The Ultimate Resource for IBM i For Power Systems including AS/400, iSeries, and System i

The DB2 10 for Z/OS Database Administration Certification Study Guide (Exam 612) is goal-oriented and successfully fulfills its primary goal of helping those who want to certify on DB2 Z/OS as a DBA. The authors, Susan Lawson and Daniel Luksetich, have ensured that the contents are well-written and appropriately categorized so that both aspiring and experienced DBAs can use this guide with ease and better understand the database concepts. In addition, this book covers all the key aspects of database administration that a DBA needs on a day-to-day basis, and hence will easily serve as the go-to guide for any firsthand information.

MC Press Online talks with more than 20 vendors to find out what the latest technology announcements are coming from the COMMON expo floor.

chris_smith Written by Chris Smith

COMMON this year was held in the happiest place on earth—Disneyland. It's a great place to vacation, and I hope many of those attending the conference and expo took advantage of the entertainment and vacation opportunities either before or after the show. Living only about 35 minutes from Disneyland, I of course haven't set foot in the place in 20 years. A lot has changed in that time, it turns out, and it is way more fun than it used to be. It's also way more expensive, but so is everything.

Being a Better RPG Programmer

What skills should an RPG programmer have besides knowledge of basic RPG?

jim_staton Written by Jim Staton

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview candidates for a programming position at our company. I had just lost an excellent employee due to personal reasons, and I needed an additional person to develop and maintain the code on our iSeries. We have a small group of five iSeries programmers, four of whom spend most of their time developing and maintaining RPG code and are part of our total IT staff. The fifth develops programs for the iSeries as well as Windows and Linux servers, but in PHP and Java. As I looked through resumes and thought about the skills I needed in our company, I reflected on how much has changed in programming for IBM midrange systems since the early days of the AS/400 and what I now expect a programmer to know.

All you need is the User Function Registration APIs.

bruce_vining Written by Bruce Vining

Last month, in "Accessing a Command Line," we looked at how the Retrieve User Information (QSYRUSRI) API could be used to control access to a specific function with an application program. The function we were controlling was access to a command line window, displayed using the Display Command Line Window (QUSCMDLN) API, by way of command key 9. The application determined whether or not command key 9 should be enabled, based on the user class (USRCLS) attribute of the user profile currently running the application program. In this article, we will look at a more flexible approach to managing user access to an application program function. For demonstration purposes, the application function being managed will continue to be the ability to access a command line window (using QUSCMDLN).

A Webcast takes on all challengers, asserting that the technology works elegantly to modernize source-code available applications while saving time and requiring no programming.

chris_smith Written by Chris Smith

There has been an air of mystery and, thus, skepticism surrounding RPG Open Access since IBM introduced it in April 2010 with the release of IBM i 7.1. The program, officially known as Rational Open Access: RPG Edition, was perceived as exotic and incomplete since it relied upon users or ISVs to write handlers to make it work, rather than providing a complete solution to, what might be called, GUI envy!

INDUSTRY NEWS >>

Presto 4 from BCD Now Includes Optimized Layouts for Mobile Devices

Presto's built-in intelligence automatically detects the user's device type and determines the best screen layout.
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Jon Paris and Susan Gantner head up the all-star team of IBM i speakers presenting the latest technical material during a multi-track day of 35 training sessions.
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COMMON Membership Elects New Board Members for 2012 – 2013

Randy Dufault takes over from Pete Massiello as president of the organization, while newcomer Justin Porter takes a seat on the board.
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IntelliChief Helps Ice Cream Cone Maker Go Green

Joy Cone selects IBM i paperless Accounts Payable solution to reduce paper, increase productivity.
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Halcyon Announces Document Management System V3.0 for IBM i

New application runs extremely fast while ensuring reliable archiving, rapid retrieval, packaging, and distribution of business information, documents, and reports from spool files.