April 1998

• Advanced Printing on the AS/400 - Bill Shaffer explains AS/400 Advanced Function Printing, which lets you customize documents using images, graphics, and various fonts.
• In This Issue -
• Letters -
• IBM's Server Brand Strategy: Friend or Foe? - Wayne Madden gives his views on IBM's new server brand group strategy and the benefits it will bring to IBM and its AS/400 customers.
• AS/400 Remains a Mystery to IBM - Robert Tipton's experience at a recent IBMer sales conference leads him to believe the AS/400 has a long way to go within IBM to step out of the closet.
• The Price You Don't Pay for an AS/400 - IBM's Tony Madden explains why the AS/400 wins total cost of ownership wars and reduces infrastructure costs.
• Newswatch -
• Interview with Tom Jarosh: Delivering the AS/400 Message - AS/400 Division General Manager Tom Jarosh speaks with NEWS/400 about where the AS/400 Division is going under his leadership. Revenue growth, focused marketing, and targeted product development are among his key goals.
• IBM's AS/400 Java Strategy Revealed - Paul Conte summarizes the key points in IBM's AS/400 Java game plan.
• AS/400 World Awaits Multiuser NT - Pam Jones reports on Windows Terminal Server, Microsoft's multiuser version of NT, which will let you run Windows applications, including 5250 emulation, from a central NT server and deliver them along with AS/400 access to a wide variety of PC and thin-client hardware.
• Groupware - What Is It? - The Internet and intranets, says Chris Stead, are giving groupware a boost, reducing the costs of e-mail, calendaring, and workflow applications that help a company's employees work more effectively together.
• Developing a Sound E-Commerce Project Methodology - Nahid Jilovec describes the eight steps of a successful electronic commerce project methodology.
• Clean Data with Check Constraints - Kent Milligan explains how you can write one check constraint enforceable on all interfaces and guard your DB2/400 database against even the next generation of data access solutions.
• Fine-Tune Database Access with Column-Level Security - V4R2's new column-level update and object references authorities let you eliminate security-related views of the database and ensure that data is accessed only through secure interfaces. John Edwards gives an overview of these capabilities and how to use them.
• New SQL/400 Implements Stored Procedures - Paul Conte explains how to write portable stored procedures using V4R2 SQL/400. The new stored procedure language (SPL) enhancement simplifies database access and increases compatibility with other SQL databases.
• Build a Page-Equals-Size Lookup Window - Page-equals-size subfiles minimize overhead and are the best subfile technique to use when the underlying database is volatile. They're also easy to code, as Mike Cravitz explains in the final article of the Subfile Blueprints series.
• Java's Special Methods - IBMers Phil Coulthard and George Farr explore Java constructor, class, main, and printlin methods and techniques for calling and "overloading" methods.
• Touring VisualAge for RPG - Jef Sutherland provides a guided tour through IBM's VisualAge for RPG development tool by stepping through the design, code, build/compile, debug, and run processes for a sample VARPG application.
• A Treasure Chest of Data in Your INFDS - You can use the file information data structure (INFDS) keywords to find helpful information about your data. Gerald Nichols tells you how to implement these keywords and gives examples.
• Client Access for 95/NT Developer References - Terry Smith reports that IBM's primary client/server programming references focus more on tried-and-true APIs and skimp on coverage of OLE objects and ActiveX controls.
• VB Program Builds AS/400 File Layout - Dennis McConnehey's Layout utility lets you construct a view of an AS/400 file's fields on your PC and print it, too.
• April Fools: The Official NEWS/400 Millennium Readiness Test - NEWS/400 tests your readiness for Year 2000 conversion projects.
• Lock Down Your Intranet LAN - Not all threats to network security come from outside, warns Mel Beckman. The advent of low-cost local- and wide-area networking hardware has encouraged rapid growth of intranets, often without adequate consideration of security. The result could be a network open to abuse by employees and others with physical access to your premises. Secure your intranet against inside interlopers by taking a few simple steps.
• Is Your Entire System Backed Up? - IBMer Pamela Bowen explains how to use the SAV (Save Object) and RST (Restore Object) commands to back up AS/400 objects in file systems other than QSYS.LIB and QDLS, such as root, QLANSrv, and QOpenSys.
• Maximize Resources: Sharing Open Data Paths - Dan Cruikshank and James Stewart explain how to implement shared open data paths, a basic AS/400 technique you can use to reduce CPU demand and memory requirements.
• Enabling TCP/IP on Your AS/400 - Laura Knapp introduces a series of articles that explain how to connect your AS/400 to the Internet, step by step. This month's topic: setting up an AS/400 TCP/IP connection.
• April Fools: If You Can't Stand the Heat...Get Cooking with Client/Server - John Enck's humor column describes the Distributed IntraNetwork Environment Redirector (DINER) model of client/server computing.
• Tech Corner -
• RISC Upgrade FAQs -
• Security FAQs -
• Client Access Family FAQs -
• Work Management FAQs -
• New Products -
• AS/400 DLT Tape Subsystems - NEWS/400 reports the features of AS/400 digital linear tape (DLT) tape subsystem offerings from six companies.
• IBM Announcements -
• Street Talk -
• An Interview With World's Oldest Living RPG Program - (a little April humor for RPG programmers)
• The e­Jump project provides an upgrade path directly from V2R3 to V4R2. What upgrade options are the -
• So what RISC upgrade options are available for pre­V2R3 customers? -
• V3R0M5 or V3R1 customers don’t have a direct path to V4 today. What can they do to upgrade to RISC? -
• How do I know whether my CISC system has programs that use restricted instructions? -
• What is work management? -
• What factors affect AS/400 workflow? -
• How does work management relate to the AS/400? -
• What is a system value? -
• How can I change system values, and where can I find out more about system values? -
• How can I set a higher system priority for the system operator? -
• How can I eliminate printer messages? -
• How can I prevent a job log from printing when a batch job ends? -
• What can I do if I suspect a particular user of accessing confidential or sensitive data? -
• Is auditing active at all security levels? Also, is auditing useful when changing system security le -
• What is adopted authority? -
• I’m trying to change a program to make it adopt authorities. I’ve specified the USEADPAUT (Use adopt -
• What authority do users get if they are accessing multiple programs in the invocation stack that hav -
• What effect does the USEADPAUT (Use adopted authority) parameter have on CHGPGM commands? -
• If a program’s owner has a powerful profile, letting users adopt program authorities could be danger -
• How can I prevent someone from creating a program that uses adopted authorities? -
• How can I monitor the use of adopted authority? -
• Use CHGPF to Handle File Changes with Ease -
• Running STRPCCMD with Win95 and TCP/IP -
• Exceeding the Record Format Length Limit -
• Telnet IP Address -
• Using Database Cross-Reference Files -
• Operations Navigator and Client Access -
• UIM Help Panels in a Subfile -
• Matching Queries and Files -
• LPR Printing -
• Date Routine in RPG IV -
• SQLRPG and Activation Group -
• IBM Reference Manuals on CD-ROM -
• VB Resources for RPG Programmers -
• Channeling the Flow of Data - Make your data flow smoother, cleaner, and safer