VB and the AS/400

["Larry Blankenship" <blankel@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Regarding the questions about VB and the AS/400:

1)  From what I've read, (and I've been doing a lot of reading lately), the
IBMDA400 OLEDB provider is not quite to the point where it is totally
useful.  I'm going to check out the beta that was recomended and try it out,
but so far, I've had better results with using the ODBC provider and then
using the MS OLEDB for ODBC to provide the ADO functionality.  ADO is
definitely the way to go, though.

2)  The next suggestion I would make is to keep your business logic on the
400 with stored procedures.  That way, you gain a couple of things:  a) how
you think about the logic is consistent regardless of how you present the
data to the user.  b) You avoid rework, since once a stored procedure is
written, any program you write can take advantage of it.  (I'm still trying
to convince people where I work that VB is not an evil plot to replace the
AS/400, so don't be surprised if this is a struggle)

3)  Learn SQL/400.  Learn it frontways, backways, and sideways.  Despite
what some say, it's a tremendous tool, and since the noise coming out of IBM
is that SQL is where all the new enhancements will be made, you might as
well get ahead of the curve rather than stick your head in the sand and hope
it goes away.  SQL will also serve you well in other arenas, since once you
learn the basics, you can pick up other "dialects" with less trouble.  If
you've already been programming in VB, SQL should be a lot easier than say,
picking up RPG after programming in a non-positional language or vice versa.

Larry Blankenship

===============================
remember..having a positive attitude won't solve all your problems, but it
will annoy enough people to make it worth your while!

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