Checking if Job has error, and sends an email

The germ for this post came from a question I was asked about if it is possible to monitor a job, and if it errors to send an email. In previous posts I have given examples of the pieces need to do this, and in this post I will just put it all together, like assembling pieces of Lego.

The one perquisite that is needed to make this work is that the name of the Job has to be unique, and always the same. Each time the job is submitted to batch it has to be submitted with the same unique name. In this example the job I want to monitor will always have the name: SIMON_JOB

SBMJOB CMD(CALL PGM(program)) JOB(SIMON_JOB)

If the name of this job is not unique then there is no way I can identify it, and I will be able to check its status.

The program is quite simple I just need to do two things:

Additions to Object Statistics table function

One of my favorite SQL table functions, OBJECT_STATISTICS, was introduced in IBM i 7.2 and it is something I use on a regular basis to identify unused objects that can be deleted. Over the last two releases of IBM i and numerous Technology Refreshes new columns have been added to this table function making it, in my opinion, better. In this post I am going to describe three of these enhancements, and how I can see them helping me.

 

LAST_USED_OBJECT column

One of the things I found using OBJECT_STATISTICS was certain object types' Last Used Timestamp was not updated when the object is used. This would fool me into thinking that it was an unused object that could be deleted as it was not being used. Then I would find all of the other objects of the same type were missing the Last Used Timestamp too. I ended up building a complicated select statement, referencing certain object types and conditioning the values in columns, to make an output table I could then use to find obsolete objects.

Calculating prime numbers in RPG

The germ for this post is from a question that was asked in an interview. This person, a self confessed RPG "fresher", had been asked to write a "RPG free" program to calculate the prime numbers between 1 and 11. This request intrigued me, and made me think what kind of program the interviewer probably wanted, and what I would write if I need to use this at work.

Let me start with the basics, the definition of what is a prime number:

Any integer other than 0 or 1 that is not divisible without remainder by any other integers except 1 and the integer itself

Taken from the Merriam Webster dictionary.

What are the prime numbers in the desired range:

Migration of developerWorks Technology Refresh information

The migration of content from IBM's developerWorks portal, which was sunset at the end of 2019, continued with Scott Forstie, IBM Db2 for i Business Architect, announcing the migration of two new sites:

• IBM i Technology Updates: http://ibm.com/ibmi/techupdates
• IBM i Services: http://ibm.biz/Db2foriServices

As usual great information from IBM, and two sites I will be visiting on a regular basis.

Object owner information from SQL View

Tucked within the latest round of Technology Refreshes for IBM i for 7.4, TR1,and 7.3, TR7, was the addition of a SQL View, OBJECT_OWNERSHIP. This View returns the same information as the Work Object Owner command, WRKOBJOWN. I do not use WRKOBJOWN frequently, but I do before deleting an user profile to see which objects are owned by the profile, and an intermittent check on the production libraries to make sure that all of the objects are owned by the generic profile created for this purpose.

Alas, I am restricted on the IBM i partition I use to write these posts to only being able to see objects I own. Therefore, my examples will only show these objects.

The WRKOBJOWN is one of the easier commands to use. I can either just type it at a command line and press Enter, or press F4 to prompt to view the command's parameters.

Second annual IBM i User Group month

If you are a regular readers of this blog you will know I am great fan of IBM i User Groups, and getting everyone involved with their local group. So much so I created a page of worldwide user groups, and added a link to it at the top of every page of this website.

Last year I started a campaign to update this list of User Groups. For the month of February I asked you, members of the IBM i community, to examine the list and if you knew of any groups that were not listed to let me know about them.

This year I am having the Second annual IBM i user group month. This month, February, I am asking you to do the same: review the User Groups page for any groups that are not listed. I am looking for any of the following information for any user groups: