Re: Long display device names in BPCS

Hello,

I think that Dean has a good point about printing limitations in BPCS (ie,
only allowing 1 printer in the user's workstation data area). We would
welcome suggestions for what printing-related enhancements our V6/V8 clients
would like in future releases of BPCS.

Also, to stop speculation on the number of characters the programs 'pay
attention to' in V6.x and higher BPCS releases, I am enclosing here a
section of the V8.0.00 installation guide (I believe the same or similar
language was also on the V6.1.00 install document for AS/400)

Please note that there is no longer a CIM product at this release:

" Support of TCP/IP protocol for 5250 ( green screen ) emulation in BPCS
BPCS recognizes workstation IDs of nine digits or fewer when creating
Workstation Data areas. SSA GT recommends that you create your environments
with workstation IDs of nine digits or fewer. The current version of Client
Access from IBM provides the ability to set a user-defined workstation name
for green screen emulation (5250) sessions when running over TCP/IP. This
will prevent errors in BPCS, which occur when the OS/400 default naming
convention of QPADEVnnnn is used for TCP/IP sessions. Contact your IBM
representative if you require this product. BPCS does not support the use of
any 10-character device names, including the QPADEVnnnn naming convention."

 Thanks,

Genyphyr Novak

SSA Global Technologies



----- Original Message -----
From: <DAsmussen@aol.com>
To: <bpcs-l@midrange.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 6:17 AM
Subject: Re: Long display device names in BPCS


> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> Chris,
>
> In a message dated 2/22/02 2:04:34 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> certz@americanmetalproducts.com writes:
>
> <<snip>>
> > I know there is a restriction on the length of display device names to a
> > length of 8.
> >
> > My boss has asked me to find a way to allow 10 character device names
with
> > the version of BPCS our company is currently on.
> > I can not shorten the device name. That is not an option. (That is what
I
> > am
> > currently doing.)
> > What would I neet to change in order to make the software work
correctly?
> >
> > We are considering upgrading to V8. Does V8 support 10 character device
> > names?
>
> First, why is your boss insisting on 10 character device names?  The
latter
> is totally unnecessary, even if you're using TCP/IP without naming,
PASSTHRU,
> or TELNET.  Removing the QPADEVxxx devices and creating shorter virtual
> device names with the same characteristics will correct this problem.  You
> just have to create enough devices for each aforementioned situation, or
the
> /400 will create new QPADEVxxx versions.
>
> Second, depending upon what sort of legacy code you're running, I'm not
sure
> that I'd trust earlier suggestions that the limitation is only nine
(CIM?).
> The memory's the first thing to go, but I know that there _IS_ a
limitation
> of 8 in certain earlier BPCS applications -- although V6 _should_ cut this
to
> 9.  I would _CERTAINLY_ appreciate it if V4x users would cease
_SPECULATING_
> how things work in V6 and higher on this list, as these speculations are
> risking permanent damage to production data on the newer users' systems.
If
> the latter continues, names will be named and those users risk being
> permanently banned from BPCS-L.
>
> Third, _IF_ you insist on using longer device names, concentrate on making
> the first eight characters of the device name unique.  Problems usually
occur
> when QPADEV0001-9 share the same printer data area.  This is lame, which
> leads to...
>
> Finally, request (over-and-over again, if necessary) that SSA finally
> eliminate this SYSTEM/36-era printer assignment paradigm from BPCS.  This
> methodology was fine when most systems had only one printer and your
biggest
> concern was whether you were printing on 14 7/8 x 11 or 8 1/2 x 11
continuous
> form paper.  To continue to _FORCE_ the use of printer name, report width,
> and characters per inch based upon workstation in today's computing
> environment is absolutely _LUDICROUS_.  When we print normal reports to
one
> printer, large reports to another, checks to yet another, and invoices to
a
> fourth, limiting one workstation to one printer is asinine.
>
> JMHO,
>
> Dean Asmussen
> Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
> Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
> E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com
>
> "Our character is what we do when we think nobody is looking". -- H.
Jackson
> Brown, Jr.
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