New subfields added to Program Status Data Structure

The latest Technology Refresh for IBM i 7.3, TR6, has seen two new subfields added to RPG's Program Data Structure. This data strucutre provides me with a wealth information about the status of the program while it is running, and when it errors.

I always add the Program Status Data Structure, PSDS, to all of my RPG programs. I can dump the program and learn a lot of what happened from the information contains within the PSDS.

Rather than manually entering the same data structure into every program, I have my PSDS in a member I just copy, or include, it into the source members of others.

Using SAMEPOS in data structures

Having written about a couple of the Db2 for i (SQL) additions that were made in the latest Technology Refresh, TR6, to IBM i 7.3 I thought I would write about the first of the two new additions to the RPG programming language, the SAMEPOS keyword used in data structures.

We have all created data structures where we have needed to overlay some subfields with another subfield. The way I am use to doing it is to determine at which position of the data structure I wish to start my new subfield, and use the POS to denote where this subfield starts.

01 dcl-ds *n ; 02 SubField1 char(1) ; 03 SubField2 char(1) ; 04 SubField3 char(1) ; 05 SubField4 char(1) ; 06 SubField5 char(3) pos(2) ; 07 end-ds ;

Subfield5, line 6, will overlay Subfield2, Subfield3, and Subfield4.

The SAMEPOS keyword, line 6 below, makes it easier as all I have to give is the data structure subfield I want to start my overlay.

RPGPGM.COM 6th birthday

I know this is going to sound glib, but RPGPGM.COM’s anniversary always creeps up and surprises me. I cannot believe that I have been writing this blog about all my favorite IBM i things for six years.

In past twelve months I wrote the 500th post for this blog. I still worry about running out of ideas, but I have fortunate to have lots of new material as IBM keeps adding new things to IBM i, via the twice yearly Technology Refreshes and a couple of new releases.

Each anniversary I pick what I think have been five of the most interesting things I have written about in the past twelve months. My picks from the last year are:

Using Data Areas with SQL

The latest technology refresh, IBM i 7.3 TR6, and the new release. IBM i 7.4, brought us a new view and table function that allows us to retrieve information from data areas. The closest thing we have had to this before is the Retrieve Data Area command, RTVDTAARA, but these gives us more than just the value held in the data area. The only down side with these being a view and table function is I cannot update the data area using them.

They both have the same name, DATA_AREA_INFO, and returned columns have the same names. The only difference is that the view has two additional columns. If I wanted to retrieve the information for just one data area I would use the table function. The view will list all data areas that fit the selection criteria. I could still get the information for the one data area using the view, but it is faster using the table function.

Online presentation – June 20

On Thursday June 20 at 11 AM PDT I will be giving an online presentation with New Generation Software (NGS). My part of the presentation will be about using SQL views to make it easier to get data from your IBM i database.

Updated executive guide for IBM i

The latest version of IBM's "Executive guide to the strategy and roadmap for the IBM i integrated operating environment for Power Systems" has been updated for IBM i 7.4.

This is a document you should consider sharing with senior management to help them realize that this platform, PowerSystems, and operating system, IBM i, is not the "same old 400". It is something way better.

You can download the document by clicking here.

Using SQL to retrieve data from spooled files.

One of the additions to IBM i with release 7.3 TR6 was a Db2 for i (SQL) table function that allows me to retrieve the contents of any spool file in my IBM i. I am sure that there are some people who are thinking "So what, I can do that with DSPSPLF"

Yes, I can view the contents of a spool file, but I cannot copy data from it. Why would I want to copy data from a spool file?

I am sure we all have reports in our ERP applications that the users would prefer as a spreadsheet. You are reluctant to change the ERP program as by doing so it will invalidate the support contract. Therefore, you copy the spool file to a physical file, and then parse the report's columns into fields, that are then written to the output file.

Using this new table function it becomes, in my opinion, a whole lot easier.

IBM Mission: Critical - POWER9

IBM Presents... Mission: Critical

IBM i: A platform for innovators, by innovators

By IBM

IBM i 7.4 is here! We are excited for this release and looking forward to the future of the IBM i platform as you continue to innovate with us. Here’s to 30+ years.

Using Check BiFs in CL

It has been several been several months since I last wrote a post about CL programming, therefore, I thought it would be a good excuse to share something I was using in a CL program I wrote a couple or so weeks ago. I am sure many have used the Check, %CHECK, and the Check reverse, %CHECKR build in functions, BiFs, in RPG to check a character string for the first place a certain character(s) is not. In the CL program I was writing I needed the same functionality.

IBM has been adding BiFs to CL that are similar to the ones to be found in RPG. Fortunately there are %CHECK and %CHECKR BiFs in CL too. The general format of them is similar to the RPG equivalent:

%CHECK(<test values> <variable> <starting position>) %CHECKR(<test values> <variable> <starting position>)

I found I could use these BiFs in my CL in two ways: