October 28, 2009 Hey, Ted

  I have an RPG question. Now that indicators are verboten, how does an RPG program distinguish between record types when reading a multi-format logical file? That is, what do I use instead of record identifying indicators? –Tricia Define a file information data structure for the logical file. The system will place the record format name in positions 261-270. Here’s some sample source code to get you started. CODE1 –Ted                      Post this story to del.icio.us                Post this story to Digg     Post this story to Slashdot

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• How Much Temporary Storage Am I Using?

  October 28, 2009 Hey, Joe

  My i5/OS partition disk storage is filling up and it hit 85 percent utilization today. How do I tell how much temporary storage space my system is using? If there’s a lot of temporary storage, what can I do about it? I heard that if you IPL a partition, you can reduce disk usage. –Mick While an IPL can reclaim temporary storage space, it’s wise to first check out how much temporary space is being used on the system, just to see if it’s worth your while to IPL. Since iSeries, System i, and Power i machines generally run for

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• Getting the Message, Part 2

  October 21, 2009 Paul Tuohy

  In Part 1 of this series, we saw the definition of a number of message routines (clearMessages(), addMessage(), messageCount(), and getMessage()). In this article, we will see how the routines may be used in both an RPG and a PHP environment. We will also look at another couple of message routines that may be useful. Remember, a library containing the code used in these articles may be downloaded here. A Test Procedure Figure 1 shows a small subprocedure (fillMessages()) used to demonstrate that messages may be added/stored at any level in the job. The subprocedure simply adds a filler

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• Passing an Entire Result Set as a Parameter, Part 2

  October 21, 2009 Michael Sansoterra

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. In Part 1 of this series, I discussed a generic method of passing a delimited set of text records in CSV (comma separated variable) format into a single stored procedure variable. Once the stored procedure had this text data, a generic Java user-defined table function (UDTF) was used to parse the text data and convert it to a row set that could be by any number of standard DB2 for i statements, such as a SELECT or INSERT. So with a little sweat, it is indeed possible to

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• Setting Up SNTP Time Synchronization on an i5/OS Box

  October 21, 2009 Hey, Joe

  For PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) auditing, I need to ensure that my System i 550 time is synchronized with other network system clocks. How do I set up time synchronization on an i5/OS V5R4 box? –Len PCI DSS is a security standard being pushed by the credit card providers to encourage companies to adopt consistent security measures for protecting customer account data. Requirement 10.4 of the standard specifies that all critical system clocks and times must be synchronized. For an iSeries, System i, or Power i box, this means that your partitions must automatically synchronize their system clocks

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• Getting the Message, Part 1

  October 14, 2009 Paul Tuohy

  When we look at modernizing (or writing new) applications, one of the basic principles is to tier the application, i.e., separate the interface, the business logic, and the database processing. The concept is that any of the components can be changed without affecting the others and, more importantly, you can have multiple interfaces making use of the same business logic and database routines. That’s all well and good, but there are a couple of minor hiccups that have to be handled. What happens when a business logic or database routine hits an error? How does it notify the interface that

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• How Do I Find What’s Not There?

  October 14, 2009 Hey, Ted

  Our inventory items are assigned seven-digit numbers. When we accept an order for a custom product, we assign it a number, build the product, ship it, and retire the number. After a few years, the system automatically purges these numbers, which means we are free to reuse these numbers. Is there a way to make an SQL query find the numbers within a range that are not assigned to items? –Tim I’ll give you a method that works at V5R4 or above, Tim. Let’s say your database file is IBM‘s famous QIWS/QCUSTCDT, and that you want to find available

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• Admin Alert: Locking Down i5/OS System Security Values

  October 14, 2009 Joe Hertvik

  This week, I’m demonstrating a technique for protecting your system security setup from unauthorized changes by other i5/OS administrative users. Introduced in i5/OS V5R2 and located inside System Service Tools (SST), there is an operating system configuration that lets you lock down security settings so that no users can change your preset i5/OS security scheme. Here’s how it works. Why Lock Down Security Changes? The main reason for shutting down your security scheme is for. . . well, security. Your iSeries, System i, or Power i box may reside in a regulated environment where only one or two security officer

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• Getting Started with RDi’s Application Diagram, Part 1: Source Call Diagram

  October 7, 2009 Susan Gantner

  RDi’s Application Diagram tool has some features that developers may find very useful, but initially finding your way around with the tool isn’t always easy. For that matter, many developers have never even noticed that the feature exists. So in this tip, I’ll take a look at how to get started using the Application Diagram. If you ever used CODE (a.k.a., CODE/400) in the past, you may be familiar with a feature of that pre-RSE toolset called Navigator. I didn’t use Navigator very often, but when I needed it, it saved me a lot of time. The basic idea of

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• Passing an Entire Result Set as a Parameter: Part 1

  October 7, 2009 Hey, Mike

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. We are moving from green screen to PC GUI screens and have come across a need to have the “reverse” of returning a result set. We need to be able to pass a stored procedure of one or more rows (i.e., a result set) in a single call. We could have a single table, but more than one user will be sending data at the same time. It’s a heavily used green screen that we will be replacing. The green screen itself is an input capable sub-file. It

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