SQL View gives ability to see information about all commands

IMHO it has been problematic to get information about more than one IBM i command. The Display Command command, DSPCMD, will only output to display or print one command at a time. If I want to get information about more than one, or all, commands then I would need to use an API.

Fortunately with the fall 2022 Technology Refreshes, IBM i 7.5 TR1 and 7.4 TR7, comes a SQL View that contains all the information that the DSPCMD command does for all commands.

This new View, COMMAND_INFO, is simple to use. For example, if I want to list all the information about all the commands in this partition I could just use:

Removing data from a User Index using SQL

In a previous post I wrote about how to add and change data in a User Index. As I can do that, I also need is to delete data from the User Index too.

In IBM i 7.5 and 7.4TR6 introduces a couple of Table Functions that allow me to remove entries from a User Index:

• REMOVE_USER_INDEX_ENTRY
• REMOVE_USER_INDEX_ENTRY_BINARY

Both work in the same way, and I am going to describe how REMOVE_USER_INDEX_ENTRY works.

IBM Power10 server industry standard server of the year

In their annual awards of products are services The Channel Company, via their website CRN.COM, recognized a Power10 server as the Product of the Year in the Industry-standard servers category.

The Power10 chip and servers first announced in September 2021. Followed in July 2022 by the mid- and small-size servers.

SAP, probably the world's best known ERP vendor, performed their own tests pitting the top end Power10 server against the top-of-the-line Dell Intel based servers. The Power10 outperform the Dell server. You can see their findings:

RPG concatenation BiF for arrays

I wrote earlier about a new Built in Function, BiF, that makes it easier to concatenate variables or strings. Another addition to the RPG language in the fall Technology Refreshes, IBM i 7.5 TR1 and 7.4 TR7, is another BiF to concatenate elements from an array.

The syntax of %CONCATARR BiF is very similar to %CONCAT I wrote about before:

Result = %concatarr(<separator character(s)> : <array name&gt) ;

Let me jump to my first example. This is the RPG code for the first part of my example program:

Adding and updating data in a User Index with SQL

I have only dabbled with User Indexes. My recollections of using them were of having to do everything with APIs, mapping system data types to RPG data types, etc. Well, with IBM i 7.5 and 7.4 TR6 comes a SQL procedure that makes the insertion and updating of data in the User Space very easy.

Alas, I still need to use an API, QUSCRTUI, to create the User Index I am going to using in this example.

I have created a RPG to call the API:

Surprise TR for IBM i 7.3

IBM did it before, making an unannounced Technology Refresh for IBM i 7.3 in the spring of this year, TR12. I have been informed that they have done it again releasing another unexpected TR, TR13, on December 1.

Perhaps I should not be surprised. IBM i can now be run on a Power10 server. Could these PTFs fix compatibility issues there? Could they be updates for security fixes as well? Only IBM knows.

You will find all the details for this TR PTF on this page: SF99727 730 Technology Refresh - level 13.

New concatenation BiF added to RPG

The fall Technology Refreshes, IBM i 7.5 TR1 and 7.4 TR7, made available on Friday. The folks at RZKH have loaded the necessary PTFs to the server I use, now I can start playing with what became available.

Looking at the documentation for RPG I found a couple of new Built in Functions, BiF, to do with concatenation. In this post I am going to give examples of the %CONCAT BiF.

In the past if I wanted to concatenate a number of variables together into a string I would need to do something like:

String = Var1 + ',' + Var2 + ',' + Var3 ;

November 2022 updated Performance FAQ

New versions of the Performance document and the Power10 performance optimization white paper were released last month.

You don't have to download, print, or read the whole documents. But I do think it is a good idea to peruse the sections to do with your favorite programming languages.

You can open the documents as PDF using these links:

• IBM i on Power - Performance FAQ (updated November 1, 2022)
• IBM Power10 performance optimization for IBM i (white paper)

IBM i 7.5 TR1 and 7.4 TR7 PTFs out today

Can I say Christmas has come early?

Today is the day the PTFs for the new Technology Refreshes for the current supported releases of IBM i are available:

• 7.5 TR1
• 7.4 TR7

If you want all of the new features and functions don't forget to tell your System Administrator to download the PTFs for database, which includes SQL, and RPG too. Perhaps it would be easier to ask them to download all the latest CUM PTFs, which should include all of the TR PTFs.

IBM to end unencrypted downloads

Last week, November 23, 2022, IBM announced that on February 15, 2023, it will no longer be possible to download from the IBM Electronic Fix Distribution, IBM Electronic Customer Care, and IBM Fix Central using an unsecure connection:

• HTTP
• FTP
• DDP

IBM's servers already support the encrypted download protocols:

• HTTPS
• FTPS and SFTP
• DDPS

Your System Administrator should be able to easily make these changes well before the deadline. If they do not know how to make the change the announcement document gives them information of where they can go to get help.

IBM's announcement document can be found here.

IMHO it is about time IBM makes this change from unencrypted to encrypted downloads, as just about all other vendors only offer encrypted downloads.