Getting Started with Code for IBM i: A Lunch & Learn Video
On October 29, 2025, Alan teamed up with Susan Gantner and Jon Paris for an educational Lunch & Learn focused on two timely IBM i development topics: VS Code for i and RPG arrays.
New QSHONI Commands for SQL and IFS on IBM i
QShell on i utility (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. Last month we updated you on three new QSHONI features: QSHPHPRUN, QSHCALL and QSHPYCALL.
This month we will cover several other new and updated QSHONI features added in the past 12 months. Use the following quick links to read about a specific command.
PHP: The “RPG” of Open Source for IBM i
Reliable. Versatile. Fast. The terms we use to describe modern RPG applications apply to PHP as well. That’s why PHP remains a top choice to supplement RPG for IBM i projects involving the web, APIs, and high-volume transactions.
One sterling example is Curbstone’s PCI-validated payment solution, which uses PHP-based portals to process over 8 billion dollars in credit card payments annually with 99.99% uptime availability.
PHP 8.3 for IBM i Released in Seiden PHP
Last 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.
Integrate Python, Node, PHP, etc. with CL & RPG on IBM i – 2023 Update
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 RPG, CL, and COBOL.
In this post I will update you on new features that have been added to the QSHONI utilities over the past 12 months.
Install and Use Node.js iToolkit for IBM i
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.
Case-Insensitive Queries using ODBC on IBM i
When querying for character data using SQL, case matters. “A” is not equal to “a”. Even so, you might want to find all matches, whether uppercase, lowercase, or mixed case.
VS Code for IBM i — Tips and Extras
Visual Studio Code is a widely used IDE in the non-IBM i world. Recently we released Code for IBM i, a freely available extension for VS Code that supports RPGLE and COBOL development for IBM i. You can read about the basics of Code for IBM i and about code coverage functionality in my previous posts.
Today I’m going to cover three additional tips for using Code for IBM i. Of course, for any of this to work, you need to install Code for IBM i.
Visual Studio Code, RPG and Code Coverage
2023 Update
The Code Coverage extension for VS Code for i remains in development
and is unavailable at this time.
This is the second post in my series on RPG and COBOL development using Visual Studio Code and Code for IBM i. Today’s topic is Code Coverage.
Issues with Port 10080
You might have heard that the major browser vendors were planning to block port 10080 – the port used by Zend Server through ZS 8 (PHP 5.6). Firefox made the first move, then Chrome followed. We have been receiving support requests on this issue since April 2021. Why did the browser vendors block port 10080, and what can you do to get your site working again?