1. Enhance i5/OS with IBM's Blessing!

Others will think you work for IBM. By Ted Holt A System i developer recently informed me that after several years of programming, he is finally learning to create commands. I am amazed that many developers have worked many years with t

2. Using i5/OS Commands

With a little understanding, you'll find i5/OS commands quite intuitive. (Editor's note: This article is excerpted from the book IBM i5/iSeries Primer, Fourth Edition by Ted Holt and Kevin Forsythe.) Many computers have operating sy

3. TechTip: Five Simple Things to Know About CVTDA

Just how much do you know about this handy command?

4. TechTip: Which Messages Should I Monitor?

Q: Our programming staff is trying to find a list of the "error messages that can be monitored" that used to appear in the Programming Reference Summary manual. I've looked in the iSeries Information Center, and it refers me to the CL manual, whi

5. TechTip: Trapping a Canceled RUNQRY Command

Awhile back, I was asked if it were possible to determine when the RUNQRY command had been canceled with F3 or F12. I had no answer, but Tom Liotta of PowerTech Group (www.400security.com) did, and he shared it with me. Tom uses the QUSRJOBI API to

6. TechTip: Removing a Damaged PTF

Q: I have a PTF that is showing as damaged. I have tried several ways to fix this, including re-downloading the PTF and using the DLTPTF and RMVPTF commands, but I have been unsuccessful so far. Perhaps you can assist with this problem? A: The PTF m

7. Keeping It Light

Will this new method show programmers the light?

8. Is the NIH Syndrome Still Alive in Your Shop?

The

9. Focus on Printing

The first computer I ever wrote a program for was the IBM System/3 Model 12. It was capable of running two programs at once, one of which could be a print spooler. However, I ran my applications in one partition and bisynchronous communications in th

10. Focus on Database Management

If I were to ask you how the System/36 and native AS/400 differ, you’d probably mention that the AS/400 lets you define files externally to programs. You might also mention that DB2/400 logical files are more powerful than S/36 alternate indexes

11. A Web Interface for Morons?

In five years, the Internet will not look the way it does today.

12. The Death of OPNQRYF

Did the title of this article get your attention? I hope so. It certainly grabbed my attention as the subject of an email I received from Howard Arner back in early October. He forwarded a clipping to me from an IBM press release in case I hadn’

13. Is RPG Dead?

The times they are a changin’, and apparently they’re changing too rapidly for some. There’s a lot of uncertainty among the readers of this magazine. I read it in email and hear it at user group meetings. The uncertainty boils down to

14. Function Junction

You'll find that the routines in Function Junction are capable of handling more than your demands.

15. Open Source Is Gaining Ground

Recently, I wrote about the open source movement and how it might affect small businesses. (See “Open Source Business Applications, Anyone?” March 2000, MC.) Since that time, I have followed the open source movement, and, because I believe

16. QMF Comes to the AS/400

Version 7.1 of Query Management Facility (QMF) for Windows for AS/400 will become generally available on September 29 of this year. Are you excited? If not, should you be?QMF is not new; it's been around since 1983 in the IBM mainframe world. QMF for

17. Cothern Computer Systems' Call Pro--Computer Telephony Software

There are good reasons for an AS/400 and a telephone switch to learn to communicate with each other. Such a connection is known as computer telephony integration (CTI), and it is a powerful business tool. IBM helps somewhat with the connection by off

18. Tools You Didn't Know You Can't Live Without

Quick! What do binary large objects (BLOBs), column-level security, user-defined data types, and user-defined functions have in common? If you answered that these are DB2/400 features that are available with SQL but not through DDS, you’re right

19. IBM Clarifies the Future of AS/400 Application Development

An MIS manager for whom I’ve done a good bit of work called me recently with a dilemma. He knew his company had to go GUI. The users demanded it. But he didn’t know how he should implement it. Should he hire some Visual Basic programmers? O

20. More Smoke and Mirrors: Views and Virtual Fields

Logical files and SQL views can be used in ways you may not have realized.

