Re: Resolution to my MCH3601 problem

["Simon Coulter" <shc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Bruce,

At the risk of raising the ire of those who will say this has nothing to do 
with RPG ... (but it is API related and APIs are RPG related ...)

You wrote:
>Up through V4R4 there was an appendix to the System API Reference titled
>APIs by Release.  It marked every API that was changed by release as
>well as what APIs were introduced in a given release.  This list was
>removed in V4R5, and it appears from the various notes that no one
>evidently even knew it was there (which is what had been suspected).

Well I knew it was there and I complained to Information Development 
<rchinfoc@us.ibm.com> when I found it missing from the VRM450 documentation.  I 
know it was a lot of work to maintain but it was extremely useful to ISVs when 
determining what functions could be supported at various releases.  

>A goal for the future is to re-introduce this information via the
>Information Center in a way that is much more obvious -- like, show me
>the APIs that have changed in this release.

I am pleased you say something similar will be produced again -- even if we 
have to suffer the Information Centre to get at it (which admittedly is much 
more usable now than previously).

>And yes, change flags (though no longer vertical lines in the margin)
>continue to exist in the online API docs.  As for a summary booklet
>of what might affect existing programs, the manual for that is the
>Memo to Users.  The Memo to Users however does not point out changes
>to APIs that can impact improperly coded programs (like inadvertently
>retrieving 1000 bytes of data to a structure sized for 500).

The problem with the change flags in the online documentation is that they are 
at too low a level.  For most of the APIs I looked at I needed to actually be 
in the API documentation before I was made aware of a change.  I'd like to see 
the change flags at a higher level.  If you follow the "What's New for V5.1" 
links in the Information Centre you will eventually get a page that says 
"Major new groups of APIs that have been added since Version 4 Release 5 of the 
OS/400 Licensed Program are: 

    TCP/IP Management APIs 
    OS/400 Portable Application Solutions Environment (OS/400 PASE) APIs 
    Many new integrated functions that support a National Language-enabled path
    name. 
    Generic Security Service APIs 
    Generic Terminal APIs 
    Network Authentication Service APIs 
    Resource Reservation Setup Protocol APIs 
    XML Parsing 

The Configuration API topic has been restructed to include the Hardware 
Resource APIs.
The Security API topic has been restructed for easier navigation."

but no links to the relevant sections.  Viewing the list of "APIs by Category" 
shows:

  Backup and Recovery                           Office
  Client Management Support                     Operational Assistant
  Cluster                                      »OS/400 PASE«
  Communications                                Performance Collector
  Configuration                                 Print
  Database and File                             Problem Management
  Debugger                                      Program and CL Command
  Directory Services                            Pthread
  Dynamic Screen Manager                        Registration Facility
  Edit Function                                 Remote Procedure Call
  Hierarchical File System                      Security
  High-Level Language                           Server Support
  ILE CEE                                       Software Product
 »International Components for Unicode (ICU)«   UNIX-Type
  Journal and Commit                            User Interface
  Management Central                            Virtual Terminal
  Message Handling                              Work Management
  National Language Support                     Work Station Support
  Network Management                           »XML Parsing«
  Object                                        Miscellaneous

which indicates only three 
ctions have new or changed APIS.  That is untrue 
but you have to enter each section to learn that something changed.  If you are 
lucky the API will be flagged in the list of APIs for that section (e.g., if 
you take the "National Language Support" link, which is not marked with change 
flags, you discover that there is a new Retrieve CCSID Text API).  Similar 
problems are present with some APIs for which parameters changed where the 
change flag is only on the new parameter, not on the API name in the list.  

It is simply too hard to determine what APIs have changed and I hope the 
changes you mentioned are not long in arriving.

Regards,
Simon Coulter.

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