Re: QADBIFLD versus DSPFFD OUTPUT(*OUTFILE)

First, I'd like to thank everyone who responded. It's looking like
SYSCOLUMNS is the preferred way to find out field information in most
circumstances; with direct QADBIFLD access, DSPFFD output file, and
QUSLFLD API potentially useful for special situations.

On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 11:54 AM, Buck Calabro <kc2hiz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I've asked on the iSeries Python forum, but I don't
expect to hear back. (There are not many of us!)

I'll check out that forum.

Has my near-constant Python cheerleading on these lists finally worn
you down, or were you interested in Python on the i anyway? Are you
new to Python or have you used it on other platforms?

Just to be clear, I specifically use Per Gummedal's "native i" port:

http://www.iseriespython.com

I don't have any experience with Python in PASE.

Not being an IBM Python-er (yet) I don't know how to package the output
of an API for Python to consume. My very wild guess is to put the API
in an RPG program that creates a result set of the columns and then
Python traverses the result set. Might be a ridiculous idea, who knows?

That's not a ridiculous guess, though I don't think that's what would
typically be done. iSeries Python comes with a module called os400,
which provides an interface for calling arbitrary i programs directly,
including sending and receiving parameters; in principle, anything in
the QSYS.LIB environment of type *PGM is callable this way. I don't
think it's any more difficult to call an API from iSeries Python than
from RPG.

John