21. IBM Is Committed

It was pointed out to me several years ago that the phrase “Mary had a little lamb” can have several meanings. It can mean, for instance, that Mary once owned a little lamb. Then again, it might mean that Mary ate a bit of lamb for supper.

22. Focus on Printing

Recently, I came across a speech by David Watson, president and CEO of Ultimate Technographics of Montreal. You can read his speech entitled “The Future of the Printing Industry” at www.ultimate-tech.com/futureprinting.htm. Ultimate Technog

23. Logical Files: More than Alternate Sort Sequences

Add new fields to physical files without recompiling programs.

24. Is Online Consulting a Disruptive Technology?

Ted takes a look at whether the Internet will change consulting, too.

25. Open Source Business Applications, Anyone?

Open source is moving into the commercial world, but can it work for business software?

26. Customer Relationship Mismanagement?

Customer relationship management software won't help unless your company really believes in customer service.

27. Programming for the Lowest Common Denominator

CGI gives you the ability to program for the masses.

28. Speech Recognition: Coming to a Desktop Near You!

Speech recognition is about to be the talk of the town.

29. Opening Up Data Warehouses

Data warehouses are learning to open up and communicate.

30. RPG Programmers Meet Lotus Notes

Meet the new database, same as the old database. Or is it?

31. Focus on Data Warehousing

William Inmon is credited as the “father of data warehousing” because he wrote a book called Building the Data Warehouse in 1993. In this book, he defined a data warehouse as “a subject oriented, integrated, non-volatile, time variant

32. If It Ain't Broke, Fix It!

Give your AS/400 a makeover.

33. Just What I've Always Wanted

Oh, V4R4, you shouldn't have. These new enhancements are just beautiful.

34. Search Out and Destroy Bad Dates

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find and fix all bad dates.

35. Down with the Disk Drive! Long Live Memory!

In the old days, data was stored on punched cards. A file was a deck of cards. Running a job required loading one or more decks of cards in card readers. After some programs ran, the input deck was thrown away and replaced by an output deck. Computer

36. IBM Cares More than You May Think

Sometimes, Big Blue actually does know what's best for you.

37. Remembrance of Things Last

While vanilla CGI melts away like ice cream in summer, persistent CGI has sticking power.

38. The Good Guy Doesn't Always Win

Is the fourth gear of the future actually stuck in reverse?

39. Is ERP in Your Future?

Enterprise Resource Planning: There's no escaping destiny.

40. OOP in CL's Clothing

Lost in a tangle of terms? Demystify OOP through the familiar landscape of CL.

41. What Does That Query Do?

Query me this: Could you use a utility that keeps file changes in check?

42. Focus On IDEs

One of the reasons I hate to watch TV (there are several) is that I’m constantly bombarded by the message that I need something I don’t have. I’m told I need a new car, a certain exercise machine, and new clothes. I need to eat certain

43. RPG III: Good for Its Time

RPG IV really is better. Why isn't your shop using it?

44. API Power Without API Complexity!

The Receive Job Log Messages (RCVJLMSG) procedure sure beats the QMHLJOBL API for receiving messages from an active job's job log.

45. IMHO: Time to Jump Ship?

I’ve always felt a sense of loyalty to my employers. After all, the world doesn’t owe me a living, so anybody who gives me a job is doing me a favor. I’ve always tried to give an honest day’s work in exchange for a day’s wage

46. Putting Power Behind PDM

PDM slowing you down? Beef up the options with your own custom programs.

47. Arrays for Intelligent People Part 2

The biggest obstacle to effective use of arrays is a lack of imagination.

48. FOCUS on Database

“Inquiring minds want to know,” says an advertisement for a tabloid. I have an inquiring mind, but not about the lives of “beautiful people” or the prophesies of Nostradamus. I want to know what database management is going to be

49. Set-at-a-time Power Programming

Why process records one at a time, when you can process a whole set of records all at once?

50. Getting to Know JDBC

Learn how to use SQL statements to access DB2/400 from Java programs.