Re: Open Access RPG questions

[Jon Paris <jon.paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Answers/Comments in-line.


Jon Paris

www.Partner400.com
www.SystemiDeveloper.com

On Sep 9, 2010, at 10:07 AM, rpg400-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Well, it was a battle, but we finally managed to prise a copy of  
> Open Access
> RPG out of IBM. It took nearly two months of emails, phone calls and
> nagging, but eventually they responded. I really do worry about a  
> company
> it's so hard to give your money to...

Me too - it should not be this hard.

> 1. Compiling on i 7.1 with TGTRLS(V6R1M0)

You have to be missing a PTF for the *PRV 6.1 compiler. Remember -  
previous release support is achieved by shipping a copy of the 6.1  
compiler. That needs a PTF to enable the HANDLER keyword etc.

> 2. Handling printer files
>
> This limits what can be achieved at the moment when the user is  
> writing to
> an externally described printer file. For example, if a record has  
> SPACEB(2)
> specified, we would like to be able to reflect this in the Excel  
> output, ...

The space/skip information is in the Print-control structure which is  
defined by QrnPrtctl_T. The pointer to the structure is passed in
the field prtctl in the main structure passed on each call. Same with  
the overflow flag printerOverflow. This is all in the documentation -  
not sure where it is right now - it was in the RPG Cafe but that's all  
being migrated to the Partnerworld wiki site - the real URL is just  
plain silly but this will get you to the page http://tinyurl.com/29jyk8j

> 3. License keys
>
> I was surprised to find that no license key appears to be necessary  
> to use
> the product. I really don't understand the rationale behind charging  
> for the
> product but not requiring a license key. We diligently paid our  
> invoice
> yesterday, but I'm not sure everyone will do so. What am I missing?  
> Can
> anyone explain IBM's thinking here?


Is IBM thinking? I'm not convinced when it comes to Open Access. It  
has HUGE potential to keep people on the platform and therefore ensure  
Rational's revenue streams from compilers etc. They have a real  
opportunity here and they aren't even telling their own people about  
it let alone customers. In many cases it it OA Handler vendors who are  
doing Rational's marketing for them and that is just not right.