• Everybody Likes Shortcuts! Part 2, Playing With Blocks

  January 27, 2015 Susan Gantner

  In my last tip on RSE shortcuts, I talked about shortcuts that help you find your way as you navigate through source members. Eventually, you find the place where you need to work with the code. So in this tip, I’ll concentrate on shortcuts to help with that, and specifically working with blocks of code. First let’s talk about selecting a block of code. There are many ways: You could drag your mouse over the block or hold down the Shift key and use the cursor arrow down key to select the lines for the block. The one I’ve

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• The Powerful SQL Upsert

  January 27, 2015 Ted Holt

  As you well know, a common task in business computing is to update an entity (customer, vendor, purchase order line, etc.) that exists, but add the entity if it doesn’t exist. In RPG this requires two operations–an update and a write–within a conditional statement. In SQL one statement handles the whole shebang. Here’s how it works. Here’s some RPG III code that illustrates the situation. FCUSTF UF E K DISK . . . code omitted C CUSKEY KLIST C KFLD COMP C KFLD ACCT C* . . . more code omitted C* HILOEQ C CUSKEY CHAINCUSTREC 99 C* . .

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• Knee-Deep In Ruby Waters

  January 27, 2015 Aaron Bartell

  In Testing The Ruby Waters I introduced you to Ruby and how to use irb (interactive Ruby shell) to easily run and test Ruby code. In this article I expound on that and introduce more features of the Ruby programming language as it relates to an IBM i programmer. In particular, Ruby methods and one form of encapsulation. Ruby is an object-oriented language; everything in Ruby is an object. But that doesn’t inhibit Ruby from being used in a more procedural approach. Below is a Ruby program named “say_hi.rb” with a method definition of “hi”, and then the invocation of

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• Profound Logic, ARCAD Partnership Targets Modernization Projects

  January 26, 2015 Dan Burger

  Modernization strategies in the IBM midrange community are inevitable because the future is not exactly hospitable to those who cling to the past. At some point, the risk of doing nothing exceeds the risk of moving forward with new plans. Last week, Profound Logic and ARCAD Software announced a partnership that signals more activity in the modernization arena. It is not the first ISV action relative to modernization and it won’t be the last. Profound Logic is one of the leaders in the application development tool business. ARCAD is a major player in the change management field. Both companies have

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• More IBM i Predictions From The Community

  January 26, 2015 Alex Woodie

  Last week, we ran part one of our IBM i predictions series. Most of the prophecies were positive, although there were a few pessimists in the bunch (some might call them realists). This week we have round two of our predictions, including some interesting hunches from the top honchos in Rochester, as well as more doses of (shall we say) “realism” from dedicated IBM i advocates. Steve Will, Chief Architect–IBM i Operating System “From a community predictions point of view, I do believe that conferences and user groups in the IBM i community are going to have a healthy year,

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• Capturing Data, Not Just Documents

  January 26, 2015 Dan Burger

  There is a pretty good chance that content management systems are not what you think they are. Preconceived notions and unwarranted conclusions are a dime a dozen. CMS, in the minds of most people, is about scanning and capturing reports. Or it is about going paperless and abandoning the old metal filing cabinets. But if that’s all you think it is, you are missing the big picture. Mobile and analytics technology have altered how data is captured and how it is used. The shift that has occurred in content management is not insignificant. Mobile and analytics have converged at a

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• As I See It: Partisans and Mercenaries

  January 26, 2015 Victor Rozek

  Long ago in simpler times, I read a novel in which one character kills another with a credit card. I remember being dismayed that something so trivial as a credit card could be used as a weapon. It seemed there was no end to human ingenuity when it came to dispatching other human beings. By the time computers became militarized, I was no longer dismayed. It was obvious that a tool capable of amplifying human capacities would not be limited to the perfection of human nature. But with the growth of the World Wide Web, something unforeseen happened that sent

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• Reader Feedback On IBM i Wish List For 2015

  January 26, 2015 Hey, TPM

  First, my disclaimer. I have worked my whole life in the S/3X space: 31 years as an IBMer, last 10 working for the (now) IBM i brand and Rochester, then nine years working for IBM Business Partners. Next, my wish list (biased by the above): 1) I’d like to see graduated pricing for IBM i, regardless of software tier. One of the biggest impediments to sales of new footprints is Initial Purchase Price. P05 licenses of IBM i and its LPPs are very competitive. P10 is expensive and P20 and above are prohibitive. I’d like to see IBM make the

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• IBM i Predictions For 2015 From Around The Community

  January 21, 2015 Alex Woodie

  The new year is here! Will 2015 be the year IBM i makes a comeback, or will there be another setback? IT Jungle reached out to the IBM i community for predictions and was rewarded with a treasure trove of ideas–some of them serious, some of them zany, but all of them authentic from the people who know the platform the best. Dr. Frank Soltis, retired chief scientist at IBM “Because of IBM’s low stock price, Apple will consider buying all of IBM and begin selling a new leading-edge business computer that they will call iBusiness.” Trevor Perry, IBM i

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• S4i Documents Success In Paperless Transformations

  January 21, 2015 Alex Woodie

  We’re never going to entirely eliminate paper in the workplace. People are much too dependent on it for that. But the way S4i Systems CEO Spencer Elliott sees it, companies can take tremendous bite out of their paper consumption–and become more agile and efficient businesses–by transitioning to electronic document management tools, such as the IBM i-based package he sells at S4i. Like many people in the IBM i community, Elliott is old school. He often prefers reading on paper compared to computer monitors, and likes the simplicity that a pencil and a piece of paper afford. “You’re never going to

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