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There is a special breed of IBM i programmer who will fight you to the death over the name of the box. Call it an IBM i Power system and watch their blood pressure climb. Mention Power Systems running IBM i and they start twitching. No, they insist, it is still an AS/400, always has …
IBM i, Programming, RPG, SQL
If you have ever written a tidy little subprocedure that does some embedded SQL, then checked SQLCODE afterwards only to find it stubbornly sitting at zero even though the statement clearly failed, you have probably met this gotcha. Today we are going to answer three questions that trip up plenty of IBM i developers: Spoiler: …
SQLRPGLE – A Sortable Subfile with Column Headings and Search using RTNCSRLOC If you have been following the subfile series, you will know we already have a solid working example in the SORTSFLBOB program. Now it is time to add the finishing touches that make it feel properly modern. Let’s go with the assumption that …
The 3am Wake-Up Call You Didn’t Need: Service Account Password Expiration If your web services or overnight batch jobs have ever thrown a wobbly because a password decided to expire at the worst possible moment, you are not alone. On IBM i systems, password expiration is one of those security features that works brilliantly for …
DISCLAIMER: This is not my usual style of programming video. It’s long format, lots of me muttering at the camera while trying to fix some RPG code. I started recording with no idea if it would work or not. Spoiler – it did in the end. Also featuring an AI generated video, a growling version …
Hey there, fellow IBM i RPG Nerds. I was revisiting a couple of old posts about source code commenting and compile directives and it got me thinking about these marvelous, often overlooked features of IBM-i source code. Today, let’s dive into RPG compiler directives! If you have ever stared at a mile-long compiler listing wondering …
Hey folks, this Sunday morning finds me tinkering with some old training videos, while wading knee-deep in green screens, RPG code, and the occasional cup of strong coffee on the sunny (but cold) Spanish Costa Blanca. I’ve just hit publish on something that’s been sitting on my hard drive for way too long: a brand-new …
In our clan of gray haired AS400 and iSERIES programmers, we all have roots in the good old RPG LOGIC CYCLE. We have one foot in the old world of huge programs with tens of thousands of lines written in a very start-middle-end style, often with many subroutines. The other foot is in the modern …
SQLRPGLE Shorts – How to Call QCMDEXC with IBM i SQL Surely every RPG programmer is familiar with the QCMDEXC *API for exciting any IBM i Command from within any HLL (High Level Language) program. What is QCMDEXC? The Execute Command (QCMDEXC) API runs a single command. It is used to run a command from …
AS400, IBM i, iSeries, Programming, RPG
DSPF Indicator Command Keys in AS400 RPG (… and iSeries and IBM i obviously) Ever since my days at JBA, I’ve used the old-fashioned function key indicators to handle internal Function Keys selections, or Command Keys as they were known in the System/3x days. These PFKEY ranges from keys 1 through 24. Most programmers used …
Count with SQLRPGLE Variable File Name Been having fun with SQL and RPG ILE this afternoon… the question was “How do I find out if and how many policies exist in one of the reservation files for a given customer code?” Obviously, we could write a little piece of RPGLE doing a READ LOOP and …
IBM i, AS400, IDE, iSeries, Modernization, Programming, RPG
The Winner is Visual Studio Code Visual Studio Code is an IDE (Interactive Development Environment). It’s a modern coding tool helping software developers to work with many languages. To write and maintain source code on your IBM i, iSeries or AS400 system, simply download and install the ‘Code for IBM i’ addon. Visual Studio Code …
