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So far, we have hacked through basic /Free structure and the control statements that can be used to tame it and bend it to our will.

By David Shirey

Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from chapter 6 of 21st Century RPG: /Free, ILE, and MVC, by David Shirey.

But what about files? So far, we have not really talked about them. How cruelly unfair, as files are at the heart of everything we do. But that is about to change.

As we shall see, most of the changes are to do with RPG I/O, not the way embedded SQL is used, but we will talk about that briefly also. SQL in full is definitely another topic for another day and has very little to do with /Free per se.

Read more ...

The previous TechTip focused on COUNT, MIN, MAX, SUM and AVG—all very useful column functions. However, the last two functions can produce results that are not very user-friendly. This TechTip will help you solve that.

By Rafael Victória-Pereira

Say you have a beautifully crafted SQL statement that returns the average of some complicated operation between columns of a given subset of data. It saved you hours of writing intermediate queries and complicated joins (by the way, here are a couple of refreshers about table joins, if you need them), but the result is most unfortunate: a very long number with loads and loads of decimal places. So what do you do? Rewrite the query to get a “prettier” result? No, there’s a better way: use CAST.

Read more ...

You must assign a data type to each column in a table. 

By Brian Meyers and Jim Buck

Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from chapter 3 of Programming in ILE RPG, Fifth Edition.

The column’s data type determines how its values are stored, how much storage the column occupies, and what kinds of operations can be performed on the column when it is used within a program. Commonly used data types fall into three general categories:

  • Character
  • Numeric
  • Date
Read more ...

Use the DISPLAY_JOURNAL table function on QAUDJRN to answer a very common question.

By Joe Pluta 

An area I deal with regularly is change management. We promote programs from a development machine to a production machine, and one of the regular tasks is to make sure those objects are in sync, which requires comparing objects across machines. In an upcoming article, I’ll show how I compare existing objects using the OBJECTS_STATISTICS table function and the BOUND_MODULE_INFO view, but for this article I want to address the problem when a program that should be there simply isn’t. 

Read more ...

You may already be familiar with Structured Query Language (SQL), an industry-standard language for defining, accessing, and manipulating a database.

By Brian Meyers and Jim Buck

Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from chapter 3 of Programming in ILE RPG, Fifth Edition.

The IBM i operating system uses SQL to create database objects, and ILE RPG programs can incorporate SQL statements to access and update data. The IBM i database principles correspond to SQL standards, but they predate SQL. Consequently, the system also uses an alternative tool, Data Description Specifications (DDS), to define and create database objects. Additionally, IBM i employs DDS to create device files, which SQL does not address.

Read more ...

Now that you’ve learned (or simply refreshed your memory about) joining tables, let’s go over some handy column functions. I believe these will save you a lot of work, so keep reading!

By Rafael Victória-Pereira

SQL’s many functions are incredibly useful and can save you a lot of time. However, they can also be the cause of major headaches, so you need to understand and use them correctly. I’ll go over a few of these functions now and explore a few more later. Let’s start with everybody’s favorite: the COUNT function.

Read more ...

In this excerpt series, you learn how IBM i handles database files. You also discover the differences between tables and views and between physical and logical files.

By Brian Meyers and Jim Buck

Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from chapter 3 of Programming in ILE RPG, Fifth Edition.

This series examines field reference files and introduces you to the IBM i data types and the storage implications of numeric, character, and date data types. It also covers how to use SQL or DDS to define database files and how to access these files from within RPG programs. In addition, it compares externally described files with program-described files, and it explains externally described device files and how to use DDS to define them.

Read more ...

In nearly every program you write, you need to control the flow of instructions. Free-format RPG IV offers experienced RPG programmers a new style for controlling program flow. In this chapter, we look at the numerous operations available for controlling flow in free format through conditional and selection logic, “do” functionality, and loop interrupts.

By Jim Martin

Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from chapter 6 of Free-Format RPG IV: Third Edition, by Jim Martin.

The If Group

Four free-format operations—If, Else, Elseif, and Endif—help you construct programs that execute conditional logic in a structured way. Together, these operations form a powerful arsenal for managing the flow of instructions in your program.

Read more ...
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