Tomorrow (Friday Jan 8) is the 4th webcast in the freee RDi series being run by Sirius Computer Solutions (on of our IBM business partners) and co-presented by me.

This webcast will focus on the Application Diagram, a tool within RDi that can generate visual overviews of the structure of a set of source members or programs / service programs. This includes:

• A visual call graph for ILE RPG, COBOL, and CL source members
• A visual graph showing the ILE bindings between modules, programs, and service programs

Here are the details for joining, this webcast is open to anyone and everyone (no need to be a Sirius client):

The call in number is 877-369-7289 (Canada: 210-918-1998) passcode 7653 and then 0108.

Topic: RDi webcast on Application Diagram
Date: Friday, January 8, 2010
Time: 11:00 am, Eastern Standard Time (GMT -05:00, New York)

Please click the link below to see more information, or to join the meeting.

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To join the online meeting (Now from iPhones too!)

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1. Go to https://sirius.webex.com/sirius/j.php?ED=113944632&UID=0
2. Enter your name and email address.
3. Enter the meeting password: (This meeting does not require a password.)
4. Click "Join Now".

The previous webcast and this webcast can be found for replay at the following URL:

http://www.mysiriuszone.com/component/option,com_docman/task,cat_view/gid,260/Itemid,488/

Over the past 2 months I've been doing a monthly webcast series with Sirius Computer Solutions on Rational Developer for i (RDi). The format is generall 40 min deep dive on a specific topic, 10 min preview of the next month's topic, and 10 mins for Q&A.

So far we have covered an overview and a deep dive on RSE. The webcasts are being recorded and are available for playback.

The next one is this coming Friday (November 13th) and will cover the Integrated i Debugger; one of my favorite RDi topics because it's so easy to use and something I have to use often when coding RPG, COBOL, or CL

Here are the details for the upcoming call:

Topic: RDi webcast 3 - Debugger
Date: Friday, November 13, 2009
Time: 11:00 am, Eastern Standard Time
Meeting Number: 557 432 806

1-877-369-7289 passcode 7541 then you need to enter 2468.

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To join the online meeting (Now from iPhones too!)

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1. Go to https://sirius.webex.com/sirius/j.php?ED=112887842&UID=0
2. Enter your name and email address.
3. Enter the meeting password: (This meeting does not require a password.)
4. Click "Join Now".

Hope to see you in one of the upcoming webcasts.

Don.

Fix Pack 3 for RDi v7.5 is now available.

The fix pack contains enhancements and fixes to version 7.5.

To install the fix pack, start the IBM Installation Manager and click on 'Update'.

The fix pack is also available as a downloadable zip (500MB). You will find it on the Download section of the support site soon. You can also download the zip from:
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/awdtools/rdi/v75/7503/zips/rdi-7.5.0.3.zip

Link to the RDi 7.5.0.3 Release Notes:
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/awdtools/rdi/v75/7503/documents/readme/readme.html

The following corrections have been included in this fix pack.

• SE34801: In the Error List view, clicking on an error from a compiler generated stmt (eg external file description) positions to wrong source line in Editor view
• SE36276: CL prompter dialog appends duplicated parameter entries
• SE36532: In the RPG Outline View, line number references will now be shown under the individual subfields for qualified data structure subfields.
• SE36594: EVFF6009E when using CRTSQLRPGI command in RDi 7.1 and 7.5 and i5OS 610
• SE36981: Incorrect outline view in RDi 7.5 when performing a verify
• SE37116: Running a compare and then changing the source in RSE does not correctly update the file on the i server.
• SE37302: The i Project push changes action pushes all members to the remote host even though there were no changes made to the members.
• SE37332: CTRL-C and CTRL-V keystrokes in the i Project navigator do not perform copy and paste of i Project resources.
• SE37440: In the Application Diagram View, for RPG modules, some procedure call reference links were not shown when they involved field or parameter definitions which depended on external descriptions.
• SE37488: Copy of source member between different connections to same system loses text descripton in RDi v7.5
• SE37606: Compile option UPDPGM doesn't function correctly
• SE37658: Problem with set save.textlimit 92 with a continuation character
• SE37688: The IBM-supplied iSeries Java DFU ListManager bean does not always function properly. A selected cell within a JTable or JFormattedTable will not always correctly update the database file or the table cell itself with the data that was typed into the cell.
• SE37689: The i Project import remote objects dialog does not resize properly.
• SE37750: Creating custom compile command in iProjects (WDSC 7.0.0.8 and RDI 7.5.0.2) and getting CPD1013
• Loading an i Project from RTCi can intermittently cause Null Pointer exceptions.
• Renaming a large i Project can sometimes take a long time.
• Pushing a large i Project to the host can cause the workbench to freeze.
• The properties of members that are newly downloaded to an i Project are pushed un-necessarily on a push change operation.
• After compiling source members with embedded SQL, there may be an exception thrown during parsing of the events file, preventing the Error List view from being populated. In some other cases, double clicking on errors in the Error List view does not always embed the errors in the correct lines.
• SE37803: Rational Team Concert for i assigned Client Access licenses do not display
• SE38015: Rational Team Concert licenses lost every few days

The following enhancements have been included in this fix pack.

