Tips for Using Time Stamps in ILE RPG

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Tips for Using Time Stamps in ILE RPG

By WallyDay on Thursday, October 10th, 2013 | 12 Comments

Some notes regarding timestamps.

Defining a Timestamp

A timestamp is stored as a 26 character field. But, the system looks at it as a special data type and enforces the rules it has set up for timestamps.

The format for a timestamp is is YYYY-MM-DD-HH.MM.SS.XXXXXX (Year-Month-Day-Hour.Minute.Second.Milliseconds).

An example would be ’2011-09-14-22.06.48.592000′ (Year: 2011 / Month: 09 / Day: 14 / Hour: 22 / Minute: 06 / Second: 48 / Millisecond: 592000) .

The default value for a “*blank” time stamp is ’0001-01-01-00.00.00.000000′.

In DDS a timestamp is defined with just the field name and a ‘Z’ in the data type column.

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How to Colorize Your Source Code in SEU

By WallyDay on Saturday, August 3rd, 2013 | 20 Comments

Yes, I’m perfectly aware there are numerous advanced editors available that handle RPG and CL, and perform the syntax checking we are all familiar with using SEU. However, it’s not always possible to use RSE or the other editors in all situations. Some companies may not want 3rd party software and editors accessing their iSeries, or maybe you’re working on a project where you find yourself plunked down at a desktop PC that’s either quite old or has limited capabilities.

You find yourself looking at an ugly, old green screen version of SEU. Yucko.

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Cool preg_replace Solution

By WallyDay on Tuesday, March 19th, 2013 | No Comments

The situation: Read a product description from a product database.

The problem: The block of text for the product description in the comma delimited file is not formatted, and in fact looks stripped of whatever formatting it had previously. Chunks of text squished together like “changes.Special” (no space after the period), and “Disc BrakeHeadset” (obviously missing a space between Brake and Headset).

I surmised that the missing spaces were previously line breaks (\n or <br>). If a scan/replace function had been used and the line break characters replaced with a null value, it would fit the puzzle perfectly.

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PHP/MYSQL String Tricks

By WallyDay on Saturday, July 28th, 2012 | 18 Comments

Here’s a couple things I always forget. I’m adding them here so I’ll have them for future reference.

How to “Scan and Replace” a String in MYSQL

(Note the AS400-ish wording of that title).

Big Note: Be very careful of serialized data!!!!

Thanks to http://www.mydigitallife.info/how-to-find-and-replace-text-in-mysql-database-using-sql/ for these little pieces of code.

The syntax of REPLACE is REPLACE(text_string, from_string, to_string)

Like this:

update TABLE_NAME set FIELD_NAME = replace(FIELD_NAME, 'find this string', 'replace found string with this string');

update wp_posts set post_content = replace(post_content, 'http://domain.com/blog/', 'http://domain.com/')

The above statement will replace all instances of 'http://domain.com/blog' to 'http://domain.com/' in the field of post_content of wp_posts table.

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Free Format RPG ILE Alternatives to the TIME Opcode

By WallyDay on Monday, June 25th, 2012 | 20 Comments

Here’s one of the free format BIFs I can never remember as far as syntax is concerned. Maybe if I keep it here I will be able to find it again :). I copied some of this from http://www.bmeyers.net/faqs/frequently-asked-questions/41-free-format-alternatives-to-time (the Q&A part).

Q. In fixed format RPG IV, I used the TIME operation code to get the current date and time; but TIME is not supported by free format. You mentioned that the %DATE, %TIME, and %TIMESTAMP functions can replace TIME, but I’m not sure how to use them for this purpose.

In my programs, I create a data structure like this:

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Good Programmer, Bad Programmer

By WallyDay on Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 | No Comments

“My mind is clearer now. At last, all too well. I can see where we all soon will be”. – Judas in “Heaven on Their Minds” at the beginning of the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar”.

“My mind is in darkness now…” – Judas toward the end of the musical, after the betrayal for the 30 pieces of silver, and just before his suicide.

I’ve been working on a programming project – one I really should have done by now – and I’ve been feeling both of those emotions quite a bit lately. The project, for an unmentioned client, has been a mish-mash of decent to excellent programming styles, mixed with some of the worst I’ve seen for quite sometime.

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