The Programmer's Guide to iSeries Navigator - Softcover

Touhy, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1583470476 ISBN 13: 9781583470473

Verlag: MC Press, LLC, 2006

Inhaltsangabe

iSeries Navigator is a favorite tool of operators and administrators&;who use it with great success&;but many programmers have missed the great programming tools that is provides! This book introduces you to iSeries Navigator along with all the powerful tools and interfaces that will expand your programming horizons. As iSeries applications continue to move toward a graphical user interface (GUI), so does the development environment. Programs such as CODE and WDSC may fill the need for the programming environment, but iSeries Navigator fills the programmer's need for general system access as well as database management and development.

Starting with an introduction to the basics of iSeries Navigator&;including how to perform standard day-to-day commands in Navigator as opposed to green screen&;the book goes on to explain the advantages of Navigator over green screen operations.

For the programmer, it is in the GUI interface to DDL in Navigators that they will realize the most benefit. And, as DDS for database is replaced by SQL&;s DDL, the importance of knowing iSeries Navigator will grow. Navigator also provides GUI equivalents of standard green screen commands such as WRKSPLF, WRKSBMJOB, and DSPJOB, as well as graphical access to the Integrated File System (IFS).

To maximize your efficiencies as a programmer, you need to learn the intricacies of this interface. Join Paul Tuohy as he shows you the ins and outs of iSeries Navigator in a helpful, comprehensive, and entertaining way.

With a foreword by Susan Gantner

With The Programmer&;s Guide to iSeries Navigator you will:
&; Learn iSeries Navigator from a programmer's point of view
&; Discover database features that are uniquely available with DDL
&; Get a true GUI interface to the Database Navigator that far exceeds any green screen
&; Use the Integrated File System (IFS) to access PCs from the iSeries
&; Access the IFS to share directories, store program sources, and more
&; Discover Navigator tools that simplify SQL coding
&; Simplify the task of creating SQL tables in place of DDS-created physical files
&; Improve the performance of your SQL statements with the Visual Explain tool
&; Master the database feature of Navigator to create and maintain collections, tables, views, indexes, constraints, and functions

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Paul Tuohy has worked with IBM developing and teaching courses in programming and application development, and is one of the quoted industry experts in the IBM Redbook Who Knew You Could Do That with RPG IV? He is an award-winning speaker at a number of COMMON U.S. Conferences and works as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) with COMMON U.S. He is a regular contributor to the Search400.com website and writes for iSeries Experts Journal.

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The Programmer's Guide to iSeries Navigator

By Paul Touhy

MC Press

Copyright © 2008 MC Press Online, LP
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-58347-047-3

Contents

Title Page, 
Copyright Page, 
Dedication, 
Acknowledgements, 
Foreword, 
Introduction, 
1 - Getting Started, 
2 - Basic Functions, 
3 - File Systems, 
4 - Simple Database Features, 
5 - Advanced Database Features, 
6 - Referential Integrity and Triggers, 
7 - User-Defined Functions and Stored Procedures, 
8 - Get the Picture, 
9 - Pros and Cons, 
10 - Management Central, 
11 - Other Items of Interest, 
12 - Summary, 
A - Install and Configure iSeries Navigator, 
B - Make the Database, 

CHAPTER 1

Getting Started

Do you remember when you first signed onto an iSeries? There was that strange sense of familiarity and newness. I was reminded of it when I first started iSeries Navigator. The sense of familiarity occurred for two reasons: Navigator has a Windows Explorer-style interface and the listed items are obviously related to the iSeries. The sense of newness was because iSeries items somehow do not look quite right in an Explorer-style window!

It takes a bit of getting used to, but you soon will be finding your way around iSeries Navigator just as easily as you find your way around a 5250 screen.

You might as well start with the basics of how Navigator works and how to move from function to function. It doesn't take that long to learn where to point and click.

Navigating Navigator

Figure 1.1 shows the result of starting iSeries Navigator and extending the name of your iSeries server (of course, the name of your server will be different). It is a standard Explorer-style interface with a menu, a toolbar, a hierarchy tree (on the left), and a detail pane (on the right) showing the details of the entry selected in the hierarchy tree. A taskpad also appears at the end of the window, containing two task panes; My Tasks (on the left) and a system task pane (on the right).

