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Home Products DBU CaseStudiesDBUAudit DBUniversity DBUBlade Events DBURemoteData News DBUSubscription Newsletter DBUGUI TestimonialsRDI/WDScPlug-in Webinars JDEPlug-in RDBConnect RDR SQL/Pro Utilities CVTRPGIV An Everyday Tool DBUnifier RPGIVTemplates by Jim Hoopes NestRPG ProTools SPLF2PDF&SPLF2HTML Documentation Welcome VideoDemos Lab." With the products flying in and out of the lab at all to "Heard in the Photo of the day, hours Downloads I often get some of the latest product news available, which Ill pass Pricing on in this biweekly column. News&Events Support SomepeoplemightconsiderwhatImdiscussinginmycolumnthistimetobetooobvious Demos tobeworthmentioning.Beforearecentevent,Iprobablywouldhaveagreed.However,a Documentation situationIencounteredprovedmewrongandledmetotalkaboutthisproductDBU EmailWhitelist fromProDataComputerServices. EmergencyAccessCodes Asapartofmyconsultingwork,Iwentintohelpacompanyoutwithsomedatabaseproblemsitwashaving.There FAQ aretimeswhenyouneedtomakedirectchangestoadatabasefile.Maintenanceprogramsmaynotbeworking HASystems correctlyoryoumayneedtomaintainfilesthatareonlyupdatedinbatch.Inanycase,itsverycommonthat ProductCompatibility programmersareinafileadding,changing,anddeletingrecords. TechSupport Updates Thequestionis,howdoyougoaboutthat?Theresgood-oldOS/400sUPDDTA,ofcourse.UPDDTAusesDFUto Webinars createamaintenanceprogramonthefly.Anybodywhohasuseditoftenquicklyrealizesitsshortcomings.Ifyouve OurCompany usedUPDDTA,youprobablyechoedKermittheFrogsthoughtswhenhesaidthoseimmortalwords,"Ihopethat AboutUs somethingbettercomesalong." ContactUs OurCustomers Thereareanumberofdatafilemaintenanceutilitiesavailableonthemarket.However,forasmanyyearsasIcan Partners rememberinmycareer,IveusedProDataComputerServicesDBU,andIwasespeciallygladtohaveitforthis HartleyRacing consultingjob.SoIthoughtIdspendthisWebcolumndescribingDBU. ProFishing ClientPortal SearchOurSite

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DBU for Dummies Wait! Theres Nothing Fancy Here

IfyouknowwhatDFUis,thenyouhavethegeneralideaofwhatDBUis.DBUisautilitythatletsyouadd,change, delete,anddisplayrecordsinafilewithoutcreatingaprogram.ThestartingpointforusingDBUistheDBU command(click heretoseetheDBUcommandprompted).Onceyouenterthenameofafileandlibrary,themain DBUdisplayisshown(click heretoseeDBUinaction). OneofthefirstthingsyoumightnoticeifyoulookatthepreviousscreencaptureisthatDBUsupports132-column displays.Thatshandyespeciallyinsituationswhereyouhavelargefields. ThetopoftheDBUscreenisamenubarthatgivesyouaccess,throughtheF10key,toalltheDBUfunctions.Next onthescreenisthefile,library,member,andrecordformatthatareopen.DBUalsoliststherecordlength,the accessmethodthefileisopenin(keyed,inthiscase),andthemodethefileisopenin(display,inthiscase.) Nextisthecontrolfield,whichletsyou,amongotherthings,navigatethefile.Youcanenter"T"tomovetothefirst record,"B"forthelastrecord,ora+/-numberofrecords.Usingthecontrolfield,youalsohaveaccesstomanyof themenufunctions.Forexample,youcantype"CMD"togetacommandlinewindowdisplayed. TheF6keyletsyoupulluprecordsbasedonafullorpartialkey.Youcanalsoperformsearch-and-replace operationsbasedontheentirerecord,afield,orapartofafield(click heretoseethesearch/replacesetupscreen). Youcanrunsearchesinbatchandalsofindandfixdecimaldataerrors. TherearealsoseveraldifferentwaysyoucanformatthedisplayofdataontheDBUscreen.Youcandisplaythedata inone,two,orthreecolumns.Youcanalsodisplaythehexdata(click heretoseehexdatadisplay). Finally,therearemultipleprintoptionsaswell.Youcanprintasinglerecord,thefilestructure,anddatabase relations.Nowletsgetintosomeofthemoreadvancedoptions.

