Re: Open Access RPG questions

Answers/Comments in-line.


Jon Paris

www.Partner400.com
www.SystemiDeveloper.com

On Sep 9, 2010, at 10:07 AM, rpg400-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Well, it was a battle, but we finally managed to prise a copy of Open Access
RPG out of IBM. It took nearly two months of emails, phone calls and
nagging, but eventually they responded. I really do worry about a company
it's so hard to give your money to...

Me too - it should not be this hard.

1. Compiling on i 7.1 with TGTRLS(V6R1M0)

You have to be missing a PTF for the *PRV 6.1 compiler. Remember - previous release support is achieved by shipping a copy of the 6.1 compiler. That needs a PTF to enable the HANDLER keyword etc.

2. Handling printer files

This limits what can be achieved at the moment when the user is writing to
an externally described printer file. For example, if a record has SPACEB(2)
specified, we would like to be able to reflect this in the Excel output, ...

The space/skip information is in the Print-control structure which is defined by QrnPrtctl_T. The pointer to the structure is passed in
the field prtctl in the main structure passed on each call. Same with the overflow flag printerOverflow. This is all in the documentation - not sure where it is right now - it was in the RPG Cafe but that's all being migrated to the Partnerworld wiki site - the real URL is just plain silly but this will get you to the page http://tinyurl.com/29jyk8j

3. License keys

I was surprised to find that no license key appears to be necessary to use
the product. I really don't understand the rationale behind charging for the
product but not requiring a license key. We diligently paid our invoice
yesterday, but I'm not sure everyone will do so. What am I missing? Can
anyone explain IBM's thinking here?

Is IBM thinking? I'm not convinced when it comes to Open Access. It has HUGE potential to keep people on the platform and therefore ensure Rational's revenue streams from compilers etc. They have a real opportunity here and they aren't even telling their own people about it let alone customers. In many cases it it OA Handler vendors who are doing Rational's marketing for them and that is just not right.