• Thoroughly Modern: Practical Ways IBM i Developers Can Use AI Today

  December 4, 2023 Scott Gingerysty

  This October at COMMON’s NAViGATE Conference, I presented a session about practical ways that IBM i developers can use AI in their day-to-day development practices. We discussed how you can streamline and optimize the development process, improve coding velocity, enhance code hygiene, testing and documentation, and we also looked at some of the caveats. After connecting with the folks at COMMON – and seeing their enthusiasm – I felt inspired to share these examples with the IT Jungle community.

  So, why AI for developers? AI offers a transformative toolkit that streamlines learning and amplifies creative problem-solving. Through machine learning algorithms, …

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• Guru: Binding Directory Entries

  June 5, 2023 Bob Cozzi

  I assume you’ve heard about *BNDDIR (Binding Directory) objects introduced circa 1994 with OS/400 V3R2. The infamous QC2LE binding directory is used by a huge number of RPG applications to access C runtime and unblocked MI functions such as system cvthc, cpybytes, and matmatr. You have probably seen RPG IV source code with the BNDDIR(‘QC2LE’) keyword on the header specification.

  I was one of the first developers outside of IBM to use Binding Directories for my own code. When I go back and look at my own RPG IV code created prior to mid-2007, well over 90 percent of it …

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• Thoroughly Modern: Digital Solutions For IBM i And Beyond

  November 7, 2022 Marcel Sarrasin and Scott Gingerysty

  IT leaders need to develop strategies that address business goals but also look ahead to a changing economic climate and disruptions. Digital innovation (web, mobile, APis, cloud, etc.)  is one of the fastest growing areas of IT. And it’s no wonder – taking on these initiatives while using an iterative approach can deliver quick wins and attainable near-term impacts. This allows organizations to invest in ways that are sustainable.

  As organizations look to new business models, seeing technology as a way to accomplish business objectives is the right approach. Competition, market disruption, growth, cost optimization and responding to client needs …

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• Smart Modernization Is The Answer To IBM i Talent Shortage

  September 28, 2022 Jose Caso Jacobs

  When we are at the COMMON POWERUp 2022 conference a few months ago, we were amazed by the number of IT managers that approached us because of a shortage of IBM i programming talent. The dearth of programmers that are experienced with the business as well as legacy and modern programming techniques has pushed a lot of businesses up against the wall, with lost agility and in some cases delayed projects.

  As bad as that is, the situation could be worse. We have all heard the horror stories, where the executive suite or upper IT management push to switch away …

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• Log4j Security Hole Found In OmniFind Text Search Server

  March 14, 2022 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Who would have thought that a logging utility written in Java and available for more than two decades could cause so much trouble? But that is the nature of the Log4j security vulnerability, which has been installed in all kinds of systems software and which had a Log4Shell vulnerability that was discovered by Chinese computing giant Alibaba on November 24 last year and that was revealed to the world on December 9 as a zero-day vulnerability.

  There are several areas of the IBM i software stack that use the Log4j logging utility, which is one of the many Apache open …

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• Profound Logic Speeds Up Mobile Client

  September 1, 2021 Alex Woodie

  Organizations that adopt the latest release of Profound Logic’s mobile client for iOS will find it runs significantly faster than older versions — up to 300 percent, the company says. An update to Apple’s newest Web browser rendering engine is the key behind the speedup in Profound UI Mobile Client version 2.8, the company says.

  Profound UI Mobile Client is a development tool and client runtime that enables organizations to create native iOS applications. It works with both Profound UI as a front-end for RPG applications (with integration handled via IBM’s RPG Open Access) as well as Profound.js, the …

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• SoftLanding Adds Support for Source Stream Files

  February 3, 2021 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops developing in a mix of open source and native languages can now manage all of their development projects together in a new release of SoftLanding Systems’ TURNOVER software. The big change that enables that open source support is how SoftLanding adapted its change management software to support stream files on the IFS. The company also took the opportunity to add a new Web interface and rebrand its entire TURNOVER suite of products.

  First, let’s clear up the name changes. TURNOVER Lifecycle Manager is the new name of the change management software that used to go by TURNOVER …

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• Kisco Locks Down IBM i Report Distribution

  October 28, 2020 Alex Woodie

  Users will gain more control over how their IBM i spool files are distributed and displayed, with a new release of WebReport/i, which is Kisco Information Systems’ spool file utility automatically reformatting and distributing spool files.

  WebReport/i can reformat IBM i spool files in a variety of different ways. It can change them into HTML, RTF, PDF, XLS, XLSX, TIF or CSV formats, and it can also distribute them via HTTP, FTP, email, Google Drive, Dropbox, and even fax.

  With Release 14, which was unveiled earlier this month, Kisco has shored up the security of the product. Specifically, when posting …

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• CNX Releases Beta of Valence 6.0

  September 2, 2020 Alex Woodie

  CNX last week announced the beta release of Valence 6.0, the newest version of its Web development framework and portal for IBM i. Valence 6.0 brings a whole new look and feel to Web applications created with Valence, as well as updates to administrative functions, the data access layer, and more.

  Valence is a set of tools for creating Web and mobile applications that run under IBM i’s Apache Web server and access existing RPG business logic. The product has several components, including a JavaScript library; a set of RPG procedures for integrating various JavaScript libraries (Ext JS, React, or …

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• i2Rest Offers Native API Alternative to IWS

  August 19, 2020 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops that want to expose their RPG applications as industry standard Web services have a few options to choose from. One solution they should keep on their list is i2Rest, which is a native ILE application that exposes RPG using modern OAuth2 and OpenAPI standards.

  We first came across Alexei Baranov’s work back in 2012, when he was involved in the port of the SVN client to IBM i while working at a Moscow, Russia-based consulting firm. Soon thereafter, Baranov started working on developing Web services tools for IBM i.

  The first version of his new Web …

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