Re: WDSC HELP needed. Installation and Education (final)

Thanks {{{Colin}}} :D      Thanks  {{{Kelly}}} :D :****

I now know what that begger felt like when he was helped
by the Good Samaritan.

Thanks Midrange.  Again these lists prove invaluable.

Profuse thanks for the information below.

Frank Kolmann

============================================================================

RPG editing and compilation - CODE400 and LPEX -

lots of extra stuff in those, I prefer CODE400 as I find LPEX is still a
bit
buggy! One of the handiest things that I use in CODE is the convert from
fixed to free format. You can select a block of fixed format code, hit the
button, and it converts it to free format. Plus they are customisable so
you
can add in extra features.

RSE and Iseries Table View - you say you've used RSE,  try the Iseries
table
view too, very easy to use and gives you PDM like facilities, combine the
two together and you'll find its very handy for working with objects,
source
members etc.

Interactive debbuggers - once you get used to how to set these up, you'll
find that these are a very good alternative to STRDBG

Java Development Environment - don't know if you've got into java yet, but
WDSC includes everything you need to do java development.

Websphere Application Server - WDSC includes complete test environments for
WAS, so you can test you java stuff on your PC then deply your application
to WAS on your 400, and run it.

Im still learning a lot of this stuff (who isnt!)

I still switch back to green screen for qucik and dirty stuff, but tend to
use WDSC for my main development

Cheers
Colin.W

You can get tutorials, whitepapers, and so forth for iSeries programming
with WDSCi at:
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/wdt400/library/iSeriesAppDev.html

I personally like the WebFacing tool. The WebFacing tool lets you turn your
interactive 5250 applications into Web pages with no Web development skills
required. Although we run WebSphere Application Server Express for
production, I have saved WebFaced applications as WAR files and run them in
Apache Jakarta Tomcat application server with no problems. It's not
difficult to learn the basics. You can read more at:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/wdt400/library/WebFacingAppDev.html


I concur with Colin that the iSeries Table view is something worth
learning.
It's been a real time saver for me.

I haven't found the LPEX editor to be buggy...but from this list it seems
different environments can face different issues. Others may experience
bugs
I do not. I really like the LPEX editor and use it whenever possible.

Here are my biggest three pieces of advice:

1. If WDSCi crashes and you have problems using it afterwards, don't try to
uninstall and reinstall it. Most problems can be taken care of much more
easily (especially with help from this list).

2. Explore and get familiar with everything in the "Window" menu. This is
where you can set preferences and save customized perspectives. You will
enjoy WDSCi more the more you know how to use the "Window" menu.

3. WDSCi comes with a LOT of Help menu content. I have often been able to
find answers to questions by searching in Help contents. You might try
there
to find answers.

I've been accumulating a list of tips for my colleagues at work (we plan to
adopt WDSCi soon).  Here's the list I have so far...

****Startup Program****

When you connect to the iSeries system, you can specify an initial program
to call and the libraries to add to their library list automatically. You
can also specify the library to be set as*CURLIB. To do this:

1. Right-click an iSeries subsystem and select Properties.
2. On the Initial Library List page, type the library name in the Library
field and click Add.
3. Type the command to call at connection time in the Initial command field
and click Apply.
4. Click OK

****LPEX Editor Preferences****

Highlight the current line when editing.

1. Window > Preferences > Remote Systems > iSeries > LPEX Editor Parsers
2. Place a check in the box next to Highlight current line.

Set tabs to indent for coding COBOL.

1. Window > Preferences > Remote Systems > iSeries > LPEX Editor Parsers >
COBOL
2. Put a check in the box next to User defined tabs.
3. Double-click the mouse cursor at positions 7, 8, 12 in the white
textbox.

4. Put a 4 in the box next to "And every".

Set the Enter key to start a new line.

1. Window > Preferences > LPEX Editor > User Key Actions
2. Type the word "enter" in the textbox labeled Key (no parentheses).
3. Type the word "splitLine" in the textbox labeled Action (no
parentheses).
4. Click on the Apply button.

****LPEX Tips****

Search for strings.

1. Press CTL+ F

Create a filtered view by program structure.

1. Right-click anywhere in the code and choose Filter view.
2. Select the program structure by which you want to filter the view.

Create a filtered view by selected text (method 1).

1. Click and drag the mouse over code to highlight it.
2. Right-click on the selected text and choose Selected.
3. Choose Filter selection.
4. Click on the plus signs at the left of the screen to show surrounding
code.

Create a filtered view by selected text (method 2).

1. Press CTL+F.
2. Enter text into the textbox labeled Find.
3. Click on the All button.
4. Click on the plus signs at the left of the screen to show surrounding
code.

Restore a view after filtering it.

1. Right-click anywhere in the code.
2. Choose Show all.

Get programming language help.

1. Highlight the code for which you want to get help.
2. Press the F1 key.
3. This does not work for all OPM COBOL keywords. If it doesn't work for
the
keyword you want, do F1 on a different keyword. You can pick the keyword
you
want from a list of COBOL keywords that appears at the left of the Help
window.

Show RPG source with indentation.

1. Go to the Source menu in the menu bar at the top of the perspective.
2. Select the option to Show Indentation.

****Preparing to Debug OPM Programs****

1. Compile CL, COBOL or RPG programs with the *SRCDBG option.

2. Open WDSCi and make sure the connection daemon is started.
             a. Go to the Remote Systems view.
             b. Click the arrow button to get the drop-down menu.
             c. Select the Start Daemon option. If the daemon is already
on, you
will see Stop Daemon as an option.

3. Start an Access for Windows (Client Access) 5250 session using a desktop
icon.

4. From the 5250 command line, run the STRDBGSVR command. This starts the
debug server. If the debug server is already started, you will get a system
message saying it is already started.

5. From the 5250 command line, run the STRRSESVR NAME(MYSYSTEM) command.
Replace MYSYSTEM with whatever name you have given your system connection
in
WDSCi.

****Adding Programs to the Debug Session****

1. Click on the plus button and enter the qualified name of the program.
Enter the qualified name of the program (e.g., MYLIB/MYPGM) even if you
have
the library in your library list.

****User Actions****

We have a literally thousands of members in our source physical files
(e.g.,
QCLSRC) and I have a slow PC. RSE therefore takes a lot of time to resolve
our source physical files. Simple tasks like copying source physical files
to create test versions are not efficient. However, I have found that User
Actions let me perform these tasks with much greater efficiency. To start
creating user actions:

1. In RSE, click on "Library list".
2. Right-click on any one of the libraries and select "User Actions".
3. Select "Work With User Actions".
4. Select "Object action" or "Member action" to create a new user action.

After you create a user action, you can right-click on many objects (not
just libraries in the Library list) in RSE and in the iSeries Table view
and
find the User Actions option. The User Actions option will contain all user
actions you define.  The Help contents in WDSCi gives more details about
user actions.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Kelly