Scroll bars (up/down and left/right) are available when the contents of a pane exceed the display size.

Basic navigation is achieved by selecting (mouse click) or expanding (click on the '+') an item in the hierarchy tree; the detail pane lists the details of the item selected. An item then may be selected in the detail pane.

Options are available for any selected item, and many ways exist to get the same result, as with most Windows applications. In Navigator, an option may be available on the menu, on a toolbar, in a task pane, or on a context menu (by right clicking on an item). You experience this same concept in 5250 emulation, in that you can run a command by entering the command on a command line, selecting menu options from the main menu, or entering a generic command name to get a list of possible commands and then selecting one.

The menu, the toolbar, and the system task pane are sensitive to the item you select in the hierarchy pane; in other words, the options available are dependant on what you select. Figure 1.2 shows the File menu options and the system task pane options available when you select Basic Operations -> Messages in the hierarchy tree; compare this to the File menu options and the system task pane options available when you select Database -> DatabaseName, as shown in Figure 1.3.

Figure 1.4 shows the corresponding toolbar and context menu for Basic Operations -> Messages and Figure 1.5 shows those for Database -> DatabaseName.

Navigator "greys out" those items that are not available, as shown for some of the toolbar options and the Properties option on the menu in Figure 1.4.

The items listed on a menu can depend on your security clearance. For example, the context menu for Security lists an item for Configure only if your profile has a special authority of * SECOFR (Security Officer).

In other instances, it appears as if Navigator permits you access to functions that you would not have authority to in a 5250 session. For example, if you select any of the system values under Configuration and Service -> System Values, it appears that you are being permitted to change the value — until you click OK and receive a message telling you that you are not authorized to the Change System Value (CHGSYSVAL) command.

Taskpad

The taskpad is the closest you get to menus in a 5250 session. The system task pane shows a menu of options that are available for the selected item in the hierarchy tree. The My Tasks pane shows a list of your own personal options.

You can customize the My Tasks pane (on the left) by selecting Add to "My Tasks" or Customize Taskpad from the context menu of any item in the taskpad, as shown in Figure 1.6. The My Tasks pane in Figure 1.6 also shows the result of having items added to the My Tasks pane.

As time progresses, and you become familiar with Navigator, you may find the system pane surplus to your requirements. You can choose not to display it by selecting Customize Taskpad from the context menu of any item in the taskpad, selecting the View tab, and selecting Display "My Tasks" only, as shown in Figure 1.7.

The resulting view, showing only the My Tasks pane, is shown in Figure 1.8.

Then again, maybe you aren't one for menu options, and you would sooner not have a task pane at all. Simply select View from the menu and deselect the Taskpad option, as shown in Figure 1.9. The resulting view, without the taskpad, is shown in Figure 1.10. You get a larger hierarchy and detail pane by not having a Taskpad.

To ensure that you see the maximum amount of information available throughout the remainder of the book, the Taskpad will not be included in the screen captures of iSeries Navigator windows.

Of course, the taskpad can be restored by simply reversing the procedure.

Help

In 5250 sessions, you are used to the powerful help features available, in which help is never more then an F1 key way. Navigator is no different; simply press the F1 key to get the help window shown in Figure 1.11. Or, you can select Help -> Help Topics from the menu.

Navigator's help system is very powerful. Selecting the "What can I do with ...?" option displays the window shown in Figure 1.12. The expandable list matches the hierarchy tree shown for a server connection; selecting an item results in the corresponding help being displayed. As you would expect, all the help is hyperlinked.

Just as in a 5250 session, context help also is available. Figure 1.13 shows the window for sending a message. Pressing the Help button or clicking the '?' and pointing and clicking on an item in the window results in a Help Window similar to the one shown in Figure 1.14 being displayed.

Navigator's help system provides more information about what you are trying to do, as compared with the usual "What is this?" style help; note the "How do I ...", "Tell me about ...", and "More Information ..." links in the hierarchy tree in Figure 1.14.

Using Navigator

A few options of iSeries Navigator are common to nearly all features. Most of these are explained in detail as you use them throughout the book, but it is worth having a brief look at the basic principles.

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Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: MC Press, LLC
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2006
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1583470476
• ISBN 13: 9781583470473
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 350
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar