RE: In case anyone is interested.... -- RPG400-L

Hello Jonathan,

I have to say I don't know anything about Java, but did a scan on

You start out your message by saying that you don't know anything aboutJava. So why assume that I'm wrong?

5769JV1 in Google and found the "Getting Started with Java and AS/400:
Java on AS/400" manual at http://164.42.157.80/manuales/java400.pdf.  On
the first page in Chapter 1 it says that you can "use Java with other
languages such as C++ and RPG".

That statement is so broad it could mean anything. It could be referringto the JNI APIs. It could be referring to the ability to call Javaprograms from RPG programs.

I was specifically referring to the RPG/Java integration that's used inthe iSeriesToExcel project that Tommy Holden posted. Why would I knowanything about this project? Because he's using a lot of code that Iwrote in a series of articles that I wrote about using the HSSF/POIclasses from RPG.

The code that he's using uses RPG's support for calling Java classes withthe EXTPROC D-spec keyword. In other words, starting in V5R1 you canwrite code that looks like this:


     D HSSFWorkbook    S               O   CLASS(*JAVA
     D                                      :'org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel-
     D                                     .HSSFWorkbook')

     D new_HSSFWorkbook...
     D                 PR                  like(HSSFWorkbook)
     D                                     ExtProc(*JAVA:
     D                                     'org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel-
     D                                     .HSSFWorkbook':
     D                                     *CONSTRUCTOR)

What about that is new in V5R1?

-- The CLASS keyword.
-- The O (Object) data type.
-- The *JAVA special value.
-- The *CONSTRUCTOR special value

So... pretty much everything related to Java integration is new.

How do I know that this stuff was added in V5R1? Because IBM documentedit in the "What's New in This Release?" section of the RPG Referencemanual in the information center:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/iseries/v5r1/ic2924/books/c092508307.htm#HDRRELV5R1