• The Rational Team Concert for i - Client has been updated to version 1.0.1.1 which includes enhancements from Rational Team Concert Version 1.0.1 and 1.0.1.1. For details see:
  • https://jazz.net/downloads/rational-team-concert/releases/1.0.1?p=news
  • https://jazz.net/downloads/rational-team-concert/releases/1.0.1.1?p=news
• Note: It is highly recommended that you access Rational Team Concert for i Server using the same version level as Rational Team Concert for i client. For example, if you are updating Rational Team Concert for i client to version 1.0.1.1, update Rational Team Concert for i server to version 1.0.1.1 as well. Using mismatched versions may lead to undesirable results. For detailed installation instructions see: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27014187

I'm presenting on RDi today as part of SystemiNetwork's free IBM i Development Essentials Virtual Conference today. I'll be presenting "RPG and COBOL Development in Less Time With Better Quality Using Rational Developer for i" at 4PM EST.

I've created most of this presentation from scratch and there should be some goodies for both new and experienced RDi users. Hope to see you there!

System i Developer (a.k.a Susan, Jon, Paul, and Skip) have updated their RSE Pin-up with 10 new shortcuts and new tips on customizing the RPG editor. These 10 new shortcuts now bring the total to 46; including what I would consider to be the core, must know, RSE keyboard shortcuts. Printing and posting this is a must for anyone using the RSE!

I don't know how many times a day I have to hit Ctrl+z to undo Word or PowerPoint's "auto correction" of my i to an I (as in Rational Developer for I, Rational Team Concert for I, or IBM I). So I finally bit the bullet and removed those auto-correction rules since I don't generally write about myself in Word or PowerPoint. Honestly, i have no idea why it took me so long

I'm getting ready for an RDi customer demo for Monday and my co-presenter asked what are the main points I normally cover for RDi. Since I typed up the email, I figured I'd post it here as well. So here is my RDi elevator pitch (provided it's the CN Tower elevator):

• Modern Eclipse / Rational SDP tools for the IBM i RPG and COBOL developers.
  • SEU / DPM tools are old and don't have even the basic features that developer on other platforms take for granted.
  • Things as simple as the ability to undo and redo changes.
  • Things as advanced as the ability to generate a visual overview of the structure of an application.
  • RDi can do the things green screen tools can do and more.
• Improved productivity
  • RDi tools are tightly integrated to improve productivity.
    • On the green screen developers have to open SEU to edit, then close and run the compile command. After the compile completes, developer has to open the compiler spool file and look for the error messages. Find the error message and note the line number. Then re-open the member and position to the line number corresponding to the error.
    • In RDi, you open the member in the editor, launch compiles directly from the editor without closing. When the compile finishes, the errors are automatically downloaded and displayed in the Error List view. Double clicking on an error automatically positions the editor to the corresponding line.
    • Open multiple members at the same time, split screen editing of different members, or the same member.
    • Language specific help is integrated with editor (F1 help and content assist)
    • Run remote searches, and results are automatically displayed in the search results view, double click to open editor and position to search result line.
    • Easily attach the integrated i debugger to any job using service entry points (batch, interactive, stored procedures, programs called from the Web)
    • Tools to help developers better understand their large, monolithic source members
      • Color tokenizing lets developers quickly see what are comments, keywords, fields
      • Outline view provides high level overview of source, file records and fields, and makes navigating the source a lot easier.
      • Filtering, searching, and visualizing block nesting are just a few of the editor features
      • Application Diagram can generate a visual representation of the structure of the application. This includes a call graph for CL, COBOL, and RPG source and a binding diagram for ILE programs and service programs. Using split screen editing you can see a visual representation while editing the source!
    • Screen Designer provides visual layout and editing for display files screens
• Designed to make the transition easier
  • RDi was designed to make the transition from SEU / PDM easy
  • Filtering is similar to WRKLIBPDM, WRKOBJPDM, WRKMBRPDM
  • Editor supports prefix commands, source prompting, format line
  • Object table view provides PDM like view for those not comfortable with the tree view
• First step in moving forward
  • Adopting RDi for RPG and COBOL development is the first step in enterprise modernization.
  • Allows developers to learn the new tool while doing the same tasks they normally do.
  • Then they can branch into other areas of enterprise modernization tasks like Web development, Web services, Java or EGL development.
  • As well as new tools like Rational Team Concert for i for change management

With RDi V7.5 come some changes to the default user ID for connection types. In previous releases when you would connect to IBM i, Linux, etc. the user ID field would be empty. Now the user ID field is pre-filled with your Windows login ID.

If your Windows login ID matches your connection login ID then this is good news and will make logging in quicker. However for those that don't have them matching, like myself, you can manually change the default user ID. Since for IBM i connection types I have the same login ID for all my machines, I changed the preference setting to be my user ID for IBM i connections from my Windows login. However for Linux connections, my ID is different on each machine, so I set the default user ID for Linux to be empty. If I had Windows or Unix connections I could easily set the default for those as well.

To change your default user ID for IBM i follow these steps:

1. Go to Windows -> Preferences.
2. Select Remote Systems.
3. Select the cell for row IBM i and column Default User ID.
4. Enter the new Default User ID you desire.
5. Click OK.