Re: Tab delimited data in a file -- RPG400-L

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004, Joubert, Robert wrote:

I have been asked to create a "Tab Delimited" file for download.
Can this be done in (any flavor of) RPG?   If so - how????

It can be done in ILE RPG using the IFS APIs, or using the ILE runtime. (two ways!)

The way I like to do it is to create a large VARYING field in the RPG program, and concatenate all of the fields together. Use the %char() BIF to convert numeric fields to character fields so they can be concatenated. For example (this is V5R2 code):

     H DFTACTGRP(*NO)

     FITMMAST   IF   E             DISK

      /copy ifsio_h

     D fd              s             10I 0
     D IfsData         s          32767A   varying
     D TAB             c                   x'05'
     D CRLF            c                   x'0d25'

      /free

         fd = open( '/tmp/itemdata.tab'
                  : O_WRONLY + O_TRUNC + O_CREAT + O_CCSID + O_TEXTDATA
                    + O_TEXT_CREAT
                  : M_RDWR
                  : 1252
                  : 0 );

         if (fd < 0);
            // file open failed.  Check __errno() to find out
            // why, then notify user.
         endif;

         read ITMMAST;
         dow not %eof(ITMMAST);

            IfsData = %char(SKU) + TAB
                    + %trimr(ItemDesc) + TAB
                    + %char(Weight) + TAB
                    + %trimr(SalesRepName) + CRLF;

            callp write(fd: %addr(IfsData)+2: %len(IfsData));

            read ITMMAST;
         enddo;

         callp close(fd);
         *inlr = *on;

      /end-free

You can get the /copy member (IFSIO_H) from my Web site at:
  http://www.scottklement.com/rpgandbeyond04/

I've also written a tutorial on IFS programming, which you can read at
  http://www.scottklement.com/rpg/ifs.html

The problem with that tutorial is that it's aimed at V4 RPG programming. So it works, but is a little dated. I've been rewriting it with V5 style as a series of articles in iSeries NEWS. So far, two articles have been published, one in November and one in December. http://www.iseriesnetwork.com/article.cfm?ID=19312 http://www.iseriesnetwork.com/article.cfm?ID=19473

I've also done presentations on this topic at RPG World and at the RPG and Beyond, and I may do one on the iSeries Network in March as well (currently that's not finalized), so I'm getting a little burnt out on the subject, heh...


Or must this be done using CPYTOIMPF to a file in IFS?

That's another way to do it... That way gives you far less control over the process, is slower, and doesn't give you the chance to do any logic if necessary (for example, getting fields from more than once source, doing any math on the fields, etc.) But, it works, and some people find it easier.