RPG IV Programming

Audience

Programmers responsible for writing and/or maintaining RPG IV code will benefit from attending this course.

The course is split into two parts running back to back. Programmers new to RPG IV should attend the for the entire duration of the course. Experienced programmers may, if they want, skip part one and only attend part two which covers the more advanced features of RPG IV programming. Please call for details.

Prerequisites

Before attending this course, delegates should:

Have a basic understanding of the development environment (WDSC/RSE/Rdi or PDM/SEU).
- As taught in our iSeries for Application Developers or WDSC/RSE/RDi for Programmers courses.
Know about the concepts of externally described files (i.e., DDS or SQL).
- As taught in our iSeries for Application Developers course.
Be familiar with the system facilities (menus, CL commands, jobs, etc).
- As taught in our iSeries for Application Developers course.
Have a basic knowledge of programming (sequence, loops, subroutines, etc...).

Duration

4 days. Hands on.

NOTE: Those who already have significant experience of RPG IV may want to attend just the latter parts of this course which focus on the more advanced topics within RPG IV programming. In this case, the course duration will be reduced. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this option further.

Course Objectives

On completion of the course delegates will be able to code and debug simple RPGIV programs, both interactive and batch. They will know:

How data is stored and manipulated by RPG.
RPGIV coding structure, indicators, operation codes, etc...
Record retrieval operations.
Workstation and printer file handling.
Arrays and tables.
Program calling and parameter passing.
Structured programming techniques.
Data structures and data areas.
Multiple occurrence data structures.
Subfiles.
Basics of ILE.
Error Handling.
Debugging.

Course Content

A Brief History
Introduction.
Coding RPG.
Structured Operation Codes.
Indicators and BIFs.
Using Files in RPG.
Interactive Debug.
More Features and Screen Handling.
Subroutines & Modular Design.
Call with Prototype.
Subfiles.
More File Handling.
Legacy RPG.

Advanced Data Declarations
Other Data Types.
Arrays.
Data Structures.
Qualified Data Structures.
Data Structure Arrays.
Data Areas.
Multiple Occurrence Data Structures.
Reserved values.

More Operation Codes
Date and Time Manipulation.
Subprocedures (Part 1).
P-Spec.
Structure.
Subprocedure vs. Subroutine.

Introduction to ILE
Static Binding vs. Dynamic Binding.
Bind By Copy.
Bind By Reference.
Service Programs.

Subroutines (Part 2)
Subprocedures vs. Called Programs.
NOMAIN Modules.

ILE - Other Topics
Binding Directories.
Binder Language.
Activation Groups.

Error Handling
More BIFs.
Advanced Subfiles.