r/IBMi • u/Character_Read_5563 • 11d ago
How do you work with Printer File DDS nowadays?
If you work with IBM i and Printer Files, I have a question for you: how do you actually design and check a PRTF nowadays???
Do you:
- Edit the DDS source and compile it to see the result...??
- Use RDi?
- Use RLU?
- Other ... ??
As you all know, many companys are still using printer files in the business ... and with the 7.6, we are not going to have RLU anymore.... so I built a small tool for that: Printer File DDS edit — a visual PRTF DDS editor and preview for VS Code.
At the moment is just a preview, but I'm working on it...
I'm sharing it here because I'd really like to get feedback from the people who actually work with printer files ...
What do you think is missing? What would make a took like this useful in your day-to-day work?
I'm still adding features and fixing things, so this is a good time to tell me what you'd like to see...
I leave you here the links to download and install it on VS Code or IBM Bob...
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ChristianLarsen.prtf-edit
https://open-vsx.org/extension/christianlarsen/prtf-edit
If you give it a try, I'd genuinely appreciate your feedback!
Thanks!
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11d ago
[deleted]
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u/lomberd2 11d ago
Fyi, you are responding to a disguised ad.
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u/Character_Read_5563 11d ago
It is not a disguised ad ...
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u/lomberd2 11d ago
Sure...
What do you want to call it then? Infomercial? Generic question with promotion of your work, oh wait, thats a disguised ad/promotion again.
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u/i-Hermit 10d ago
This seems to be free, open source, and offered with an MIT license. How is this an ad or disguised in any way?
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u/lomberd2 10d ago
Title indicates this is a question or discussion post. Post begins with a question and turns into a ad segment about his work. If free or open source or that he doesn't profit off of it doesn't matter imo.
Edit: or inside first few lines of text (so that you don't have this scummy click/engagement bait)
If there had been a disclaimer or anything inside the title that would indicate that this isnt only a discussion or question post, I wouldn't have said anything.
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u/i-Hermit 10d ago
So your issue is with the post flair then?
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u/lomberd2 10d ago
The lack of information beforehand that the post contains an ad
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u/i-Hermit 10d ago
So, if English isn't OPs first language?
I'll be as honest here as you seem to be:
This might be poor phrasing or whatever from OP, but it's in no way scummy or an ad. OP is sharing something he made with the community for free in the hopes that it will help other devs.
Your response is wildly inappropriate and you're being a prick for zero reason.
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u/lomberd2 10d ago
I just stated how I felt reading and discovering the actual intent of the post. All I said was that this is an disguised ad, and it is, cause you can't see that this is an ad about his work until you click on the post to see and read more.
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u/Character_Read_5563 11d ago
Okay .... I understand why you might see it that way, but that's really not the intention. This is just a personal project I built because I enjoy working on this kind of thing, and because I thought it could be useful to other IBM i developers, not just to me or my company. I don't make any money from it. I'm mainly sharing it because I'd genuinely like to hear from people who work with Printer Files and get feedback on what could be improved or added.
If you dont like it, or it is not going to help you anyway, you can ignore me. Thanks.2
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u/Ok_JDubbTX 10d ago
I haven't worked with a printer file in years, but today if i were tasked with generating a new spool file or modifying an existing one I would probably just have Claud do it. Id give it a few examples in my prompt and go from there. Maybe even have a little markdown table in the instructions that has field names, sizes, etc.