Re: External Data Areas - Multiple Companies, One Program -- RPG400-L

Both are very handy when you don't want to go to the effort of developing a
database table. User spaces are very interesting objects. One person
described them as a huge white board. You can do all sorts of things in
them.

You could store an array of companies in the user space. Each array
element can hold whatever information you require for a company.

User spaces are created and maintained using IBM APIs. You'll find them
under the Object APIs.

For V7.2 go to
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_ibm_i_72/apifinder/finder.htm
and select User Space APIs to view them.

User indexes are pretty cool as well. You could create a keyed user index
with up to 2000 bytes of data per entry. The layout of the data is up to
you.

Just think, each entry keyed by company identifier could replace a data
area. You look up the company and retrieve whatever portion of the data
you want.

They too are created and maintained using IBM APIs. You'll also find them
under the Object APIs. Select User Index Apis.

Gary Monnier

On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 8:24 AM Denis Robitaille <
denis_robitaille@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

We were in the same situation several years ago (over 20).

We switch to a model where we use the library list and all files/data area
have the same name regardless of the company. Works like a charm. We had to
do this when the number of company got so high that we could not create
distinct names (A.xxx, B.xxx all the way to Z.xxx. We even used some
special caracters).

I would strongly recommend switching to this method. It has several
advantages:
- All object for a company are grouped together
- Easier if you want to do things like backup at different time depending
on the company
- When a new company is created, no change in the code is required, just
create a new library populated with the files that have the same name for
all companies

Denis Robitaille
Chef de service TI – Solution d’entreprise
Infrastructure et opérations

CASCADES CENTRE DES TECHNOLOGIES
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Kingsey falls(Québec) Canada J0A 1B0
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-----Message d'origine-----
De : RPG400-L <rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> De la part de Jerry
Adams
Envoyé : 8 février 2019 10:21
À : 'RPG programming on the IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries)' <
rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Objet : RE: External Data Areas - Multiple Companies, One Program

Brad,

That's basically how I determine which file to open. I keep a data area
in QTEMP for the user as s/he logs in that specifies which company s/he is
using.

To be more specific, the original system was designed on a S/36 and uses
group file ids, such that company A uses 'A.file' and Company B uses
'B.file' so I just take the group id and build the file name.

Jerry C. Adams
When is this "Old enough to know better" supposed to kick in?
IBM i Programmer/Analyst
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-----Original Message-----
From: RPG400-L [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
B Stone
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2019 8:30 AM
To: RPG programming on the IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries)
Subject: Re: External Data Areas - Multiple Companies, One Program

Could you use the LDA to set what company is open, and then open the
specific data area depending on that?

I seem to recall doing something similar at an old job... it was my
introduction to the LDA. :)

Bradley V. Stone
www.bvstools.com
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On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 8:18 AM Jerry Adams <midrange@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

The discussion the other day on data structures brought to mind a
problem that I have been working on regarding data areas. I used a
data area to function as a sort of "truth table" for our company. O
read it into a program to determine if the next (or following) step is

ready.

Works fine, but the owner decided that he wants to add a new company.
There
will be, I am sure, some new programs for it, but the basic back
office processing is pretty much the same. So I am modifying the
programs to access the file depending upon the company. That's
relatively

easy.

The issue with the data area on disk is that I have not been able to
find a way in the manuals (that I understood, anyway) to access
different data areas. For example, a disk file can have a
EXTFILE(some-name) with USROPN that I then use to define that
"some-name" before I open the file. I cannot find anything similar
for data areas on disk.

I could, I know, just define two data areas in the program(s) and then
use the same method I'm using for files to determine which data area
to

read.

But looking ahead, I wanted to make it flexible so that the next time
he sets up a new company, I will not have to go back into the program.
I could, for example, easily change it to a data file. But wondered
if there were any minimal coding changes that would accomplish the
same

effect.

Any ideas/thoughts welcomed.

Thanks.

Jerry C. Adams

Do what is right because it is right, and leave it alone. -Chiune
Sugihara

IBM i Programmer/Analyst

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