Introduction
With this new course, you'll learn how to use the features and functions
of WDSC to edit and manage your iSeries source code. First, you will
connect to your iSeries and see how the Remote System Explorer replaces
PDM. You'll then use the LPEX source code editor, a super- charged
replacement for SEU. Some of the features in LPEX, such as split-screen
editing and code outlining, can dramatically increase your coding
productivity.
If you’re an RPG programmer, then let us introduce you to your
future: WDSC. IBM’s long-standing development tools, PDM and
SEU, have all but been put out to pasture; no new development will
go into these tools except to keep them current with syntax changes
in the traditional iSeries languages. Now IBM is putting all of its
tool development dollars into the new Eclipse-based tooling, including
WDSC.
WDSC does everything its green screen predecessors do (including line-oriented
commands and user-defined actions) and then takes them one step further:
multi-file member lists, cross-library searches, source generation
wizards, the list goes on! The Outline view and the Verify feature
by themselves can make you more productive the first day you use them.
And as more and more companies switch to WDSC, you’ll want this
powerful tool in your toolkit as well.
WDSC is not just
an RPG development tool! It is the most sophisticated and fully featured
web application development environment available today. After completing
your day-to-day work, you can use WDSC’s extensive help and tutorials
to begin to learn everything from basic web development to Java coding
to advanced Web Services design! And the more you use WDSC, the more
comfortable you will become with this new generation of tools. So move
out of the green screen paradigm and into the multi-platform, multi-language
world of WDSC! My new training course, WDSC for RPG Programmers, is
a good way to jump-start your RPG code modernization.
WDSC for RPG Programmers
is a step-by-step manual, leading you through all of the options that
you need to know about to use WDSC as a replacement for SEU/PDM. This
module has many illustrations so you can see exactly where the options
are, and what you need to do to make them work. Rather than spend
hours of frustration trying to get started with WDSC, you can use
this course to quickly become productive. In short, at the end of
this course you will have gained the skills you need to use WDSC to
Modernize, maintain and enhance your existing RPG code.
Compare
WDSC's features and functionality to the old PDM and SEU:
Connections
One of the toughest things about switching to a PC-based tool is connecting
to your host. The first thing you'll learn in WDSC for RPG Programmers,
is how to set up connections customized to your work environment using
library lists and initial programs. You'll even see how to have multiple
connections and how they can be used to organize your projects.
Filters
WRKMBRPDM is a great tool, but it pales in comparison to filters in
WDSC. Filters allow you to create sets of libraries, objects or members,
and you can even create member lists across multiple files and libraries!
You can have as many filters as you need and have more than one open
in your navigator view. This course walks you through creating your
own filter.
Tables
And if filters aren't enough by themselves, you will learn how to
convert a filter to a table view. If you don't like the Windows Explorer
style tree view, the table view provides a nearly identical interface
to PDM; you can even drill into libraries and files. And in either
view you can access user actions.
Actions
Another great feature of PDM is user-defined functions: those little
two-character abbreviations we can use to save a library or reorganize
a member, or even to invoke our own compile commands. Learn how to
take your existing user-defined PDM options and reuse them as user
actions.
Searching
FNDSTRPDM is another great green-screen command that WDSC has taken
to heart and expanded its capabilities greatly. This lab shows you
how to perform a search across multiple files and libraries and how
to use the results view, both as a way to review the code and also
as a way to launch the editor for those members that need to be changed.
LPEX Editor
Learn how the standard line-oriented SEU commands are still supported
in addition to the newer mouse-oriented full-screen commands available
in every PC-based IDE. This lab will explain the colorized syntax,
show you how to define your preferences and will introduce wizards
that will help you write your code. You'll even learn how to have
multiple editable views of the same source member open simultaneously!
Outline
One of the most powerful features of WDSC is the outline view. In
it, you can see every file, every field, every subroutine and every
procedure. The outline mode shows you where every indicator is used,
and where it is modified. This lab shows you how to use the outline:
find a field, see where it is modified, and be transferred immediately
to that line with a single click.
Verify
One of the more productive things you'll be taught is how to use the
verify tool. Functioning like an interactive compiler error listing,
this feature performs a complete compile-level verification of your
source code and returns all the errors in a task list. You'll learn
how to use that list to find the mistakes in your code as well as
keeping track of the lines you've fixed; easier and more eco-friendly
than a paper listing and post-it notes!
Compiling
Every compile command is available, from CRTPF to CRTBNDRPG. You'll
see an example of using the compile commands to create your objects,
and how to see the results of these commands.
Debugging
Last but by no means least, you'll get a complete step-by-step exercise
of the debugging capabilities of the tool. WDSC is the only cross-platform
debugging tool that handles RPG the same way it handles PC-based languages.
Learn how to set breakpoints, display and even change variables while
debugging programs running on your host. |
