Re: BATCH commands in AS400 -- MIDRANGE-L

Al Macintyre says

I use CALL QCMD all the time, which turns 2 command lines into several lines 
& shows a variety of commands that can go to full screen.  Also with F4 on 
the commands, I can do batch commands that are longer than what fits on any 
screeen.  I also go to F10 to show past commands so that I can F9 on any for 
retries.

I do not know about you fella, but I suffer from a malady called EL TYPO 
which means that frequently brain connected to fingers, does not type some 
string of characters with correct precision intended, so that by operating my 
Command Line functions from CALL QCMD with F10 visibility of what IBM said I 
did wrong & cursor on past oops with F9 my recovery is rapid.

We operate in an environment with many user menus & I have a group of end 
users who are quite versatile at helping their fellow users as like 
mini-help-desks.  I have designated those individuals as POWER USERS & given 
them access to CALL QCMD in which that is embedded in a CL for ease of 
putting it on their menus & also for ease of security, since our ERP is 
controlled by 3 letter prefixes, I can limit some command line access based 
on the 3 letter deal.

However, if your work place does not already have a standard menu generator 
provided by the primary applications package, IBM has a language for creating 
menus in which each option can call up one of your pre-written batch files.  
This is SDA which you get into via STRSDA.  While IBM menus are accessed from 
command line via GO like GO CMDPDM to get at all commands involved in the 
Programmer Development Manager subsystem, menus created via SDA are accessed 
via CALL, such as every nite I do CALL NITE which gets me to a menu of 
options needed for each evening's backup & related duties, in which I have el 
typo insurance.

I have created thousands of files on our AS/400 which are similar to the 
batch files of MSDOS.  OS/400 has a different lingo or terminology for this 
kind of thing, but functionally they are very similar.  We key in a familiar 
"command string" and it can be governed by the same "wild card" rules of IBM 
with respect to the significance of ASTERISK and QUESTION MARK.

I do not consider myself to be proficient at this, but I do not see how 
anyone can do any programming on OS/400 without having this as one of our 
most fundamental skills.  If I was you, I would order own personal copy of 
the CL programming manual ... the little one, not the full library on what 
every IBM command does, which I also have.  There is also a hand held OS/400 
Programmer's Reference Manual which is about the size of Reader's Digest 
Magazine, that I find to be extremely useful, but you need to have some 
modicum of training in the languages referred to in there before getting a 
lot of value from it, in my opinion.

There are also a number of books on CL programming, independent of what IBM 
publishes.  Check out Duke Publishing.  I don't have any titles handy.  There 
used to be several outfits that published such things, but all their stuff is 
now available through Duke.  You may also be able to purchase the hand outs 
that were used at seminars on CL at COMMON ... at one time you did not have 
to be a COMMON member to buy these ... I do not know if that is still true.  
http://www.common.org

I suggest a subscription to News/400 magazine & an effort by you to get a 
hold of back issues available on CD Rom.  This is a publication of the nuts & 
bolts of programming on OS/400 & it is chock full of examples.  AS/400 
Magazine is not as good for this, but it does come with a free set of tips 
... you have to know what to ask for ... in which several years of articles 
giving tips are consolidated in one useful reference booklet.

IBM has classes on this ... the CL class & its prerequisite.
http://www-3.ibm.com/services/learning/lsweb/educationcenters/
http://www-3.ibm.com/services/learning/community/as400/

CL is a compiled language.
The batch command is written in the language CL.
My CL programs are in members of a file called QCLSRC because I follow the 
IBM standard of Q (Q means IBM rules but not neccessarily IBM content) then 
name of the language, then SRC for source.
I access my source via WRKMBRPDM which means work with source members using 
PDM.  There are other ways that I have tried, but this is the one I am most 
comfortable with.
I have several libraries of CL source programs.
CL programs involved in various complex software that is in testing.
CL programs involved in what has passed testing & is now in production.

CL programs that CALL RUNQRY(some definition) then various parameters to give 
user access to selection criteria before it executes, and the line 
immediately before the CALL RUNQRY has an OVRPRTF that labels the Query 
report with a USRDFA User definition that clearly distinquishes one Query 
report from others, and also does some other stuff to make the whole thing 
more user friendly for my people.

When I am inside the editor for CL and I have keyed part of a command, I can 
F4 on it & this is just like F4 on regular command line, in which F4 goes 
many layers ... commands can be embedded in commands - I have gone several 
layers deep, in which I F4 every time so IBM will get the syntax right for me 
& I can focus on what the heck I am trying to do.

The AS/400 Network has a style manual on line reccommending how CL programs 
should be structured so that your programs are clean & clear & elegant, 
understandable to any other CL programmer.   The network also has a forum for 
CL programmers to ask each other questions.  You can learn a lot by lurking 
there & seeing what questions other people have asked & what the answers were.
http://www.as400network.com/Forums/Index.cfm?cfapp=55

Different AS/400 forums have different styles & different kinds of search 
engines to get at the info, which is good ... different people are 
comfortable with different ways of communicating.  There is also a CL forum 
at http://www.midrangecomputing.com/forums/

You might also check out the archives for this midrange_L since yours is not 
the first question there has been on this topic.

Philipp Rusch gave some excellent advice, suggesting some ideas that I would 
not have thought of.  Via WRKOBJ QCLSRC F4 then *ALL libraries you can 
identify all the CL source libraries on your system, so that you can look at 
different kinds of examples.

I trust that I have given you information that is immediately of value & info 
that you will be reviewing later as you get into this a bit deeper.  Be sure 
to post another message here if you get stuck.  Lots of people are happy to 
help out.

> Subj:  BATCH commands in AS400
>  Date:    09/03/2000 7:16:17 AM Central Daylight Time
>  From:    Mustafa_Yorgancioglu/RPRWyatt%RPRWYATT@RPRWYATT.COM
>  
>  Hi,
>  I was wondering if anyone could tell me how  to create batch files on AS400
>  - like the .bat files in MSDOS, or the  shell files in UNIX.  I am having
>  trouble issuing large commands from the 5250 emulation screen which only
>  allows two-lines of commands at a time.
>  Thanks.
>  
>  Mustafa Yorgancioglu
>  RPR Wyatt Inc.
>  Phoenix, AZ.
>  Mustafa_Yorgancioglu@rprwyatt.com
>  http://www.rprwyatt.com
>  602-263-7779

Al Macintyre  ���
MIS Manager Green Screen Programmer & Computer Janitor of BPCS 405 CD Rel-02 
running on AS/400 V4R3 http://www.cen-elec.com Central Industries of 
Indiana--->Quality manufacturer of wire harnesses and electrical 
sub-assemblies
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