Re: V5 - RPG announcements?

[Jim Langston <jimlangston@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hoody Hoo!  ElseIf!

Wow, what an impressive list!  This is a major upgrade.

Kudos to the RPG Development team!


Regards,

Jim Langston

Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni!


Peter Dow wrote:
> 
> I took a peek in the V5R1 RPG ILE Reference manual at the info center.
> Hopefully IBM won't sue me for copying this page:
> 
> ---
> What's New This Release?
> 
> The ILE RPG compiler is part of the IBM WebSphere Development Studio for
> iSeries product, which now includes the C/C++ and COBOL compilers, and the
> Application Development ToolSet tools.
> The major enhancements to RPG IV since V4R4 are easier interfacing with
> Java,
> new built-in functions, free form calculation specifications, control of
> which file is
> opened, qualified subfield names, and enhanced error handling.
> The following list describes these enhancements:
>   Improved support for calls between Java and ILE RPG using the Java Native
> Interface (JNI):
> - A new data type: Object
> - A new definition specification keyword: CLASS
> - The LIKE definition specification keyword has been extended to support
> objects.
> - The EXTPROC definition specification keyword has been extended to support
> Java procedures.
> - New status codes.
> v New built-in functions:
> - Functions for converting a number into a duration that can be used in
> arithmetic expressions: %MSECONDS, %SECONDS, %MINUTES, %HOURS,
> %DAYS, %MONTHS, and %YEARS.
> - The %DIFF function, for subtracting one date, time, or timestamp value
> from
> another.
> - Functions for converting a character string (or date or timestamp) into a
> date,
> time, or timestamp: %DATE, %TIME, and %TIMESTAMP.
> - The %SUBDT function, for extracting a subset of a date, time, or
> timestamp.
> - Functions for allocating or reallocating storage: %ALLOC and %REALLOC.
> - Functions for finding an element in an array: %LOOKUP, %LOOKUPGT,
> %LOOKUPGE, %LOOKUPLT, and %LOOKUPLE.
> - Functions for finding an element in a table: %TLOOKUP, %TLOOKUPGT,
> %TLOOKUPGE, %TLOOKUPLT, and %TLOOKUPLE.
> - Functions for verifying that a string contains only specified characters
> (or
> finding the first or last exception to this rule): %CHECK and %CHECKR
> - The %XLATE function, for translating a string based on a list of
> from-characters and to-characters.
> - The %OCCUR function, for getting or setting the current occurrence in a
> multiple-occurrence data structure.
> - The %SHTDN function, for determining if the operator has requested
> shutdown.
> - The %SQRT function, for calculating the square root of a number.
> v A new free-form syntax for calculation specifications. A block of
> free-form
> calculation specifcations is delimited by the compiler directives /FREE and
> /END-FREE
> 
> v You can specify the EXTFILE and EXTMBR keywords on the file specification
> to
> control which external file is used when a file is opened.
> v Support for qualified names in data structures:
> |?- A new definition specification keyword: QUALIFIED. This keyword
> specifies
> that subfield names will be qualified with the data structure name.
> - A new definition specification keyword: LIKEDS. This keyword specifies
> that
> subfields are replicated from another data structure. The subfield names
> will
> be qualified with the new data structure name. LIKEDS is allowed for
> prototyped parameters; it allows the parameter's subfields to be used
> directly
> in the called procedure.
> - The INZ definition specification keyword has been extended to allow a data
> structure to be initialized based on its parent data structure.
> v Enhanced error handling:
> - Three new operation codes (MONITOR, ON-ERROR, and ENDMON) allow
> you to define a group of operations with conditional error handling based on
> the status code.
> Other enhancements have been made to this release as well. These include:
> v You can specify parentheses on a procedure call that has no parameters.
> v You can specify that a procedure uses ILE C or ILE CL calling conventions,
> on
> the EXTPROC definition specification keyword.
> v The following /DEFINE names are predefined: *VnRnMn, *ILERPG,
> *CRTBNDRPG, and *CRTRPGMOD.
> v The search string in a %SCAN operation can now be longer than string being
> searched. (The string will not be found, but this will no longer generate an
> error
> condition.)
> v The parameter to the DIM, OCCURS, and PERRCD keywords no longer needs
> to be previously defined.
> v The %PADDR built-in function can now take either a prototype name or an
> entry point name as its argument.
> v A new operation code, ELSEIF, combines the ELSE and IF operation codes
> without requiring an additional ENDIF.
> v The DUMP operation code now supports the A extender, which means that a
> dump is always produced - even if DEBUG(*NO) was specified.
> v A new directive, /INCLUDE, is equivalent to /COPY except that /INCLUDE is
> not expanded by the SQL preprocessor. Included files cannot contain embedded
> SQL or host variables.
> v The OFLIND file-specification keyword can now take any indicator,
> including a
> named indicator, as an argument.
> v The LICOPT (licensed internal code options) keyword is now available on
> the
> CRTRPGMOD and CRTBNDRPG commands.
> v The PREFIX file description keyword can now take an uppercase character
> literal
> as an argument. The literal can end in a period, which allows the file to be
> used
> with qualified subfields.
> v The PREFIX definition specification keyword can also take an uppercase
> character literal as an argument. This literal cannot end in a period.
> 
> ---
> 
> Peter Dow
> Dow Software Services, Inc.
> 909 425-0194 voice
> 909 425-0196 fax
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