SQL iQuery Archives - IT Jungle

Guru: Generating XML Using SQL – The Easy Way

September 18, 2023 Bob Cozzi

There are many verbose methods of generating XML. You can:
- Write your own RPG code
- Using a free or third-party API
- Use SQL iQuery OUTPUT(*XML) option
- Use the built-in SQL XML functions such as XMLELEMENT
I’m sure there are others, but these seem to be the most popular.

For years I had been using the XMLELEMENT approach; a rather verbose set of XML function built into Db2 for i SQL. In fact, SQL iQuery’s OUTPUT(*XML) is based on that feature. It simply regenerates your SQL statement using XMLELEMENT statements for each output column/field name.

But if you’re using something IBM …
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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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