DBU's Advanced Features

OneofthemoreadvancedfeaturesthatIusethemostistheabilitytodisplaymultiplefiles.Ordinarily,todothat youdneedaterminalthatsupportsmultiplesessions,oryou'dneedtostartmultiplesessionsonyourPC.DBUcan displayuptofourfilesatthesametime(click heretoseeDBUbrowsingtwofiles).Thisishandyinsituations whereyouhaveaheader/detailfilerelationship. DBUsupportscreating"applications."ADBUapplicationstoresinformationaboutthefile(s)youaccessed,the formatofthescreenasyousetit,andsoon.SowhenyoustarttheDBUapplication,allyoursettingsreturntothe wayyouhadthem. Often,duringtheprocessofconversion,forexample,theresaneedtohaveanumberofpeoplekeyingdatainto manydatabasefiles,suchasmasterfiles.Theactualmaintenanceprogramsmaynotbeavailableyet,soDBUisan easyanswerasadatafilemaintenanceprogram.However,whenyouhavepeopledoingsimpledataentrylikethat, youoftenwantarecordofwhattheyvedone. DBUsupportsprintinganauditlogofchangesmadetothedatabase."Before"and"after"versionsofchanged recordsareshown,andnewrecordsaddedandrecordsdeletedarelistedtoo.Thisprovidesausefulpapertrailin manydifferentsituations,suchaswhenyou"fix"dataduringthemiddleofthenight(click heretoseetheDBU auditlog).IneverrememberwhatIdidat2:00inthemorning,sotheaudittrailreallyhelpsmeout. Youcanalsooverrideusers'authoritytoafile.TheDBUcommandletsyourevokeauthoritytoadd,change,or deleterecordsduringaDBUsession,evenifusersotherwisehavethatauthoritytothefile.Youcouldusetherevoke authorityfeatureonamenu,sothatuserscouldhaveaccesstoDBUbutnotbeabletoperformfunctionstheyrenot authorizedtodo. Speakingofsecurity,DBUisverysecure.TheresacommandcalledDBUAUTthatletsyousetsecurityandother settingsbyuser.Thatway,youdontneedtospecifyausersauthorityontheDBUcommand.Youcansetwhether http://www.dodbu.com/article.shtml 1/15/2012

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theuserisallowedtoadd,change,delete,orevendisplayrecordsforallfiles.Youcansetwhethertheuserdefaults todisplay,add,change,ordeletemode.YoucanalsosetwhetherDBUproducesanauditlogbydefault(click here toseetheDBUAUTmaintenancescreen).

You Dont Have It, Give DBU a Try

IvebarelyintroducedyoutoDBU.ProDatasWebsitehasadditionaldescriptionsofDBU'scapabilities.Ifthetool interestsyou,butyourestillnotsure,youcandownloadatrialcopy.Isuspectthatonceyougiveitarunthrough, youllbeconvincedthatDBUneedstobeinyourtoolkit. Jim HoopesisthelabmanagerandaseniortechnicaleditorforNEWS/400. DBUaccesstotheSystemiAS/400databaseisavailablethruthetraditionalgreenscreen,ourgraphicaluser interfaceandeventhruIBM'sSystemsNavigatorandWDSc.Justletusknowwhatyouaremostcomfortablewith& wewillgetyouupandrunning!

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