Richard Schoen

Call/Parm Your Open Source Apps from RPG and CL with QSHCALL

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QSHONI integration for IBM i RPG, CL and open sourceA few years back I created the QShell on IBM i (QshOni) project to allow QShell/PASE (open source) apps to be more easily integrated and used with traditional IBM i job streams written in RPG and CL. Since then, many developers have adopted QshOni to utilize their open source apps in conjunction with their classic traditional apps.

Recently I added several new commands to QshOni to make living the PASE life even easier for RPG developers. Today’s focus will be on the QSHCALL command.

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Amy Lantz

Next Generation Free-Form RPG with Susan Gantner

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Earlier this week we shared how one of our clients successfully transitioned the maintenance of an important System 36-era application from busy RPG developers to a younger web developer interested in learning RPG. The heart of their strategy? Converting their fixed-format RPG code to more modular RPG Free Form.

At the same time, Susan Gantner was presenting a session on using free-form RPG with the clear message that moving to RPG Free Form is critical to bringing new talent to IBM i development.

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Jack Woehr

RPG Trek, The Next Generation

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RPGLEOur client “Bruce” was discussing the RPG talent shortfall and how to get the next generation on board to write and maintain legacy RPG code dating back to the 1980s in a recent iChime meeting.

Bruce had a System 36 manufacturing application written in fixed-format RPG. The system was solid and users were satisfied. But Bruce knew that he had to modernize the code for ease of maintenance and to expand the developer talent pool for future applications.

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Amy Lantz

Debug RPGLE and COBOL with VS Code for IBM i

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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 →

Holly Lacher

Why I Learned RPGLE

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RPGLEWhen 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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Amy Lantz

Code for IBM i: Project Mode

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Code for IBM iVisual 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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Alan Seiden

Learn about Merlin for IBM i

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IBM MerlinYou may have heard about IBM’s new Merlin tools for modern RPG development methodology. But what is it, really, and how would it benefit your shop?

Seiden Group’s Jack Woehr, one of the top Merlin advocates in the country, will be presenting three talks on Merlin at COMMON NAViGATE on Oct. 4–5, 2022:

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Amy Lantz

Visual Studio Code for IBM i: A Resource Guide

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UPDATED 11/20/2024

Code for IBM iVS Code for IBM i offers an alternative to RDi, the heavy-duty, fee-based graphical IDE for IBM i, and SEU, the native green-screen IDE. It’s faster than RDi and easier to learn than either RDi or SEU. It supports development in RPGLE, COBOL, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Node.js and other languages.

Thanks to Liam Allan and other IBM i community members for creating this IBM i extension to the popular Visual Studio Code.

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Liam Barry Allan

Update: Code for IBM i Language Tools

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Code for IBM iCode for IBM i and its RPGLE language tools have come a long way! I am excited to share some of the language tools improvements with you today. They are absolutely worth talking about. Language tools are what makes writing code fun and exciting, and we can be better developers with them.

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Liam Barry Allan

Visual Studio Code and 5250

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With our latest version of Code for IBM i, developers have access to virtually everything they need when writing both RPG and open source applications, all in a single editor.

This blog post covers the two types of terminals available: a PASE shell, enhanced in 0.84 for faster launch, and a 5250 terminal.

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