A friend in the IBM i vendor community asked me about Mapepire from a popularity and security perspective. He had read about Seiden Group’s support for the Mapepire Db2 for i driver. I have provided his questions and edited versions of my answers below.
Seiden Group is pleased to announce that we now provide production support for the open source Mapepire database connector for IBM i. This includes support for Node.js applications and cloud-based or containerized workloads that connect to Db2 for i—whether from IBM i itself or from external systems.
Many developers already rely on Mapepire every day—sometimes without realizing it—because it’s the back-end to the Db2 for i extension for VS Code. We’re excited to help clients adopt this lightweight, high-performance connector.
Using a job queue or scheduler to run PHP scripts helps ensure that PHP-based processes are run successfully and on time.
To make it easy for Seiden PHP+ users to schedule jobs, we provide job scheduler or queue functionality and support with our Seiden PHP+ SmartSupport.
Benefits include the ability to:
I’m pleased to share that over the past year, we’ve rebranded our PHP distribution as Seiden PHP+.
When we first created CommunityPlus+ PHP, it was meant to fill a gap—providing a stable, supported PHP environment for IBM i after Zend Server Basic was discontinued. The new name, Seiden PHP+, better reflects our team’s role in offering and supporting this full-featured, enterprise-grade PHP stack that businesses rely on for speed, stability, and security.
For those who want hands-on help, our Install & Learn service is a great way to get started, and our SmartSupport program keeps your system secure and running smoothly. Whether you’re using PHP for new APIs or modernizing legacy web apps, Seiden PHP+ is designed to support you.
Thanks to all our clients and partners who’ve helped us improve this platform. We’re proud to continue developing tools and services that move IBM i forward.
Contact us to schedule a complimentary PHP upgrade assessment. I’d love to hear what you’re building.
Update: New installations of Code for i include the +uninhibited option by default, as described here.
The open-source TN5250 emulator provides a handy way to launch IBM i 5250 sessions from within VS Code for IBM i.
The one drawback I’ve found in TN5250 is the Cursor in protected area of display error when I accidentally type on a protected area of the screen—an area where input isn’t allowed. The error must be cleared before I can continue to work.
IBM i Services are a growing, innovative use of SQL on the IBM i platform. These SQL-based functions and views 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.
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.
Our 2023 article on searching source physical file members using the QShell grep command showed grep’s potential. In practice, while we found QShell grep to be flexible, we also experienced slow performance and occasional errors.
Now, our own Calvin Buckley has built an improved grep command called pfgrep to search traditional IBM i source physical file members. Quick and reliable, pfgrep is also free and open source.
A few years ago I introduced you to my QShell on i utility – QSHONI. QSHONI makes it easy for traditional CL, RPG, and COBOL programs to call Python utilities and other QShell/PASE utility programs (PHP, Node, Java, etc.) and directly use their output. QSHONI opened up a whole new world of integrations to open-source apps from traditional IBM i applications.
I keep thinking I will run out of interesting things to add to the library, but the ideas keep on flowing.
Comparing source code between IBM i partitions has been a desired feature of Code for i. Although connecting to two systems within one Code for i window is not yet supported, comparing source from two systems IS possible.
Patrick Behr recently posted a comparison technique using Git that works for multiple files. Another technique, which seems well suited for comparing single files rather than multiples, was provided by Christian Jorgensen in the Code for i Github repository. We share both versions below.
Sometimes it seems that IBM creates its own terminology for everything. One young colleague told us she was eager to learn about the IBM i platform, but her older colleagues used so many abbreviations and initialisms, the “alphabet soup” deterred her and caused frustration.
We at Seiden Group try to bring teams together. In that spirit, here are several common IBM i terms and their definitions in platform-neutral terms: