RE: AS400....is it really "Open" - Answers

Yep.  I've been playing with JDBC drivers as of late.  I've connected with a
bunch of different DBs.

For each system I want to connect to I just set up a properties file that
says what driver to use, what the URL to the db is, etc.

Now, depending on the class of JDBC driver you use will depend on how easy
it is.  for example, I'm using a type 4 to connect to an SQL DB on an NT
server.  These are usually not free.  But, they need nothing else to
connect.

I'm using a Type 1 JDBC driver to connect via an ODBC bridge to a MS Access
DB.  It's easy to set up the ODBC bridge, but obviously not the best
solution (which is why it's free).  I wouldn't use this for production.

Setting up a new connection to a db takes about 2 minutes for me.  If the DB
is a new type that I haven't connected to (MySQL is my next try) then it
takes time to find a driver and implement it.  After that, it's pretty
simple.   But the java code all stays the same.  The only thing that changes
is my properties file that describes the connection and says what JDBC
driver to use.

Binding these into your RPG programs right now wouldn't be too easy.  You'd
have to use messaging or something else to get the communications done
between RPG and Java.  I think Joe uses messaging exclusivly for db access
in Java (as opposed to SQL), so he has more experience with this.  I'm
guessing it can be used as a two way communications avenue not only just for
DB access.

I, so far, prefer to use SQL for DB access with Java.  That's just me
though. 

But, I hear rumors of RPG accessing java classes in the future.  I hope
they're not rumors.  RPg would be the ultimate weapon then.

Brad

> -----Original Message-----
> From: DeLong, Eric [mailto:EDeLong@Sallybeauty.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 8:43 AM
> To: 'MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com'
> Subject: RE: AS400....is it really "Open" - Answers
> 
> 
> I've kicked this one around off and on for a while, but I 
> can't spend the
> time to really look into it. Question to Joe Pluta or to 
> others working with
> Java on the AS400: What is the feasibility of using JDBC 
> access classes to
> "serve" database access to a M$ SQL server. Could these be 
> made like the
> wrapper classes IBM wrote for the XML parser, so we can bind 
> these services
> into our programs? 
> 
> tia,
> Eric DeLong
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeffrey Silberberg [mailto:jsilberberg@mindspring.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 8:19 AM
> To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject: Re: AS400....is it really "Open" - Answers
> 
> 
> Ray,
> 
>         Excuse me but, BULL  !!  The ability is in the 
> iSeries/400 and has
> been there for a long time with the DRDA services !  All you 
> need is the
> appropriate driver for the DB you want to access.  This is no 
> different than
> Windows, or most Unix boxes.  If I want my Windows box to 
> talk to something
> I need the Windows ODBC software installation, and then I 
> need the driver
> for the database. Rather it be MS Access, MYSql, PostgreSQL, 
> Oracle, Sybase
> or DB2/400 installed into the ODBC Manager and properly 
> defined through a
> half dozen panels.  This is not much different than what you 
> need to do on
> the iSeries/400 with DRDA  !!
> 
> Jeffrey M. Silberberg
> Independent Consultant
> CompuDesigns, Inc.
> (770) 399-9464
> 
> AS SOON AS I KNOW THE ANSWERS
> THEY CHANGE THE QUESTIONS
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <ray@esprinkle.cc>
> To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
> Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 6:58 AM
> Subject: RE: AS400....is it really "Open" - Answers
> 
> 
> > "Openness" implies a two-way street. Seamless data
> > access across disparate systems has been a goal
> > in IT for years. And other manufacturers have been
> > able to do these things for a long time. Everyone that
> > is but us.
> >
> > I don't know who in IBM decided to restrict
> > our ability to get over the wall. But we shouldn't
> > even be having this discourse. The ability to access
> > data from SQL Server, or any other platform for that
> > matter, should be as common place as reading a file
> > with RPG.
> >
> > But as you can see from this thread, how to do so
> > isn't common knowledge.
> >
> > Thanks everyone for the leads.....we might just get over
> > this hurdle yet. Yep, I'm optimistic !!!
> >
> > R.Sprinkle
> > www.eSprinkle.cc
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
> > [mailto:owner-midrange-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of James W. Kilgore
> > Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 10:03 AM
> > To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> > Subject: Re: AS400....is it really "Open" - Answers
> >
> >
> > Thanks for the links, John.
> >
> > I would like to remind the original poster of the 
> "openness" question
> > that "openness" is measured in other platforms ability to access the
> > AS/400 resources.
> >
> > So if you are on *nix or Winxx can you access a file on the 
> AS/400 or
> > use it's printer.  If so, the AS/400 is "open" to the outside world.
> >
> > John Myers - MM wrote:
> > >
> > > >But nothing has been done to allow us to access
> > > >data from another systems database....such as
> > > >SQLServer.
> > >
> > > Ray,
> > >
> > > My company has this problem regularly ... we must 
> interface our AS/400
> > > motor vehicle systems with multiple servers for different 
> customers.
> > >
> > > DRDA is the way to get it done.  The "hitch" is that you 
> need to get the
> > > DRDA drivers for the DBMS that you are trying to access.  
> For example,
> > for:
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