Re: Goodbye Old Friend - CODE400

[Robert Mullis <robertmullis99@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

If you want to create datastructures and/or workfields based on file 
definitions, I would make use of the LIKEREC and PREFIX keywords.  That 
could be done on one D-spec line, instead of a macro that would create a 
line for each field in the file.

On 3/9/2011 1:00 PM, John Larimer wrote:
> Hello:
>
> I think the time has finally come.  We upgraded our machine going to IBM i
> v7.1 from v5r4 and CODE400 can't verify newly introduced features in RPG.
> I've been using CODE400 daily since about 1999.
>
> I've made several attempts transition to WDSC/RDi/RDp, all failures.
> Today I am on RDp 7.6.0.
>
> There are two things always bothered me about this tool compared to CODE400.
>
> No support for extending the editor like we could with REXX Macros.  I
> created a fairly significant library of macros and found that the most
> useful and productive were based off of the IBM supplied FIELDS macro.  My
> macros looped through the resulting field definitions generating code for
> D-Specs (work fields, structures and so on), C-Specs (comparing fields to
> work fields, moving data to/from work fields) and generating various types
> of SQL statements.  These macros saved me huge amounts of time and reduced
> keying errors.
>
> It's possible that I could duplicate my old macro functions within the
> editor if only I could figure out how to access the Field Table generated
> when you do a 'RIGHT CLICK' | 'SHOW FIELDS' on a F-Spec file definition.  I
> have not yet figured out how to do it.  Any ideas on how to loop through the
> generated Field Table and output lines to the editor?  Does anyone have a
> different idea that I should consider?  I could use both editors and flip
> back and forth but that seems counterproductive.
>
> Another idea might be to use PHP to build HTML pages with the generated code
> and then 'COPY' |'PASTE' into my source.  I could see that working and I
> might even be able to figure out how to do it!
>
> The second concern for me is that when you do a 'SOURCE' | 'VERIFY' and
> request the compile listing, CODE400 would put the listing in another editor
> window where you could search, filter and do anything that the editor had
> available.   In RDp you get the listing but you can only scroll.  There is
> no search, no filter - nothing.  Am I missing something?
>
> I think I've got a long road ahead of me before I find RDp more productive
> than my trusty old friend CODE400..
>
> TIA for your feedback!
>
> John