Thursday, October 30, 2008

LANSA and V6R1M0 for Power System i

With V6R1M0 looming on the horizon, rebuilding your LANSA iSeries applications can be done programmatically with a few simple programs. Here at Rippe & Kingston we used the LANSA built-in commands of MAKE_FILE_OPERATIONL and COMPILE_PROCESS to rebuild our System i applications.

With the MAKE_FILE_OPERATIONL built-in, you can recompile all your file I/O modules. There is a little work up front to create a file with all the file names, but a query over file DC@F12 can give you the file and library data. You then copy the queried data into a LANSA defined file and you are ready to run. The code might look something like this:

********** Process all identified files.
SELECT FIELDS((#LIBNAM) (#FILNAM)) FROM_FILE(MAKEFLS)
**********
********** Submit job to make file operational
USE BUILTIN(MAKE_FILE_OPERATIONL) WITH_ARGS(#FILNAM #LIBNAM NNY) TO_GET(#RETCOD)
**********
ENDSELECT



The COMPILE_PROCESS built-in will allow you to recompile all your processes and functions. There is a little work up front here as well to create a file with all the process and function names, but a query over file DC@F23 will give you this data. You then copy the queried data into a LANSA defined file and you are ready to run. The code might look something like this:

********** Define a Process and Function working list
DEF_LIST NAME(#WKPRCL) FIELDS((#PRCN)) TYPE(*WORKING) ENTRYS(500)
DEF_LIST NAME(#WKFUNL) FIELDS((#FCTNAM)) TYPE(*WORKING) ENTRYS(90)
**********
CLR_LIST NAMED(#WKPRCL)
**********
********** Load all the unique Process Names into the working list
SELECT FIELDS((#PRCNAM)) FROM_FILE(PROCFIL)
LOC_ENTRY IN_LIST(#WKPRCL) WHERE('#PRCNAM *EQ #PRCN')
IF_STATUS IS_NOT(*OKAY)
CHANGE FIELD(#PRCN) TO(#PRCNAM)
ADD_ENTRY TO_LIST(#WKPRCL)
ENDIF
ENDSELECT
**********
********** Run through the Process List to build the related
********** Function working list and submit the compiles
SELECTLIST NAMED(#WKPRCL)
**********
CLR_LIST NAMED(#WKFUNL)
**********
SELECT FIELDS((#FCTNAM)) FROM_FILE(PROCFIL) WITH_KEY(#PRCN)
ADD_ENTRY TO_LIST(#WKFUNL)
ENDSELECT
**********
********** Submit the Process/Function compile
USE BUILTIN(COMPILE_PROCESS) WITH_ARGS(#PRCN #WKFUNL) TO_GET(#RETCOD)
********** Check if submission was successful
IF COND('#RETCOD *NE ''OK''')
MESSAGE MSGTXT('Process Compile NOT submitted successfully')
ENDIF
**********
ENDSELECT


One note, it is always best to make sure the submitted jobs go to a single threaded job queue so that compile locks are not a problem.

If you need a little help, don’t hesitate to contact us! It is FREE.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

LANSA Delivers Cloud Computing to Rippe & Kingston


Definition of Cloud Computing: Cloud computing is a general concept that incorporates software as a service(SaaS), Web 2.0 and other recent, well-known technology trends, in which the common theme is reliance on the Internet for satisfying the computing needs of the users. For example, Google Apps provides common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers.


LANSA delivers Cloud Computing to Rippe & Kingston and our clients through the incorporation of the following LANSA Products:



  • RAMP - is the fastest and most certain way to modernize your System i (iSeries and AS/400) business applications and in our case, deliver it via the web.

  • Visual LANSA - provides us the development tools for creating Web Application Modules

  • LANSA Portlet Generator - allows us to plug our LANSA applications into a central portal

Rippe & Kingston has incorporated the technology into their Contract Guardian Product, METHOS and LMS. If you are curious about learning more about how Cloud Computing might be in your future, contact us.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

LANSA Case Studies

If you ever need to be inspired by what others have done with LANSA, take a look at the long list of Case Studies provided by LANSA. Case Studies.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Microsoft targets IBM midrange server customers


Microsoft plans to link hands with hardware and services companies on Tuesday in a push to win over IBM's midrange server customers, ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com has learned.
The Midrange Alliance Program, or MAP, will see Microsoft join up with Fujitsu, LANSA, EDS and a half-dozen other companies to try to convince businesses to look at Windows-based alternatives to IBM's iSeries servers, the latest in the AS/400 family. See complete article

Friday, October 10, 2008

LANSA Education



LANSA continues to dial up their education offering. Rumor has it that they are nearing a release of some very exciting and cost compelling options. Check for the latest in their LANSA education offering by linking to their site at http://www.lansa.com.au/education/index.htm

Friday, October 03, 2008

RPG and .NET--Yes, they can get along!

Hi, everyone. LANSA Open for .NET is getting lots of play in the media, so I thought you might be interested in seeing how LANSA Open for .NET's architecture works.




Also, you'll want to view this video tutorial
of LANSA Open for .NET, which was featured
as part of an article about the new product
in the September 18 issue of
My i-.NET Newsletter:


Vicki Hamende of System iNetwork blogged about
LANSA Open for .NET earlier this week. Check out

R&K Rolls Out LANSA on IBM i5/OS V6R1 in Data Center


We are pleased to announce that Rippe & Kingston has rolled IBM’s new i5 operating system release within our Data Center. This release further solidifies an already secure and robust OS with native support of encryption for files and backups, enhanced disaster recovery and high availability, support for blades, and virtualization technology including support for VMWare’s ESX server.


  • i5/OS V6R1 features include:

  • Virtualization of i5/OS storage

  • Encryption of backups and data on disk

  • IBM Systems Director management

  • Enhanced Java performance

  • Support for IBM BladeCenter servers

  • Improved performance with IBM System Storage™ devices Support for IBM High Availability Solutions Manager (HASM)

  • And most importantly to us is that it works great with LANSA

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

.NET Abides by IBM i Logic, Thanks to New LANSA Product

Alex Woodie of IT Jungle Reports: .NET Abides by IBM i Logic, Thanks to New LANSA Product

It would be a huge understatement to say it's a challenge to get .NET and RPG programs--let alone .NET or RPG programmers--to play by the same set of rules. For companies that rely on a mix of IBM i (AS/400) and Microsoft Windows servers to run their business applications, it's a problem faced on a daily basis. But thanks to a new data integrity tool launched last week, LANSA's Open for .NET, users can share DB2/400 data and enforce IBM i business rules upon Windows .NET applications, in real time.