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Server-side open source software technology on IBM i reached a tipping point in 2019. It’s a shift in how OSS is delivered from the licensed program 5733-OPS to yum. This has made it possible to speedily apply OSS to IBM i.
But what about the client’s development environment? RPG and CL are SEU (suspended development), and OSS is used as various editors (RDi, VSCode, Eclipse, IDEA, Atom, etc.).
Let’s face it, I am one of them. Especially when it comes to RPG and CL development, I mostly use SEU, which I have been using for many years. For craftsmen (technicians), tools are important business tools, so it is best to use them easily. However, rather than sticking to old tools forever, it is important to try new tools and use both old and new tools well.
Meanwhile, IBM i’s client-side development environment is booming. IBM i Merlin and Code for IBM i. Even the author, who usually uses SEU, is using Code for IBM i more and more. In this article, I will introduce a convenient way to use Code for IBM i.
Here are some of the benefits of Code for IBM i in my personal sense.
IBM i上のソースをローカルPCのCode for IBM iに取り込むことにより、IBM iに未接続の状態でもローカル環境で作業することができる。筆者は外出や移動があると事前にプログラム・ソースをローカルPCにダウンロードしておき、ネットワーク環境が弱くIBM i上のソースが参照しづらいときに、Code for IBM iを利用することが多い。新幹線の移動中やカフェなどでの待ち時間中に、ソースコードの分析や事前調査をCode for IBM i上で行っている。筆者の場合は、ローカルPCでソースの改修をすることはほぼないが、分析した内容のコメントをソースに埋め込む作業などに活用している。
【手順】
1. 「Code for i – オブジェクト・ブラウザ」でソースコードを”Download”（図表1）
2. ローカルPCの適当なフォルダに保存する(図表2)
SEUではできない正規表現を使用した、ソース検索が可能。SUEの場合は、ワイルドカードや正規表現パターンを使用した検索はできないため、意図していない検索結果も拾ってしまうが、正規表現を使用して柔軟に検索ができる。さらにプロジェクト内の検索結果の場合は、結果をコピー＆ペーストで出力してその後の作業に使うことも可能である。
【手順】
1. ソースコード検索：ソース内で”Ctrl + F”で検索窓を表示し、検索値を入力する（画面7）
2. メンバー（プロジェクト）検索：左の”虫眼鏡”マークをクリックで”Ctrl + F”で検索窓を表示し、検索値を入力する（画面8、画面9）
変更前ソース、変更後ソースの差分を抽出し、開発者が変更後のコードレビューする際に使用する。筆者のチームでは、開発者が責任者に開発後のソースコードをレビューすることになっているが、変更時はソースの差分で会話することが多々ある。IBM iでもCMPPFMというコマンドは用意されているが、変更分が大量だと見づらい。そんなとき、Code for IBM iやVSCodeのソース差分出力機能を使えばレビュー作業もスムーズに進む。
【手順】
1. git履歴比較：該当ファイルを右クリック→[ Commit Changes ]…（画面10）
2. 任意比較：該当ファイルを右クリック → 比較元[ 比較対象の選択/Select for Compare ] → 比較先 [選択項目と比較/Compare with Selected]
ローカルPCで編集した場合でも、その内容をIBM i上のIFSに保存し、連続コンパイルすることも可能。しかもこれら一連の流れは、Code for IBM iのアクション機能で、ファイルの拡張子に連動した、リモートコマンドの振る舞いを行うことができる。たとえば、*.rpgle”の場合は、IFSアップロード → CRTBNDRPGを行うなど。
【手順】
1. 上部 [表示]→[コマンドパレット]を選択
2. ”IBM i Launch Action Setup”を選択（画面11）
3. Actionを定義するファイルのタイプを選択する（画面12）
4. 左ペインの[IBM i]でIBM iに接続
5. ライブラリリスト(USER LIBRARY LIST)と現行ライブラリ（コンパイル先）を設定する
6. IFS BROWSER でソースのアップロード先を指定し、右クリックし[Change working directory]をクリックする
7. IFSにアップロード、コンパイルするファイルを選択肢 [Ctrl + E]を押下する。実行コマンド（画面13）とアップロード対象ファイルを選択（画面14）
8. 下ペインの[Output]→[出力]でコンパイル結果を確認する（画面15）
筆者の場合は、本格的な開発やスクラッチでの利用よりも、開発における補助的な利用が多い。しかしSEUにはない機能の活用により開発効率の向上に非常に役立っており、Code for IBM iはVSCodeとIBM iのベストな橋渡し役だと言える。「すべての開発をCode for IBM iで」と考えるのではなく、まずは効率よく利用できるところから試してみてはどうだろうか。
［i Magazine・IS magazine］
Chubu System Co., Ltd.
