Alan Seiden

Release Levels for IBM i Services (SQL)

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IBM i ServicesIBM i Services are a growing, innovative use of SQL on the IBM i platform. These services are SQL-based functions and views that provide convenient access to system functionality. For example, VS Code for i uses the LIBRARY_INFO table function.

Because these SQL-based services are added and enhanced over time, each service has an operating system release and Group PTF level at which it became available. Our LIBRARY_INFO example was provided in IBM i 7.3 with Group PTF SF99703, Level 18, and enhanced with  SF99703 Level 22. For IBM i 7.4, it was SF99704, Level 7, and enhanced with SF99704 Level 10. Starting with IBM i 7.5, LIBRARY_INFO no longer required a Group PTF.

I had wished there was a list of minimum release levels for all the IBM i Services. As it happened, at our latest Code for IBM i Fridays meeting, Scott Forstie, the DB2 for i Business Architect, provided the resources that I’d been looking for.

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Amy Lantz

VS Code for IBM i: SELECT Statement [VIDEO]

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In this episode of Getting Started with Code for i, Patrick Behr focuses on the power of the SELECT statement included in the Db2 for i extension.

SELECT lets you quickly generate CSV or JSON files, or update your Db2 for i data, directly from Code for i. Just watch how easy it is!

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Alan Seiden

What’s in Your ODBC Driver? A 2024 Update

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ODBC with Db2 for IBM iSince IBM announced Yum support for installing the IBM i Db2 ODBC driver, as documented in our 2022 tutorial, users can update their driver more easily.

To help users determine what’s changed, IBM maintains a list of fixes and enhancements for each IBM i ODBC driver release.

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Alan Seiden

Our Favorite ibm_db2 Settings for PHP

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PHP on IBM iWhen supporting our Seiden CP+ PHP, we found that documentation for the “classic” ibm_db2 extension for IBM i wasn’t easy to find.

To help ourselves as well as others, we updated the PHP.net manual to describe each ibm_db2.i5_* setting. This blog post links to that manual page and highlights a few of our favorite ibm_db2 settings.

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Amy Lantz

PHP 8.3 for IBM i Released in Seiden PHP

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PHP on IBM iLast week the IBM i community got PHP 8.3, the newest version, via Seiden PHP+.

While PHP 8.3 has valuable updates, PHP 8.0 and lower are no longer receiving even security fixes, increasing your risk of issues with security and certainly with your next security audit. Contact Alan for a free upgrade assessment.

PHP 8.3’s new features include json_validate. You’ll find the full list of changes and supporting details at PHP.Watch.

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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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Alan Seiden

Connecting to IBM i Db2 with the Laravel PHP Framework

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Laravel FrameworkLaravel 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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Amy Lantz

Tips for Fast, Reliable Open Source on IBM i

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Open source continues to gain traction in IBM i shops, and for good reason. It excels at delivering new interfaces and functionality for RPG and COBOL applications, plus it broadens the talent pool for your development team.

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Alan Seiden

What’s in Your ODBC Driver?

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ODBC with Db2 for IBM iSince IBM announced Yum support for installing the IBM i Db2 ODBC driver, as documented in our recent tutorial, users can update their driver more easily.

To help users determine what’s changed, IBM maintains a list of fixes and enhancements for each IBM i ODBC driver release.

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Calvin Buckley

Continuous Integration for PHP Extensions

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(Co-written with Alan Seiden)

CI/CDContinuous Integration (CI) ensures that every time a developer commits changes to a version control system such as Git, the code is automatically built and subjected to automated tests.

CI has been invaluable to us. As maintainers of PHP’s PDO_IBM and ibm_db2 extensions, we use CI to ensure high quality across platforms.

Platforms supported by PHP’s extensions for Db2 include IBM i, Unix/Linux, and Windows. While our focus is IBM i, we must ensure compatibility with the others. Reliance on manual testing would introduce the risk of broken builds or subtle bugs. Automation is a must.

In this post, we explain how we use CI principles when building and testing PHP’s Db2 extensions.

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