BCD Tech Blog

This is a followup to our October 19, 2011 Minimum OS/400 Release Level Notification for BCD products.

As of later this month V5R4 will be the minimum OS/400 release level supported by most BCD product releases as well as any software updates we create.

The following versions of our products are the last releases that can be installed on OS/400 V5r3:

• WebSmart ILE 9.0
• WebSmart PHP 4.0
• Clover 3.0
• Presto 3.8
• Catapult 7.71
• Nexus 4.03
• ProGen Plus 9.6
• Spool-Explorer/400 4.52
• File-Flash Plus 4.5
• DbGen 2.5
• Docu-Mint 6.6

If you have any questions or concerns please contact Technical Support.

As part of our ongoing development strategy and planning efforts here at BCD we are scheduling future internal IBM i system upgrades. This will affect the minimum OS/400 release level supported by BCD products. Our product line currently requires a minimum OS/400 release level of V5R3. As of January 1, 2012 V5R4 will be the minimum OS/400 release level supported by most BCD products and updates released after that date.

As our products continue to evolve and new products are introduced it is generally our intention to keep in step with IBM OS/400 release levels, while also giving our clients enough time to plan for this change. This allows us to develop using current technology and to make this technology available to you in our product family.

IBM discontinued support for V5R3 on April 30, 2009.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact Technical Support.

Many of us have used DDS for years to define our databases. In recent years SQL has become more prominent on platforms other than the IBM i, but there still seems to be reticent to adopt SQL instead of DDS. Here are five reasons why you should consider using SQL instead of DDS from now on.  IBM also has a great redbook on SQL with lots of great tips on how to use SQL features and how to move from DDS to SQL.

Reason 1: Everyone else is doing it!
I know- when our kids come to us with this reasoning we usually dismiss their argument. However, it’s true that SQL is driving database design and management on almost all major platforms and software development environments.  By learning SQL you will have skills you can transfer to any development project and your employer will benefit with you having cross-platform skills.

Reason 2: IBM is continually enhancing SQL support on IBM i. They have stopped enhancing DDS.
IBM recognizes that SQL is the way of the future. DDS is a proprietary language, used only on the IBM i platform. Any time IBM adds new features to the database they add those features to SQL. For example, enhanced transaction processing is only available in SQL. Improved index management is only available in SQL

Reason 3: SQL described tables and indexes can often perform better than DDS logical files.
This is because DDS-described files check to rebuild/update indexes when data is read from a file, while SQL checks only when the underlying table is updated. Since most applications perform read-only operations 8 times more than read/write ops, this yields a performance advantage

Reason 4: SQL  DDL (Data Description Language) is easy to code, and many tools are available to help you.
With DDS you are limited to SEU or RDP  or BCD’s DbGen (which actually hides the coding for you) for describing your physical and logical files. With SQL there are many tools available, some open source. Or, coding it by hand is simple too.

Reason 5: You can phase in SQL tables and indexes with minimal impact on existing applications.
You can convert your physical and logical files to SQL tables and indexes without having to change the underlying code.  IBM provides a conversion command that lets you extract SQL table definitions from physical files to give you a head start.

The BCD Product Development team has run a series of tests of the following versions of our software at V7R1:

• Catapult 7.6
• Spool-Explorer 4.5
• Exodus 5.1
• WebSmart 8.2
• Presto 2.2
• ProGen 9.5
• DBGen 2.5
• Docu-Mint 6.5
• File-Flash Plus 4.5
• Nexus 3.6 and 4.0

No problems were encountered.

If you have any questions about this, please contact Technical Support.

Search terms: 7.1 V7 R1