RE: Finding Field Reference File information for Database Files

Hi Jonathan,

> Plus, of course, there's the opportunity of getting to grips with API
> programming - I've done a bit in the past year, but not enough that I
> have to keep going back to the manuals and previous programs.

The only reason I suggest DSPFFD is that the QDBRTVFD API is a
particularly difficult API to work with.  In my opinion, they tried to do
too much with one API in this case.  This lead to a large number of daisy
chained data structures.

The particular example of the ref info is actually a relatively easy thing
to get, but when drilling down to some of the info in the FILD0100 format,
you can get frustrated quickly.

I guess the reason I'm telling you this is to say "Don't get frustrated
and give up APIs based on this one.  Most aren't nearly this difficult to
work with."

Carsten Flensburg wrote an article that demonstrates some of the uses of
this API in the Sep 9 issue of Club Tech iSeries Programming Tips
newsletter.  If you're a pro member of the iSeriesNetwork, you can read it
at the following link:
http://www.iseriesnetwork.com/resources/clubtech/index.cfm?fuseaction=ShowNewsletterIssue&ID=19279

I don't think that it demonstrates the reference info directly, but it
might be easier to modify his code than to start from scratch.

If you search the iSeries Network (or the web in general) for QDBRTVFD,
I'm certain that you'll find more examples.

And, of course, if you get stuck, I'm sure that the members of this
mailing list will help you.

Good luck!