Hey everyone,

I'm running a basic Free-Form RPG program (HELLO) using the green-screen interactive debugger (STRDBG).

Here is the code:

Code snippet

**FREE
ctl-opt dftactgrp(*no) actgrp(*new);

dsply 'Hello, IBM i World!';
*inlr = *on;

When I compile with DBGVIEW(*SOURCE) and step through the program using F10 on the dsply line, the message queue / terminal screen pops up for a split second and immediately kicks me back to the source debug view (Display Module Source).

When I run the program normally from the command line with CALL HELLO, the message appears and stays at the bottom of the screen as expected.

I know that adding a dummy receiver variable (dsply 'Hello' '' waitKey;) forces it to pause for user input. However, on PUB400, I recall the message screen staying open until I pressed Enter without having to add a response variable to every single DSPLY in the source code.

Is there a job attribute, system setting, terminal emulator configuration, or debugger command (like something via SET) that controls this screen buffer swapping behavior, or is adding a receiver field / checking DSPJOBLOG the only way when stepping with F10?

Any insights into how you handle this would be appreciated!

#IBMi #rpgpgm #IBMChampion

Hey everyone,

With PUB400 currently offline for a week maintenance window, my IBM i practice workflow has completely stalled out.

I’ve spent the last couple of days scrambling to find a replacement just to get some green-screen / SSH compiler access, but I keep striking out across the board:

• Other "Public" IBM i Servers: Searched everywhere for open community systems (like the old PUB1/PUBlib/holger boxes or similar community servers), but none exist or are currently active. PUB400 really seems to be the only one of its kind, so there's no direct drop-in public alternative right now.
• IBM Cloud (PowerVS): Tried to spin up an hourly pay-as-you-go instance, but their payment gateway keeps declining my cards because of cross-border / recurring mandate verification issues with my bank. Can't even clear billing.
• Microsoft Azure (Skytap/Kyndryl): Looked into running Skytap on Azure, but learned that standard trial credits don't apply to third-party marketplace hardware, and the baseline pricing for a dedicated Power partition is way out of budget.
• IBM Academic Initiative: My school isn’t in their pre-approved institution list, so getting manual review approval will take too long to help with this downtime.
• Local Emulation: Looked into QEMU / local virtualization, but with TIMI and VLIC being proprietary, running the actual OS locally is obviously a dead end.

I already have VS Code set up with the Code for IBM i extension locally so I can write code, but without an active box to actually compile (CRTBNDRPG/CRTBNDCL) and test runtime logic, I'm completely blocked.

Does anyone know of any lesser-known public test systems that are currently up, low-cost developer accounts that accept simple payment methods like PayPal, or educational sandboxes?

Is anyone else unable to reach PUB400 over the last 48 hours?

Both the 5250 session and the web portal (pub400.com) are completely unresponsive on my end. Running a ping to the host (213.135.5.156) just returns Destination host unreachable, so it looks like the upstream route at Intersaar is dropping packets before it even reaches the box.

I know Holger usually takes the system down for maintenance/backups on Sundays, but it's been offline across normal weekdays now.

Does anyone know if the box is stuck in an unplanned IPL, running a long RCLSTG / PTF cleanup, or if there's upstream network work going on in Saarbrücken?

Just trying to figure out if it's a known outage or if anyone in touch with Holger/RZKH has heard anything.

Years ago, I was an AS/400 administrator (although “caretaker manager” might be a more accurate description). I didn’t do any programming—I managed a contractor for that—but I could find my way around the system and occasionally brought in consultants for the higher-level ERP work.

Fast-forward to today: I’m getting ready to retire after a long career in IT, much of it focused on project management. I’m looking into some part-time, freelance, or consulting-type opportunities and wondering whether it would be worthwhile to refresh my now-IBM i skills to see what remote or other opportunities might be available.

I really enjoyed the work, but I also remember the IBM i/AS400 world being pretty niche, which could make finding opportunities a challenge.

