February 2000

• PTF Watch -
• Hot New Products -
• Street Talk -
• In This Issue: The Modern AS/400 -
• e-Tailing Is Wagging the Dog - Bob Tipton argues that businesses conducting e-commerce can learn from what worked and what didn’t for holiday e-shoppers.
• Enhance Security with Screen Timeouts - Jim Elkins explains how you can bolster your applications’ security and prevent record locks by writing screen timeouts into your sensitive applications.
• Newswatch Listings -
• When I test my system recovery at a hot site, I receive message CPF3779 — “xxx libraries restored; 0 -
• Mining the AS/400's Gold in 2000 - Move into new, productive territory by tapping into DHCP, DNS, NetServer, IFS and other recent AS/400 technologies.
• Two Steps to Continuously Available Applications - In this follow-up to “Clustering Enables Always-Available Applications” (November 1999), IBMer Chuck Stupca tells how to write an exit program to handle cluster events and presents alternatives for deciding at what point to restart a failed application.
• ASNA Visual RPG Supports Microsoft Standards - ASNA takes its PC development environment to the Web with new ActiveX and Active Server Page capabilities. Jim Hoopes notes that AVR also features a free-format version of RPG and an AS/400-like PC database.
• Hidden Assets: The AS/400 Integrated File System - If you’re using modern application development tools, you’re probably storing data in the IFS. Sharon L. Hoffman explains how the IFS extends AS/400 system management functions to PC and Unix files, so you can manage this data more effectively.
• The Business Case for Application Modernization - Don’t replace your existing RPG systems — learn from consultant Carson Soule’s experience to update applications incrementally with careful maintenance and add new interfaces and functions as needed.
• 7 Things You Need to Know About Writing Modular RPG Programs - Modularizing your RPG applications can help you manage them more easily. Bryan Meyers gives you some key points to consider when evaluating new and existing applications and take the best advantage of ILE and traditional techniques for modularization.
• IBM’s VisualAge RPG Adds Java, ActiveX, and ODBC - You may have heard that VARPG can generate Java code from the RPG projects you create, but did you know that this PC development environment now supports ActiveX controls and ODBC access to a variety of databases? Jef Sutherland explains.
• Using Data Queue APIs in RPG IV - Using data queues, you can establish communications between high-level language programs on the same AS/400 or programs on multiple systems.
• SQL’s Null and Like Predicates - Mike Cravitz shows you how to work with SQL’s Null and Like predicates, Strip function, and escape characters.
• Letters -
• When Building Is Better: The Trek Project - Nahid Jilovec explains why the Trek bicycle company decided to develop its own e-business solution rather than purchase one of the many impressive packages on the market.
• Programmer’s Notes - Jef Sutherland explains how to use two read-loop logic structures in your RPG applications to read keyed records from AS/400 physical and logical files.
• Visual Support Pro Solves AS/400 Software Problems - Tango/04 Computing Group’s Visual Support Pro 4.0 provides a PC-based solution for solving problems in local or remote AS/400 applications.
• Comparing Domino and DB2 UDB - Lori Mueller explains the similarities and differences between Domino databases and DB2 Universal Database for AS/400 (DB2 UDB).
• Install Applications Across Your Network - Herman Van der Staey describes how to set up Windows’ Network Install function, which you can use to install applications on Windows 95/98/NT clients from an AS/400 Integrated Netfinity Server, Windows NT, Novell NetWare, or AS/400 NetServer server share.
• Tech Corner -
• Twofish Encryption on the AS/400 - With 256-bit keys, the Twofish algorithm provides solid security that surpasses the current Data Encryption Standard (DES). Gene Gaunt explains how the algorithm works.
• While performing a system recovery using BRMS/400, I couldn’t automatically restore my because I was -
• Ending a Job Quickly -
• Speed Up BRMS/400 Backups -
• Internal vs. External Field Names -
• IPL Problem -
• Comparing Same-Name Files -
• OS/400 QShell Support -
• Group PTFs -
• SFLSIZ Keyword -
• Accessing AS/400 Files via Windows Explorer -
• Pipe-Delimited Files -
• Displaying a Program Status Message -
• Backup & Recovery FAQs -
• In Focus: AS/400 Vendors Swarm to ASP Market -
• In Focus: New AS/400 Education Program Off to a Bright Start -