Re: Open Access RPG questions

Updates...

I still can't find a V7 PTF to fix the previous compiler support. I'll try putting the latest V7 cume on this weekend. So far as I'm aware, you can't apply a V6 PTF to the V7 previous compiler support. The V6 Open Access PTF is SI39480, which is for product 5761WDS. The previous compiler on V7 is 5770WDS option 35.

I was aware of the PRTCTL support, so my SPACEB(2) example wasn't well chosen. Basically, what I'm looking for is an API that would tell us what printer file keywords are active at the time a WRITE is done to a printer file record. That might include SPACEB, which is available from PRTCTL, but it might also be many other different keywords not accessible that way e.g. FONT, FNTCHRSET, CDEFNT etc.etc.

I'm 99% sure this isn't currently possible, but would like to flag this up to IBM as something I think would make it possible to achieve a great deal more with Open Access RPG than we can do at the moment. We'd like to be able to develop handlers that enabled RPG developers to write Excel (and possibly PDF) files using printer files and control not just the data content of those files but their appearance also, and that needs a level of information about a printer file that I don't think it's currently possible to achieve without parsing DDS.

Licensing information for 5733-OAR looks like this:

Display License Information ARIADNE2
09/09/10 17:07:10
Product ID . . . . . . . . : 5733OAR
License term . . . . . . . : V1R1M0
Feature . . . . . . . . . . : 5050
Description . . . . . . . . : IBM Rational Open Access: RPG Edition

Compliance type . . . . . . : *WARNING
Usage type . . . . . . . . : *CONCURRENT

For the compiler, it looks like this:

Display License Information ARIADNE2
09/09/10 17:07:56
Product ID . . . . . . . . : 5770WDS
License term . . . . . . . : V7R1M0
Feature . . . . . . . . . . : 5101
Description . . . . . . . . : ILE COMPILERS: RPG, COBOL, C/C++

Compliance type . . . . . . : *KEYED
Usage type . . . . . . . . : *CONCURRENT

I believe compliance type *WARNING just means you get a warning message when you exceed the usage limit, as with IBM i Access.

Pete



"Jon Paris" <jon.paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:mailman.6537.1284044770.2619.rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Answers/Comments in-line.


Jon Paris

www.Partner400.com
www.SystemiDeveloper.com

On Sep 9, 2010, at 10:07 AM, rpg400-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Well, it was a battle, but we finally managed to prise a copy of Open Access
RPG out of IBM. It took nearly two months of emails, phone calls and
nagging, but eventually they responded. I really do worry about a company
it's so hard to give your money to...

Me too - it should not be this hard.

1. Compiling on i 7.1 with TGTRLS(V6R1M0)

You have to be missing a PTF for the *PRV 6.1 compiler. Remember - previous release support is achieved by shipping a copy of the 6.1 compiler. That needs a PTF to enable the HANDLER keyword etc.

2. Handling printer files

This limits what can be achieved at the moment when the user is writing to
an externally described printer file. For example, if a record has SPACEB(2)
specified, we would like to be able to reflect this in the Excel output, ...

The space/skip information is in the Print-control structure which is defined by QrnPrtctl_T. The pointer to the structure is passed in
the field prtctl in the main structure passed on each call. Same with the overflow flag printerOverflow. This is all in the documentation - not sure where it is right now - it was in the RPG Cafe but that's all being migrated to the Partnerworld wiki site - the real URL is just plain silly but this will get you to the page http://tinyurl.com/29jyk8j

3. License keys

I was surprised to find that no license key appears to be necessary to use
the product. I really don't understand the rationale behind charging for the
product but not requiring a license key. We diligently paid our invoice
yesterday, but I'm not sure everyone will do so. What am I missing? Can
anyone explain IBM's thinking here?

Is IBM thinking? I'm not convinced when it comes to Open Access. It has HUGE potential to keep people on the platform and therefore ensure Rational's revenue streams from compilers etc. They have a real opportunity here and they aren't even telling their own people about it let alone customers. In many cases it it OA Handler vendors who are doing Rational's marketing for them and that is just not right.