President
Joined Chubu System in 2001. As an RPG engineer, he has been in charge of many commissioned development projects. At the same time, he is also learning open source and actively participates in community activities. He has a deep knowledge of PHP, JavaScript, Node.js, etc. He also actively speaks on Twitter and Qiita. Current position from 2021.
Mainframes and IBM i systems are still as vital as ever, with the number of transactions they process increasing every year. Today, mainframes process
90% of all credit card transactions
, and
trusts them to run their most critical business applications—ensuring security, reliability and scalability.
But as businesses are becoming increasingly data-driven, there is a greater need to quickly and easily access data from across the organization, prompting many to make the move to the cloud. This presents new challenges for businesses to overcome. Can a cloud-based environment provide access to all the data needed? What if the data still resides on a mainframe or IBM i system? How do businesses bridge the gap between their mainframe systems and modern cloud environments without disrupting day-to-day operations?
Mainframe modernization, rather than cloud transformation, is the way forward for ensuring integrated, and more agile, data for confident decision-making. According to Forbes, “The mainframe world will continue as it has. If anything, it will probably grow as hybrid approaches show results.” Here, we explore the benefits of mainframe modernization—and how to take advantage.
Heritage systems are still playing a critical role in helping organizations keep pace with modern, evolving business needs. If mainframes or IBM i systems are still serving business needs, they shouldn’t be discarded in favor of cloud transformation—particularly where it may compromise security. Plenty of companies will retain their mainframe systems moving forward, whether out of a need for computing power, security concerns or core business processes.
Streaming helps to process large amounts of data from different sources across the business, including mainframes or IBM i platforms. It connects data and drives a variety of use cases, from analytics to artificial intelligence and machine learning. Data streaming is becoming the “secret sauce” of helping businesses remain competitive within their market through real-time insights.
Getting better, faster access to data and gaining greater visibility over data sets is pivotal to organizations as they strive to become data-led. The role that heritage systems play in storing, processing and managing data has never been more important. Indeed, companies are continually looking to streamline so they can improve agility and resilience.
There are several factors increasing the desire for better data accessibility and visibility—including the need to provide better customer experience, mitigate compliance risk and enhance security. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals must be considered too; in the future, the cloud will play a critical role in automating tasks that will help save on internal computing power.
To successfully use data for strategic initiatives and gain a competitive edge, businesses must overcome the limitations of data silos and unlock critical data residing on mainframe and IBM i systems. Instead of building a silo-free IT infrastructure from scratch, businesses should look for data integration solutions that can handle all the underlying complexities of their existing technology stack and work with future investments. This is important as mainframe systems can be challenging to integrate, requiring specialized knowledge. Additionally, without careful integration, new cloud data warehousing platforms will not readily ingest or understand the data that has been unlocked.
Being able to access data in real time, including mainframe or IBM i data, will give organizations a critical advantage—allowing them to boost their service availability, respond to threats faster and reduce their risk of fraud. The cloud-data platforms that organizations deploy alongside their heritage platforms determine the extent of the advantages they obtain. These solutions will need to offer seamless integration so they can keep IT operations in sync with changes made on the mainframe, and they must be secure and reliable.
Purpose-built integration tools enable organizations to centralize in the best way possible, allowing them to effortlessly bridge the gap between data silos and their distributed computing platforms. As businesses become more data-driven, hybrid environments will be key for ensuring integrated—and more agile—data for confident decision-making.
