Re: [IBMiOSS] Creating Stream Files with Python -- OPENSOURCE

Hi Bryan,

Thanks for your post.
Well, that is certainly a difference between the two:

Python 3.4.6 (default, Mar 21 2017, 20:59:04)
[GCC 4.8.2] on aix6

platform.architecture(), sys.maxsize
(('32bit', ''), 2147483647)

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

Python 3.6.6 (default, Aug 3 2018, 19:02:01)
[GCC 6.3.0] on aix6

platform.architecture(), sys.maxsize
(('64bit', 'COFF'), 9223372036854775807)

I guess Kevin's comment of July this year is still applicable:

*"ibCall does not work when run 64-bit. For the time being you will needto
use a different transport."*

Although I have no clue what other transports are available.
I'd even say I don't really know what a transport is - I'd guess it's some
kind of linkage between python and the IBMi OS.

thanks for the info.
best regards,
Craig

On Tue, 2 Oct 2018 at 12:37, Bryan Dietz <bdietz400@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I recall reading this:
https://archive.midrange.com/opensource/201807/msg00030.html

I do not know if it applies, but wanted to re-pass along

Bryan

Craig Richards wrote on 10/2/2018 6:56 AM:

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I don't know if you had a particular command line program in mind for
setting the CCSID but it seems to me that the easiest way to achieve it
might be to use the CHGATR command.
It's certainly simpler from a 'user' perspective than coding up a call to
qp0lSetAttr()

Seeking about for information on how to call AS400 Commands / Programs

from

Python lead me to a post which I noticed you had contributed to:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50576341/how-to-call-an-rpg-program-from-python

And so that lead me to try a test of:

from itoolkit import *
from itoolkit.lib.ilibcall import *
itransport = iLibCall()
itool = iToolKit()
itool.add(iCmd('sndmsg', 'SNDMSG "WIBBLE" RICHARC'))
itool.call(itransport)
output = itool.dict_out('sndmsg')
print(output)

This works from Python 3.4.6 and prints:
{'success': '+++ success SNDMSG "WIBBLE" RICHARC'}

However if I run it from Python 3.6.6 ( /QopenSys/pkgs/bin/python3 ) it
fails and prints:
{'error': {'error': '*NODATA', 'sndmsg': {...}}}

If my memory serves me correctly, 3.4.6 is what came with the system and

I

installed 3.6.6 via IBMi ACS Open Source Package Management.

I'm not sure what the problem is with this, forgive my ignorance.

Another thing which also puzzled me is that the documentation for

itoolkit

which you kindly linked in your post:

https://python-itoolkit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/examples.html

is different to the code you supplied in the original post and doesn't

work

for me with either version of python.
For example the code for DSPSYSSTS:
import config
from itoolkit import *
itool = iToolKit()
itool.add(iCmd5250('dspsyssts', dspsyssts'))
itool.call(config.itransport)
...

This codes fails from both versions of python with:
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'itransport'

So that leaves me with the following questions:

1. Is CHGATR from python a reasonable way to set the "tag" of the IFS
file. I guess there might be something I can run more directly from

QSH via

subprocess() that might let me set the CCSID.
2. Is itoolkit a reasonable way to make the call to CHGATR. I'm a

little

confused about it being called an XMLSERVICE collector but is that

just the

way it is communicating with the OS?
3. Why doesn't my example work with Python 3.6.6 - is it running a
different version of itoolkit? using help() for iCmd, the syntax

looked

unchanged.
4. Are the code examples for itoolkit wrong or is it to do with

change

code versions or assumed imports or something?

Sorry for my ignorance and the many questions.
What can I say, I'm a curious man...

thanks and best regards,
Craig

On Mon, 1 Oct 2018 at 17:29, Kevin Adler <kadler@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Python has its own built-in codecs and does not use the system

codecs.

You
can see the list (which does not include cp285) here:
[1]https://docs.python.org/3/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings

As Python runs in PASE it will open the file tagged with whatever

the

PASE
ccsid is (which defaults to 819 except in rare cases). There is
currently
no mechanism in Python to match the CCSID tag with the encoding of

the

data, though there are various command line programs you could call
manually from within Python to do so.

----- Original message -----
From: Craig Richards <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent by: "OpenSource" <opensource-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: IBMi Open Source Roundtable <opensource@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc:
Subject: [IBMiOSS] Creating Stream Files with Python
Date: Mon, Oct 1, 2018 11:13 AM

Hi All,

I can create streamfiles with different encodings in the IFS using
python
using the encoding parameter and this works fine e.g:

f = open('asci.txt', 'w', encoding='cp819')

This is good. And fine too. Some might say dandy.
However if I look at the attributes of the stream file it is

always

CCSID
819 if I am creating a new file.

This means that using DSPF to look at the data on the IBMi will
display
the
data incorrectly if that data is not actually written with

encoding

819.

I can modify the file manually using EDTF to change the file's

CCSID

and
then it will be displayed correctly ( within the limitations of

the

5250
Client ) however I assume there is a way to set this attribute
correctly
for new files using python?
I understand that the IBMi is fairly unique in that it has

additional

attributes on stream files that store information such as the
(intended)
ccsid but I know it is possible to set these correctly when using

the

unix
open API to create stream files ( for example )

Additionally I'm using an IBMi in the UK and QCCSID is set to

285, I

get
an
error in the above code if I specify encoding='cp285' although it

is

quite
happy to use encoding='cp037'.

Not that I have a requirement to encoding in the IFS in 285 but I

was

a
little surprised that 37 was supported but not 285 - especially

given

that
it is a UK not US box.

However my main question is - should I be using a different

method to

create my streamfiles if I want the endcoding of the streamfile (

the

file
header, not the actual data ) to be other than 819?

I've tried using the codecs.open method but that seems to work the
same
-
it creates the data correctly but the CCSID for the file itself is
always
819 for NEW files.

Thanks kindly,
Craig
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