Deep Thoughts with Richard Schoen

Check out my recent article in IBM Systems Magazine regarding digital signature capture, a topic near and dear to my heart. Ths article is a good introduction to digital signature capture and how it can be used by organizations.

I created the PHPRUN command a few months back when I started learning PHP. 

I always like to see what else a scripting language is capable of when I am testing. 

I figured since we use QSH and PASE all over the board, then PHP should be able to participate in this mix. 

Feel free to download and use the PHPRUN command.  Source code is included for the CL script if you want to modify and enhance it. 

There’s also a README source member in the source file RJSPHP/SOURCE

Basically the PHPRUN command will run any PHP script with parameters and will allow you to send output back to the regular 400 job by placing STDOUT into a physical *OUTFILE and rolling through the file and processing results. This is a great way to intermix, RPG, CL and PHP. The command also bubbles back the PHP return codes to a data area so you can monitor for a successful script completion from a CL or RPG program. 

PHPRUN Command Download  – Contains RJS FTP Library Installer for RJSPHP library http://downloads.rjssoftware.com/files/commonclasses/rjsphp/rjsphp.exe

REQUEST: If you make any changes or tweaks to the scripts or add any additional functionality, please send them to me so I can incorporate them into the library. I already have several ideas for how to make this more useful, but let’s have some outside input. 

Have fun and send your feedback to me via email.  richard@rjssoftware.com

Having the most precise data in the world doesn’t matter if you can’t get it into the hands of those who need it. That’s why we created RPG2SQL integrator.

Imagine gaining more insight into your company’s performance by generating multi-page spreadsheet reports that contain month-end numbers with negative numbers highlighted in red.  Think of how much more informed you’d be if you could create daily sales summary spreadsheets that were automatically updated each night.  RPG2SQL Integrator accomplishes this by automatically updating MS Excel spreadsheets with data directly pulled from RPG programs.

RJS Software’s RPG2SQL Integrator provides the ability to read and write to SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL and other database formats.  The recently added integration with MS Excel helps your business get even more functionality from an already robust product.

RPG2SQL reads and writes directly to Excel spreadsheets so no data gets missed, and you have the full power of Excel available to your RPG application developers. Contact RJS to schedule a web demo and learn more about the ROI you can achieve by better communicating your key business indicators via RPG2SQL and MS Excel.

When companies experience growth and generate more revenue, they also tend to generate more paperwork. As the number of invoices, proofs of delivery, shop floor data packets, shipping documents and insurance policies generated increases, so does the amount of time it takes to assemble those documents and send them to your customers.

Imagine completing an order and having all the required shipping and certification documentation, such as Material Safety Data Sheets, automatically printed along with a packing list to hand to the truck driver at your loading dock. Or, perhaps, you’re an insurance company that wants to assemble related policy documents into a single document that can be printed and archived without scanning.

RJS Software’s Document Assembly solution provides this functionality and delivers instant ROI by allowing your employees to spend more time helping customers instead of manually assembling packets of paper.

Contact us to see how we can help you achieve fast ROI.

Well I am not personally a huge Twitter fan, but my wife told me that I could use Twitter as sort of a mini-blog where I could share short (140 char) items with anyone who would be crazy enough to follow me.  I don’t plan to use it as a play-by-play site like some folks do, but I will post short web URL link tips and techniques related to Windows, iSeries and other business items I find to be relevent. Besides who would really want to know what I’m doing all the time. Here’s my Twitter link http://www.twitter.com/richardschoen

I just returned from the COMMON 2009 conference in Reno and the main thing I learned from listening to IBM at the opening conference is that they no longer consider the iSeries more than just an OS running on a Power systems box. Why is this a significant event ? Well, we’re starting to see a small although very real shift from some customers towards selecting ERP and other business systems that run on platforms that don’t include OS/400.

While RJS will always remain committed to the native iSeries platform we want to make sure our customers know that even if they do select another platform, our document imaging, electronic forms, workflow and report delivery products are all very capable products running in an iSeries or Multiplatform environment as well. Hopefully for those of you committed to the iSeries, you will be on the platform a long time, but if Windows or some other platform is in your future, feel free to give us a call and we can discuss how your information delivery investment is protected by continuing to choose RJS as your valued information delivery provider.

Well, on August 1st, after a year of planning and team effort, we finally moved from our old building into a brand new 15,000 square foot state of the art facility that will be our new corporate headquarters. After more than ten years in our old building, we had effectively carved up the building into several different working areas that didn’t allow our teams to work as effectively together as we continue to grow the company. We went from having one conference room in the old building to six conference rooms in the new facililty. This will allow us to stage more onsite customer events as well as perform more demo and training sessions at the same time.  Every area from sales to support has more room to grow as we continue to expand. Take a look at the following link for some of the pictures from the move. We’ll post some final shots once all is completed. RJS corporate headquarters pictures.

We are doing an event with Joe Pluta in Chicago in September. Joe is going to take a day and provide a hands on experience with EGL and RDI to create web applications and I will be covering the .Net side of the fence for System i.  Joe and I have opposing angles on which languages are best for iSeries developers to modernize with, but this event will give you a chance to spend a day with each of the technologies and choose for yourself. Check out the following link for more info and we hope to see you in Chicago in September.  Java/.Net Faceoff Registration.

I recently found an interesting site that lists open source alternatives to several software products such as Veritas Backup Exec, Microsoft Office, Visio and more.  if your shop is considering using open source products or you’re just curious to learn more about the open source alternative products available, check out the Open Source Alternative site.

IBM’s announcement of the System i blades is probably one of the most compelling statements by IBM that the System i landscape is changing and I believe it’s for the better. 

First and foremost this is an improvement on the scenario we have used for the past ten years on the iSeries with the integrated xServer cards.  They have always been one step behind current technology and have been seen as a second class way of deploying Windows on the iSeries.  However I’ve used the integrated server cards for years and found them to be very stable.

From a practical perspective the new Blade cards will allow shops such as RJS to truly consolidate their iSeries, Windows, Linux or AIX environments all together in a shared chassis with shared disk and less cables.  RJS is planning to implement one of the Blade Centers internally to consolidate our own server sprawl. I’ll post updates as we move forward.

Some say this is the end of the System i.  I say it’s just the beginning of a new way of life where our System i servers live harmonious with all of the other servers in our shops. Only time will tell for sure. Goodbye to cable and server sprawl.

I can’t say I agree with the new name change to “i”, but read about the cool new Blade Server technology here at the IBM i web site.