RE: Conversion to RPGLE & commitment control

Thanks for your advice.

Just to clarify, I work for a very small division that was many purchased
years ago.  The problem is very, very rare, only once or twice a year.  We
audit every account all the time for problems & always fix the problem
before the client sees them.  I have tried to duplicate the problem many
times & have not been able to track it down.

\Vincent

 -----Original Message-----
From:   rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Jon Paris
Sent:   November 4, 2005 3:23 PM
To:     rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:        RE: Conversion to RPGLE & commitment control

This is a very big question and there are going to be many schools of
thought so I'll focus on a basic response and we can build from there.

I gotta comment on this first though ....

 >> "The general feeling is "If it ain't broke...don't fix it" ....

But it obviously _is_ already broken isn't it!  How much more "broken" can a
banking application be than when it screws up transactions!  Man am I ever
glad I don't bank at CIBC! (I bank at TD)

 >> The RPG programs need to be converted ...... Will a simple IBM
conversion {no commit} change how the program works?

In the vast majority of cases conversion to RPG IV is a no brainer and will
not affect operation.  Check the RPG manual for the few differences (for
example no support for FREE)

 >> Does IBM guarantee there is no difference?

No.  But it _was_ a primary directive during the compiler development.
Remember also that it isn't exactly new - RPG IV has been here for over 10
years, and many hundreds of thousands of programs have been converted.  But
don't use the IBM tool - but Linoma's - it will do a much nicer job and the
programs will be easier to work with later.  It is very reasonably priced
too (www.linomasoftware.com)

 >> Will the performance with commit suffer?

Yes and No.  For commit to work you must journal and there is inevitably a
price to pay.  However ... How much system resource is currently used doing
the checking, and fixing up the accounts?  How much does the lost customer
goodwill cost you every time the system screws up?

 >> What is needed to add in commit to this process?

Working out the transaction boundary points and adding the appropriate
COMMIT/ROLLBACK code.  You should also consider whether Referential
Integrity and Constraints would make sense on your database.

 >> Some programs don't do any updates.  They just return info.  Do they
need to be converted to RPGLE?

A) There is no reason not to convert them and
B) In order to get commitment control to work the way you seem to want it,
you need the commit scope to cover all programs.  That means the same
Activation Group (AG), preferably a named AG - and that means they all need
to be RPG IV



Jon Paris
Partner400

www.Partner400.com
www.RPGWorld.com