Re: QtmWrStout parameters

On Oct 14, 2021, at 10:33 PM, Birgitta Hauser <Hauser@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Why not using SQL?
No need to escape any double quotes or backslashes, no need to explicitly set double quotes or curley brackets.

Exec SQL
Values(Json_Object('invno' value :row.Inf,
'date' Value Char(:row.date, ISO),
'name' Value Trim(:row.name),
'amount' Value :row.amount,
'weight' Value :row.weight)) : into :YourVar;

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Birgitta Hauser


"Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." (Les Brown)
"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." (Derek Bok)
"What is worse than training your staff and losing them? Not training them and keeping them!"
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-----Original Message-----
From: RPG400-L <rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Jim Oberholtzer
Sent: Donnerstag, 14. Oktober 2021 21:06
To: RPG programming on IBM i <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: QtmWrStout parameters

Thanks Scott!

I’ll string them together. My use case in this instance is simple, but it could get more complicated quickly. I had not considered international issues until now either.

The sub procedure method might get me past some of the PTF (or lack thereof) issues we face.

I started with RPG on a S/3 so I fit into that “old” category but doing the things younger programmers would understand better makes sense. The other reason would be if we mix RPG with Python, something one of my developers want to do.

Jim Oberholtzer
Agile Technology Architects

On Oct 14, 2021, at 12:45 PM, Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Jim,

It *could* be a data structure -- if that works for the document you're trying to make. The problem with a data structure is that the data would need to be in fixed positions, which is not typically what you want in a JSON document. If it works for your particular document, I guess more power to you?


For example, suppose I'm creating this document:

{"custno": 5,"name": "Jim Oberholtzer"}


Your suggestion is to make a data structure, and I assume you mean something like this:

dcl-ds data qualified;
*n char(10) inz('{"custno":');
custno zoned(1: 0);
*n char(9) inz(',"name":"');
name char(15);
*n char(2) inz('"}');
end-ds;

data.custno = 5;
data.name = 'Jim Oberholtzer';


Note that data structures in RPG can be used as strings, so you can pass 'data' to the QtmhWrStout() subprocedure without any problems, since it can be treated as a character string.


But, is it a good idea? Uhhh... as long as the customer number is always 1 digit long and the customer's name is always 15 characters long. If you had a longer customer number, then you'd have to make the 'custno' field larger, and then you'd end up with leading zeroes in the JSON document, which has the potential to cause problems.


Likewise, if the customer name was shorter than 15, you'd end up with extra blanks in the name. If it was longer than 15, it wouldn't fit -- you'd have to expand the name field, which would require even more extra trailing blanks in the name for shorter names.


Data structures really only work for things where the data goes in fixed positions, not where it needs to be in different positions based on the length of the preceding data.


By contrast, if you did this:

*data = '{"custno":' + %char(custno) + ',"name":"' + %trim(name) +
'"}';*

Then there'd never be a problem... things will shift to the right positions, etc, all will work well.


I also find the string expression easier to understand than the data structure approach -- but of course, that's a "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" type scenario -- everyone will have a different opinion. In my experience, old-school RPGers (those that came from an RPG/400 background, or earlier) are very used to the data structure approach, but younger programmers are more familiar with string expressions.


Then, you have the problem of making code that works across multiple flavors of EBCDIC. The example you posted uses %char(LBRACE) and similar things, and the reason you'd do that is for internationalization. The brace/bracket characters have a different code point in different flavors of EBCDIC. So both the data structure and string approach that I provided, above, won't work in Germany, Italy, Spain, etc (for example) if they were compiled in the USA or vice-versa. The %char(LBRACE) approach fixes that problem. But, you could do the same thing with the data structure approach if you wanted to -- its just harder to do since you're limited in what sort of expressions you can use in an INZ() keyword.

Also, neither example tries to escape any needed characters. For example if the double-quote character were in someone's name (Something like 'Scott "Darkbagel" Klement') would be problematic since they aren't escaped. But, again, this would be a similar problem with either the string or data structure approaches.

Stuff like this is why it's much nicer to use a tool like YAJL -- even if you have to call the subprocedure version instead of DATA-GEN -- because it handles all the internationalization and escaping for you.

-SK

On 10/14/2021 11:15 AM, Jim Oberholtzer wrote:

So, Back to the original question, can that be a data structure?

--
Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects

On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 10:49 AM Brad Stone<bvstone@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Ahh.. gotcha. Ya, I don't think YAJL goes back that far. I have
similar customers.. Some even buy a "new to them box" with V7R1...
*SMH*

On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 9:29 AM Jim Oberholtzer <
midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Thanks Brad, I do use YAJL where I can, unfortunately some of my

customers

don't keep up with PTFs, or Version/Release so I have to build one

version

that is lacking. DATA-INTO etc are out for now at least in one version.

Maybe a better question is will YAJL go back to V5R4? I think V6R1
was

the

oldest Scott set it up for.



--
Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects


On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 9:12 AM Brad Stone<bvstone@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I wouldn't build JSON from scratch... instead I'd use YAJL to build it.

Or

there are built newer functions where you can actually use data

structures

to build the JSON I believe. (I only use YAJL and build JSON that

way).

YAJL also does include a function to take that JSON you just built
and write it to StdOut. Here's an example:
https://www.fieldexit.com/forum/display?threadid=522

On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 9:05 AM Jim Oberholtzer <
midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

In example of how to use QtemWrStout Scott Klement builds the

following:

jsonName = %scanrpl( '"': '\"': row.name );
jsonDate = %char( %date( row.date: *iso ): *iso );
data = %char(LBRACE) + CRLF
+ ' "invno": "' + row.inv + '",' + CRLF
+ ' "date": "' + jsonDate + '",' + CRLF
+ ' "name": "' + %trim(jsonName) + '",' + CRLF
+ ' "amount": "' + %char(row.amount) + '",' + CRLF
+ ' "weight": "' + %char(row.weight) + '"' + CRLF
+ %char(RBRACE);
QtmhWrStout(data: %len(data): err);

Simple enough, but can the "data" variable be a data structure

instead.

The idea being that all the constants are defined in the data

structure

and

then to fill in the actual data the only need would be to be
assigned

from

a database read or input variable.

--
Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects

--

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