January 1998

• Buyers Guide: IPDS Printer Interfaces - survey of six IPDS printer interface manufacturers about their printers, print data streams, and communications protocols their products support.
• In This Issue -
• Letters -
• Contemplating 1998 Investments - NEWS/400 Publisher and Editor in Chief Wayne Madden invites readers to let him know the ways in which NEWS/400 can make a difference for them in 1998.
• 100 Percent Homogenized Server - Robert Tipton says that judging from the signs within IBM and the IT industry at large, the end may be near for differentiated hardware and operating systems - including the AS/400.
• Newswatch -
• Briefs -
• The Case for E-Commerce - Nahid Jilovec says that not only can electronic commerce technologies streamline your trading processes, but they can also improve the quality of your business information and open doors to new markets.
• Stealing Data from Radio Waves - In less than three months and with only $1,000 worth of components, Glenn Miller built a system that could access your banking information and eavesdrop on your most secret communications - business and otherwise. Here he tells how he did it and how you can protect your company.
• Explore Client Access for Windows 95/NT V3R1M3 - Michael Otey previews the Client Access for Windows 95/NT V3R1M3 beta, which offers a few major enhancements, such as TCP/IP printer emulation, and several minor, though useful, improvements that make the product much easier to use.
• The Complete Guide to Client Access Service Packs - Service Packs are the mechanism IBM uses to deliver fixes for Client Access. Dennis Schmidt describes the path Service Packs take from creation to installation on your PC. He also provides tips for working with Service Packs and describes some Service Pack enhancements in V3R1M3 Client Access.
• Coding with the Client Access Object Library - Using Client Access for Windows 95/NT's OLE automation objects can be easier than Client Access API coding, but it's still no walk in the park, writes Terry Smith, because program samples are few and far between. Here are some tips and code to get you started.
• Choose the Right RPG Call - Bryan Meyers looks at the four methods RPG IV provides for calling programs or procedures and discusses criteria to consider when deciding which call to use.
• Programming with the Virtual Terminal APIs - Devices you normally don't think of as terminals, such as ATMs, ticket kiosks, point-of-sale devices, and computer-controlled lathes, can serve as AS/400 terminals with the help of the Virtual Terminal APIs (VTAPIs). Ed Rowlance and Scott Dahl outline these APIs and give you a leg up on the associated learning curve.
• Introducing Java - George Farr and Phil Coulthard, developers in IBM's Toronto lab, kick off a series of articles to teach RPG programmers Java.
• Edit SQL with VB Utility - Dennis McConnehey's SQL edit utility lets you write and test SQL statements before you insert them in your VB applications. His companion run SQL query program lets users run prebuilt queries.
• The Problem with 32-bit Client/Server APIs - Michael Otey explains that developers moving client/server applications from Windows 3.1 to 95/NT or writing new 95/NT client/server apps encounter a hodgepodge of nonstandard 32-bit APIs. A buyers guide sorts out which PC-AS/400 connectivity products support which 32-bit APIs, but each company must make the tough choices about which products, and therefore which APIs, to use.
• "Green-Screen" Source Editing with the Advanced Editor - Robert Clark describes using the Advanced Editor, a green-screen source code editor from Application Genesis, to edit a sample RPG IV journal input program.
• Easy, Safe Funds Transfer with AS/400 Bisynch Communications - Terry Silva explains how to set up an AS/400 to perform secure electronic funds transfers via ICF and binary synchronous communications.
• Database Recovery Made Easy - The RSTOBJ (Restore Object) and RSTLIB (Restore Library) commands can restore lost or corrupted data. Paul Conte explains how you can restore individual objects and even multiple libraries.
• Tech Corner -
• Client Access Family FAQS -
• New Products -
• Networking Tips -
• Street Talk -
• Moving Data Between Stream Files and Externally Described Database Files -
• Verifying Your PC's Y2K Compliancy -
• Programming with ODBC and Data Queues -
• Virtual Field with OPNQRYF -
• Sending a Command to an AS/400 via FTP -
• Read a Screen Format Without the Wait -
• Changing PDM Subsetting Criteria -
• TCP/IP 5250 Sessions -
• Displaying Libraries in ODBC Administrator -
• Member Change Dates Stored on Compiled Objects -