With assistance from Help/Systems International

What’s a good name for an adjustable, one size, metal conduit fitting that “clips all”? If you head to Australia, it’s Clipsal. In 1920, that name seemed perfect to describe both the product that Alfred Gerard had developed and the company that would manufacture it. Today, after multiple manufacturing breakthroughs, including the first all-Australian electric switch in 1930, and the pioneering use of thermoplastics in the 1950s, Clipsal has grown. In fact, it’s now the number one brand of electrical accessories in Australia and Asia, and a market leader in data communications for industrial and home automation markets. Clipsal employs more than 2,300 people throughout Australia to produce more than 20,000 different product lines, manufactured at its head office in Bowden, South Australia and three regional factories. In 2003, Clipsal joined with Schneider Electric, the world’s biggest electrical company, to become Clipsal Australia, soon to be an even bigger player in global markets.

When you run SEQUEL ViewPoint on your PC, you can connect to remote databases through SEQUEL on your System i and process SQL requests against them.

SEQUEL on the System i connects to the remote databases; your PC running ViewPoint does not directly connect to the remote system. You define the remote databases that are available in a database file named SEQUELHOST that is stored on the System i.

When you set up SEQUEL for a user, you determine which SEQUELHOST file (or member) SEQUEL should use for remote database access. This lets you give different users access to different remote databases. Use the ViewPoint Administrator Set Defaults option (or the SETDFT command) to select or edit the file or member that should be used.

Before converting your system to i/OS 6.1, you must update Help/Systems products to the i/OS 6.1 compatible release or modification level. Almost all products are now compatible. To look at the Product/OS compatibility chart, click here.

According to IBM’s Web site, “With IBM i 6.1 (i5/OS V6R1), IBM will require conversion of all programs created under previous releases that use the IBM i Machine Interface (MI). This conversion upgrades and refreshes programs to take advantage of the latest system enhancements, including enhanced system integrity, improved performance, and a range of new operating system and processor capabilities. In order for a program to be converted, its creation data (sometimes referred to as observability) must be available. Programs created for IBM i V5R1 or later automatically retain creation data sufficient for conversion. Clients and ISVs with programs created for OS/400 V4R5 and earlier need to ensure that creation data is available for the conversion process.”

Enhances access to System i data

Help/Systems, the world’s leader in software solutions for the IBM System i, announces the release of SEQUEL Version 9.0, the System i business intelligence solution. Users who need ad hoc queries, reports, or executive dashboards will find that System i data retrieval and presentation is fast and easy with SEQUEL 9.0.

SEQUEL version 9.0 adds gauges (speedometers, thermometers, and dials) to executive dashboards to help monitor critical indicators as they change. Using the new Gauge Wizard, users can create professional-looking dashboards with just a few simple mouse clicks.

One of the biggest changes in Robot/SCHEDULE 10 is its graphical user interface (GUI). When you’re using a GUI and have only a small number of items in a list, it’s easy to find a specific item. Just grab the scroll bar and scroll down until you see the item you are looking for. However, many Robot/SCHEDULE users have hundreds of jobs in their Job Schedule List (JSL).

Is there a command that I can use in my own programs (outside of Robot/SCHEDULE) that would put a Robot/SCHEDULE job on hold or run a job immediately?
Yes, the Robot Batch Update command (RBTBCHUPD) can pass the appropriate override code to Robot/SCHEDULE to put job on hold or run a job immediately. To update an existing job, use the Robot job number to refer to the job. Leading zeroes in the job number can be omitted. For more information on the
RBTBCHUPD command, refer to the Robot/SCHEDULE User Guide.