RE: Data Queues Beginner Question

["Art Tostaine, Jr." <artjr@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

We used Data Queues to tie our application with another.  A customer put scales 
on forklifts to weight every pallet as it was picked
up.  The forklift driver scanned the pro#, then lifted the pallet.

Our application needed the pro#, and the lift weight.

Some other company (Patrick Townsend) supplied the hardware and the software 
that would put each lift into a data queue.

Part of our application simply sat there in batch and waited for the scales to 
add entries to the data queue, when it got one, it
added a record to a file and processed it.

We didn't need to know how Patrick was doing his stuff, and he didn't need to 
know how we were doing ours.  As long as both of us
could see the data queue, we were good.

Data Queues are also good if you have to interface with PC's.  There are VB and 
VC API's to write to Data Queues.

We have another customer with a homegrown app in Powerbuilder. The PC stores a 
list of inventory locations (don't ask).

My Iseries app that does the real work needs that file updated on the fly.  
When I need it, I write a DQ entry, the PC picks it up
immediately, then sends me back a DQ entry with the IFS location of the 
location file.  It's fast, and I get my file when I need it,
not just every 5 minutes.
_________________
Art Tostaine, Jr.
CCA, Inc.
Jackson, NJ 08527