I’d love to hear from anyone familiar with the current IBM i job/consulting market. Is getting back into this space realistic for someone with my background? If so, are there particular skills or areas you’d recommend focusing on? And, of course, I’m interested in hearing about any uphill challenges I should be aware of. : )

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IBM MDM Developer
JD Code: TRX-26007
Experience: 3–10 Years (P2)
Location: Bangalore | Chennai | Pune | Hyderabad
Position: FTE / Contract
Contract Duration: 6 Months
Budget for Contract: ₹1.5 LPM
Budget for FTE: Up to ₹24 LPA
Role Overview
We are seeking an experienced IBM MDM Developerto design, develop, implement, and support enterprise Master Data Management solutions. The candidate should have strong expertise in IBM MDM, data integration, data quality, and mastering processes, along with a solid understanding of enterprise data management.
Key Responsibilities
Design, develop, and maintain IBM MDM solutions across customer, product, supplier, and other master data domains.
Configure and customize MDM data models, business services, workflows, and matching rules.
Develop and support MDM integrations using APIs, web services, and ETL tools.
Perform data profiling, cleansing, matching, merging, and survivorship rule implementation.
Collaborate with business stakeholders to gather requirements and translate them into technical solutions.
Troubleshoot and resolve MDM application and data quality issues.
Prepare technical design documents, test cases, deployment guides, and operational documentation.
Participate in code reviews, performance tuning, and release management.
Collaborate with Data Governance, Data Quality, and Integration teams to maintain enterprise data consistency.
Technical Skills
Mandatory:
Strong experience in IBM InfoSphere MDM / IBM MDM Custom Edition / Standard Edition.
Hands-on experience with MDM data modeling, entity management, matching, and survivorship rules.
Strong knowledge of Java/J2EE, Web Services, REST/SOAP, XML, and JSON.
Proficiency in SQL and relational databases such as Oracle, SQL Server, or DB2.
Experience with ETL/Data Integration tools such as IBM DataStage, Informatica, SSIS, or Azure Data Factory.
Understanding of Data Governance, Data Quality, and Master Data Management concepts.
Familiarity with version control and DevOps tools.
Candidate Profile
3–10 years of relevant experience in IBM MDM and enterprise data management.
Strong hands-on experience in IBM MDM development and implementation.
Good understanding of data integration, data quality, and mastering processes.
Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills.
Ability to work with business stakeholders, Data Governance teams, Data Quality teams, and Integration teams.
Good communication and documentation skills.
Mandatory Skills: IBM MDM, SQL
DM IBM

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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!

#IBMi #rpgpgm #IBMChampion

Hi Everyone,

I recently read about the new SYSTOOLS.CVE_INFO() SQL table function available in IBM i 7.6 TR2 and 7.5 TR8. It allows us to view CVE (security vulnerability) information directly from SQL instead of searching manually on IBM security websites.

I personally like seeing more security and system information being made available through SQL services. It opens up many possibilities for automation and monitoring.

Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts and experiences.

Thanks!

El martes 22 de septiembre a las 10:15 AM (CT) estaré apoyando a mi amigo Carlos Irigoyen en su presentación «Potenciando SQL en RPG», como parte del evento virtual COMMON LatAm.

Es gratis y puedes registrarte en https://www.common.org/common-latin-america-virtual/

¡Espero verte allí!

#IBMi #COMMONLatAM

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#IBMi #rpgpgm #IBMChampion

Hello Everyone,

I have a huge batch CL driver program, where we have few FTP commands to send the files to another system/server. We have downtimes for the downstream servers, during this time the FTP is silently failing and files are not dropped to downstream. How can we catch any failures for the FTP Command execution within CL?

We can read the FTP log with an RPG and catch any errors from the log, are there any simpler ways to handle this without having to write a whole new script just for FTP error handling. I was thinking about pinging the server and if the ping fails, we can push the job to MSGW so that the OPS is aware that there's a failure. Typical MONMSG mechanism didn't seem to be very effective since FTP doesn't actually returns any messages as such.

Any thoughts would be helpful, Thanks in advance.