How can I copy only certain file types to tape and/or

Vern,

Thanks for the info on the APIs.  I'll give them some study. 

Yep, already had a DSPFD statement created.    Thanks for the
confirmation.

Oh, yes, done much native REXX IO and, of course, the OVRDBF for STDIN
and STDOUT.
Also done some of the REXX SQL on the iSeries; much more under VM.  
Been doing REXX for many years, back to, at least, 1986 on VM.  While
the OS/400 version of REXX is pretty good, I wish the OS/400 version had
the full robustness of VM and MVS especially with the ability to create
screens via XEDIT that work with REXX.   Unfortunately, DSPFs won't work
with REXX, at least from my experiments.

I understand your point now about DDM.   I was thinking of it relative
to the DB2s on the rest of IBM's platforms.   What you point out is very
interesting and I could see how it could be handy.   I've done some
preliminary experiments; interesting.

My idea of DDM was what you refer to using the LOCAL/REMOTE connections
via WRKRDBDIRE; pretty simple it appears.  The problem may be with IF
REXX can take advantage of that connection arrangement via the INSERT
command because it can't do an explicit CONNECT like the rest of the
languages but may accomplish the same thing via the ADDRESS command.   I
have to experiment.

Your idea of using CPYF may be the best way of doing what I need done,
although I'll also have to see if I can do it in REXX and SQL.   I'm
just a junkie/fool for those environments.

Yes, this is very enjoyable and interesting because it not only
stimulates thinking but seems to be thinking outside the norm from what
I usually see on this forum.

This work will also help me with how I'm going to build my ETL(Extract,
Transform/transport & Load) functions for my ODS (Operational Data
Store) and DW/DM (Data Warehouse/Data Mart) environments.   

Thanks again,

Dave