Seiden Group Blog - Page 3 of 24

Debug RPGLE and COBOL with VS Code for IBM i

March 7, 2023/0 Comments/in RPG, VS Code for i /by Amy Lantz

Our Twitter feeds recently rang out with this long-awaited news from Liam Allan:

“Debugging ILE COBOL and RPGLE inside @code like it’s any other day! I’m pumped for this release #ibmi.”

As reported by Alex Woodie in IBM i Debugger Comes to VS Code, IBM decoupled their RPG/COBOL debugger from RDi after years of encouragement from Liam. It’s now available as a Debug Service to the thousands of IBM i developers who have downloaded Visual Studio Code for IBM i. Read more →

IBM i Apache Security Fixes for PCI Compliance

February 2, 2023/0 Comments/in Apache, IBM i /by Alan Seiden

Apache HTTP Server Project A few months after we published the article Apache for IBM i: Where to Find Documentation, astute reader Paul Nicolay of Cegeka shared yet another hard-to-find Apache resource with us.

Paul recommends IBM Support’s IBM HTTP Server for i PCI Compliance page for organizations following the stringent PCI DSS security standard for accepting card payments. In addition to confirming that Apache on IBM i is a PCI-compliant web server, the page lists the IBM i PTFs required to fix known vulnerabilities.

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Patrick Behr Joins Seiden Group

January 31, 2023/0 Comments/in News & Events /by Alan Seiden

I’ve admired Patrick Behr’s work in the IBM i community for many years. One of the most talented IBM i developers I know, he draws on an impressively broad range of skills to build future-minded solutions to today’s business challenges.

That’s why I’m delighted to announce that Patrick Behr has officially joined Seiden Group’s team of technical consultants. In addition to his excellent technical and business skills, his commitment to mentoring and advocating for the IBM i community make him the perfect fit for our team.
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Why I Learned RPGLE

January 26, 2023/1 Comment/in IBM i, RPG /by Holly Lacher

RPGLE When I told my friends I was learning RPGLE, they thought I had gone a bit crazy. Why would I want to learn that “old” programming language?

My quest stemmed from a common issue that I experienced first hand. As a web developer, I would often hear, “The business logic is located in RPG code and we don’t know what it does. We will have to wait and ask the RPG programmer to explain it to us before we can continue with the project, but that person is too busy now.”

Or worse yet, “We are completely redoing our ERP system because we can’t find RPG programmers.”

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Connecting to IBM i Db2 with the Laravel PHP Framework

January 18, 2023/0 Comments/in ODBC, PHP /by Alan Seiden

Laravel has been inspiring loyalty among PHP developers for its documentation, community, and many built-in features.

Like most PHP frameworks, Laravel is cross-platform and can work with IBM i and Db2 data. This article shows how to take full advantage of Laravel’s built-in database components by installing an IBM i-specific extension to Laravel’s database connection class.

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Edit IFS Files Using Visual Studio Code for IBM i

January 4, 2023/0 Comments/in Node.js, PHP, Python, VS Code for i /by Holly Lacher

Code for IBM i Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a lightweight source code editor that runs on multiple desktops, including Windows, Linux, and MacOS. It provides built-in support for PHP, Node.js, Python, and many other languages and runtimes.

Halcyon Tech’s Code for IBM i extension adds the ability to edit IBM i Integrated File System (IFS) files inside VS Code. It’s easy to get set up to access and edit IFS-based code using this popular editing tool.

In just seven quick steps, you can install VS Code and its Code for IBM i extension and begin working with IFS files stored on your IBM i.

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Install and Use Node.js iToolkit for IBM i

January 3, 2023/2 Comments/in Node.js /by Alan Seiden

Node.js has joined other popular IBM i open-source technologies, such as PHP and Python, for web application and API development. A server-side runtime for JavaScript, Node.js can run both on IBM i and on other platforms such as Linux.

The Node.js iToolkit lets you leverage your company’s investment in RPG and COBOL business logic while developing front ends and APIs with Node.js. As with Node.js itself, iToolkit can run on your IBM i or can connect to IBM i from your PC or an external web server.

This post explains how to install Node.js and its iToolkit on your IBM i, then use iToolkit to call an RPG service program.

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Automate SFTP Transfers Using ‘expect’

December 27, 2022/5 Comments/in IBM i, Open Source /by Jack Woehr

A programmer asked recently how to automate their password-based SFTP transfer. How does one automate SFTP or any task that typically requires user interaction?
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PHP 8.2 for IBM i Now Available — PHP 7.4 Frozen

December 13, 2022/0 Comments/in CommunityPlus+ PHP, PHP /by Alan Seiden

It’s time to upgrade your PHP! If it seems like you just heard this from us, you’re not wrong.

By gradually deprecating features and techniques that no longer represent best practices, PHP nudges developers to keep their applications current, ready to address new business needs.

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Code for IBM i: Project Mode

November 18, 2022/0 Comments/in RPG, VS Code for i /by Amy Lantz

Visual Studio Code for IBM i recently acquired a series of enhancements that greatly enrich the RPGLE developer experience.

Known as Project Mode, the new features allow RPGLE developers to easily navigate their code — and understand it — all while editing remotely in the IDE. They can now find all references to definitions, find definitions of all references, and go to the implementation of export procedures without leaving the editor.

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