Re: Subfile question

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Tony,

> We have a need to print items selected in a subfile, based on the order they
> were selected.  We have postulated a few alternatives, most of which involve
> pressing 'enter' after each subfile record change (ridiculous -- why use a
> subfile).

A 5250 ("green screen") terminal gets an entire screen of data at a time
from the iSeries, and then it receives control.  The iSeries does nothing
while the processing is done on the green screen -- including cursor
movement, keying data into fields, etc.

Only when Enter, or another function key (F1-F24, Help, Print Screen, etc)
has been pressed does the terminal send all of the input back to the
iSeries.

So, you really can't tell which of the fields on a screen was changed
first because the iSeries itself doesn't know.

I suppose you could work around the problem by having your program
continually ask for data from the 5250 terminal.  Maybe every second or so
tell the terminal to return any data, and then monitor what has changed.
But that would be rather inefficient, plus difficult to program.

> The obvious answer is 'No', but this is something that will speak many $$$
> in employee hours, so I am wondering...

If it'll really save you a lot of money in employee hours, you might
consider using a web interface or GUI interface to your RPG program.
Since that involves writing code for both the iSeries backend, and the
front-end terminal, you can code the terminal however you want --
including saving timestamps of when fields are updated, and sending those
back to the iSeries if you like.

I'd take an approach like that if I felt that it would save my company a
serious amount of money -- it's also good from the standpoint that you can
modernize your user interface.

> If a user changes multiple records in a subfile and presses enter, is there
> some sort of way to get a timestamp from the subfile as to when each record
> was changed?

Nothing simple.