Copy source members to the IFS

Someone asked me how I would write a program to copy all of the members in source files to separate files in the IFS, where they could then me imported into a GiT. I can see a program like this being more useful overtime as more people move from using source files to using a GiT repository.

In this example I will be copying all the source members from the source file DEVSRC in the library MYLIB to the IFS directory /home/MyFolder. The files in the IFS would all be named in the following way: source_member_name.source_member_type, for example: TESTRPG.RPGLE

My first attempt at creating a program to do this was to use RPG. I was going to use the CPYTOIMPF command within the QCMDEXC Scalar function. Alas, several hours of creating program I received the following message when running the RPG program for the first time:

New View lists all file members

If I wanted to get a list of members in a file with SQL I always had to work with the SYSPARTITIONSTAT View, which was not the purpose it was designed for. In the latest latest Technology Refreshes a new View has been added that is designed for information about members, SYSMEMBERSTAT.

The new SYSMEMBERSTAT View is in the library QSYS2 and contains all the columns I could want to know about members in a file.

I always recommend if this is the first time you are using a View you should look at all of the columns and determine, for yourself, which ones are important. The following statement displays all the columns in SYSMEMBERSTAT:

Fortra IBM i Marketplace Survey

Fortra, formerly known as HelpSystems, has opened their annual IBM i marketplace survey.

This is the eleventh-year they have had the survey. It provides a useful insight to what the IBM i community is up to, and what are their concerns.

The survey opened last Friday, and will close on October 31. The results will be published in January 2025.

I encourage you to take part. I did so on Friday.

You can get to the survey using the link here.

Improvements to the SQL scalar function that sends email

As part of the latest Technology Refreshes a number of improvements have been added to the SEND_EMAIL scalar function.

What are these:

• New parameters for carbon copy (CC) and blind carbon copy (BCC)
• Up to twenty email addresses in the email, cc email, and bbc email parameters
• Up to ten attachments from the IFS can be attached to the email

All of which are useful additions to SEND_EMAIL.

Let me jump right to giving an example of using more than one email address and the new cc and bbc email parameters:

IBM i: Integrate and innovate

IBM published a document last month, August 2024, called "IBM i: Integrate and innovate", with the subtitle "An executive guide to the strategy and roadmap for the IBM I integrated operating environment for IBM Power servers". I think it is great that IBM publishes documents like this. I read them all, and share them with you too.

It is a 31 page document that IMHO you should share with your colleagues, managers, and executives. I will be doing so myself today.

The document can be reached on the IBM website by clicking on the link here.

Extra columns in a Select statement but not in the group by

I struggled with the title of this post to make it something that explains the content, without it being too long. I am not limited for length in the body of this post so I can explain in more detail my scenario: I want to have columns that are listed in my results for a Select statement that are not in the GROUP BY clause.

This is something that has been made easier with a new Scalar function added in the latest round of Technology Refreshes. First let me give you examples of my scenario.

What I am going to do is to take use my PERSON DDL Table and make a count of the places of birth of the people. As these are people from the British Isles, I will also include the columns for the county and the country (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales) from a second Table, TOWN.