SQL iQuery Archives

PUB400: Your Free IBM i Playground

March 4, 2024 Alex Woodie

Search the Web for “free Linux server” and hundreds of results pop up. Do the same for “free IBM i server” and your results are much more limited. But what the universe of free IBM i servers lacks in quantity it makes up in quality thanks in large part to PUB400, a free IBM i instance that has been serving the midrange community for nearly a quarter century.

Many IT Jungle readers undoubtedly are familiar with PUB400.com, which was started by Holger Scherer on a little AS/400 Model 150 back in 1999. Over the years, the site and the …
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IBM i Shops Have Alternatives to Db2 Web Query

November 15, 2023 Alex Woodie

The sudden demise of Db2 Web Query has sent customers looking for alternatives. The good news is that IBM i software vendors offer a number of pre-built solutions that can fit the bill.

Here are some potential business intelligence tools from vendors that could serve as replacements to Db2 Web Query. We’ll take a look at open source alternatives in a future article.

Cozzi Research SQL World

Cozzi Research develops two query tools for IBM i, including SQL iQuery and SQL Tools, and bundles them both in a single product called SQL World.

Cozzi positions SQL iQuery as a native …
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Guru: The Transition From Modern RPG IV To Modern SQL

October 30, 2023 Bob Cozzi

Seven or eight years ago I was working with a client who needed more contemporary reporting than provided by the legacy Query/400 product. Initially I looked at Db2 Web Query and realized the documentation was sparse and the tutorials for most things, even “getting started” were virtually non-existent. It was also about four times more expensive than I felt it was worth to a P05 or P10 client. I mentioned the documentation issue to the folks at IBM and they agreed. Some of it was eventually resolved, but not enough in my opinion to get the masses to replace Query/400 …
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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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PUB400: Your Free IBM i Playground

IBM i Shops Have Alternatives to Db2 Web Query

Cozzi Research SQL World

Guru: The Transition From Modern RPG IV To Modern SQL

Guru: Generating XML Using SQL – The Easy Way

Guru: Binding Directory Entries

Content archive

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