• Guru: When %SCAN Isn’t Sufficient

  June 24, 2019 Ted Holt

  The RPG %SCAN built-in function is wonderful! I can still remember having to look for a string within a string using RPG II on System/36. What an ordeal that was! Yet in some situations %SCAN can’t do all I need it to do. In those cases, I rely on the power of SQL.

  One case where SQL comes in handy is when I need a case-insensitive scan. Instead of RPG’s %SCAN function, I use SQL’s LOCATE and UPPER functions, like this:

  dcl-s  Description  char(48);
  dcl-s  pos          int (10);
  
  exec sql
     set :pos = locate ('HAMMER', upper(:Description));
  

  If Description has the …

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• Guru: Health Indicators

  January 28, 2019 Dawn May

  In Configure Collection Services, I reviewed how you can improve the configuration of Collection Services. In this tip, I’m going to demonstrate how to easily review your Collection Services data and understand your partition’s performance characteristics using the Health Indicators.

  Navigator for i has a rich set of performance tasks, one of which is Investigate Data, also referred to as the Performance Data Investigator (PDI). The base operating system allows you to manage and visualize Collection Services data. The Performance tasks (and PDI) also support other types of performance data, but those graphical features require installing the Performance Tools …

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• Guru: Using SQL With Multi-Membered Files

  October 29, 2018 Mike Larsen

  Recently I worked on a process that required me to update records in a file based on certain criteria. Sounds like a common request, right? Well, there was a twist. The file had multiple members and the update needed to consider all of them. Suddenly, a “simple” request became a bit more challenging.

  I knew of a few ways to work with multi-membered files, but I like to lay out all the options before deciding on a game plan. One method I considered was to perform an override of the file (OVRDBF command). That would certainly work, although I have …

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• Guru: The Binding Directory Is The Key

  October 1, 2018 Ted Holt

  Hey, Ted:

  We license a software package to handle email on our IBM i system. When I write an RPG program that uses those routines, I can’t compile with the usual Create Bound RPG Program (CRTBNDRPG) command. Instead I have to use a two-step process — Create RPG Module (CRTRPGMOD) followed by Create Program (CRTPGM). Can you explain why this is? Even better, can you tell me if there is a way that I’m not aware of to compile with CRTBNDRPG?

  — David

  David continued, “I use CRTBNDCL and CRTBNDRPG, as they get me what I need, otherwise I am …

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• Guru: DB2 For i XML Composition And The IFS

  June 11, 2018 Michael Sansoterra

  Hey, Mike! Regarding Composing An XML Document From Relational Data, Part 1, I have built an XML document using DB2 and i. When I run the query, I get a worthless result set. How do I use the SQL XML functions to get a usable XML file?

  This question comes from reader RA, and he doesn’t exaggerate. The result set from his XML-based query looks like this:

  ....+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+
  ************Beginning of data************** 
  
  XMLDATA 
  -------- 
  #CGULIB#
  
    1 RECORD(S) SELECTED.
  
   ************End of Data********************
  

  Notice that DB2 for i does nothing to make the XML attractive to human eyes as the entire XML …

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• Guru: Ready or Not! Part 3 Of Big Changes In RDi V9.6, Compare/Merge, Code Coverage, and More

  June 4, 2018 Susan Gantner

  This is the third in my series of tips on RDi V9.6. In this one I’ll cover the new compare and merge support, along with improvements to code coverage and a few other smaller enhancements in V9.6. I originally thought this would be the last in the series, but IBM recently made available a new point release that introduced enough new features to mean I’ll be adding at least one more tip.

  Compare And Merge

  The ability to compare the content of two source members is not new to RDi, but with V9.6 the facility now offers the option to …

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• Guru: Odds And Ends

  May 14, 2018 Ted Holt

  Little things can make a big difference. Today I am pleased to present a few short tips that may make a difference for you. I hope you get something useful here. If you have short tips that you would like to share with your fellow readers, please email them to me and I’ll see what I can do. Have a wonderful day!

  ---

  Hey, Ted:

  I just read your article More Date And Time Conversions Using SQL. Just as aside, the scalar functions Decimal/Dec, Integer, and BigInt can convert times, dates and timestamps directly into a numeric representation in the …

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• Guru: RDi and Refactoring

  April 16, 2018 Ted Holt

  When I first heard the term refactoring, I thought, “So that’s what they call it.” I had been refactoring for years, my only tools being SEU and a compiler listing. I learned a long time ago that refactoring is often necessary to enhance code, especially poorly written code. Another reason I often refactor is to better understand poor code.

  To refactor means to rewrite source code without changing its external behavior. Due to all the “legacy” source code (RPG II, RPG III, fixed-form RPG IV, OCL, etc.) in IBM i shops, the ability to refactor source code is a …

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• Guru: More Date And Time Conversions Using SQL

  March 26, 2018 Ted Holt

  Since many, if not most, IBM i shops store dates and times in numeric and character fields, it behooves those of us who program those systems to understand all available date- and time-conversion tools. A conversation with a fellow attendee of the recent RPG & DB2 Summit made me realize that I had not written about certain SQL conversion methods.

  IBM i programmers need to convert date, time, and timestamp data from one format to another for at least two reasons. First, we can’t do date and time arithmetic with numeric and character fields. Second, the people whom we serve …

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• Guru: Beyond The Basics Of Code Conversion

  March 19, 2018 Paul Tuohy

  Today many RPG programmers are tasked with having to modernize existing programs. These programs often have long and varied history. They may be RPG IV programs or they may be RPG IV programs that were originally RPG II or RPG III programs, or any permutation or combination you can imagine. There are tools available to help us convert from fixed-form RPG to free-form RPG and, within RDi, we have options to help us reformat code and refactor variable names. But these tools can only go so far. We finally reach the point where we have to put fingers to the …

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