COMMON POWERUp 2024

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COMMON POWERUp 2024

THE BEST IBM i & POWER SYSTEMS EDUCATION.When you come to POWERUp, you’ll be able to customize your experience. Choose from 300 sessions, covering over 20 areas of IT, when you plan your schedule. Visit the largest Expo of its kind and meet the experts behind the solutions. Attend social events to meet renowned speakers and peers alike. This conference is structured to give you the pure education and professional connections needed to best enhance your career. Are you ready to POWERUp?

Exhibitor Hall: https://www.expocad.com/host/fx/common/s24/exfx.html

Exhibitor Hall Map Here

10:15am CDT

121: What's New and Exciting in RPG

With each new release of the IBM i operating system and with Technology Refreshes, IBM has given us some new features in RPG. This session tells you about the new and exciting features of RPG and how you might like to use each feature in your own applications.

Learning Objectives:
1. IBM's strategy for releasing new RPG features
2. The new features available recently
3. What I find exciting about them

Speakers

Scott Klement

Development & Solutions Architect, Midrange Dynamics

Scott volunteers as a member of COMMON's Board of Directors, Strategic Education Team, Certification Committee and Innovation Awards. He is the author of around 1000 articles and a dozen open source projects. Scott's efforts to help out the IBM i Community have resulted in dozens... Read More →

Monday May 20, 2024 10:15am - 11:15am CDT
Room 202 C-D 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Beginner
Audience RPG Developers

2:45pm CDT

268: Using IBM and Db2 Services in (RPG) Programs … Can Make Life Much Easier!

With the last releases and technology refreshes IBM provided a lot of new SQL Services.

A lot of these Services provide functionalities that are not directly available in RPG or can only be implemented in RPG by calling complex System APIs and by using pointer handling for accessing the data.

However, now we have SQL services that can write data into the IFS or can delete old spool files or even better can convert a spool file into a PDF-Document. Since the last Technology Refresh it is also possible to send eMails or to generate *.csv files directly with SQL and IBM Services.

This session will demonstrate how RPG Programs can be simplified by just using embedded SQL and IBM Services.

Learning Objectives:
In this session you’ll learn how specific SQL Services can be implemented with embedded SQL in RPG or Cobol and how the formerly complex source code can be reduced

Speakers

Birgitta Hauser

Database and Software Architect, IBM Champion, Independent Consultant

Birgitta Hauser worked on the IBM i and its predecessors since 1992. She graduated with a business economics diploma, and started programming on the AS/400 in 1992. She worked and works as traditional RPG Programmer but also as Database and Software Engineer, focusing on IBM i application... Read More →

POWERUP 2024 SYSTOOLS Services Birgitta Hauser pdf

POWERUP 2024 SYSTOOLS Services Birgitta Hauser sql

Monday May 20, 2024 2:45pm - 3:45pm CDT
Room 202 A-B 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience Programmers, Managers and everybody who is interested in new Services and how this services can be used from within RPG (or Cobol).

4:00pm CDT

148: Options for Consuming REST APIs from RPG

REST APIs have become a major part of business programming. We live in a world where virtually everything is connected to the Internet, and REST APIs are how they communicate with each other. In this session, you will learn how to call (or "consume") REST APIs from good ol' RPG. In addition to showing you the basics of how APIs work, this session explains how to use several free tools to consume them. The tools will be compared so that you can determine which one would work best for you.

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand why/when REST APIs are used.
2. Understand how REST APIs work.
3. Preview Calling REST APIs from RPG with several free tools.

Speakers

Scott Klement

Development & Solutions Architect, Midrange Dynamics

Scott volunteers as a member of COMMON's Board of Directors, Strategic Education Team, Certification Committee and Innovation Awards. He is the author of around 1000 articles and a dozen open source projects. Scott's efforts to help out the IBM i Community have resulted in dozens... Read More →

Monday May 20, 2024 4:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Room 202 C-D 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate

5:50pm CDT

354: RPG array magic

Learn how the recent enhancements to RPG have added many new features & enhancements to the way you can use arrays. This will include all the new Built in Functions, Data Structure arrays, & dynamic arrays.

Learning Objectives:
1. Modern ways to code arrays to include the latest features, & what stops you from using them.
2. How Data Structure arrays simplify you getting information from the database.
3. The new Built in Functions for arrays that replace a lot of the complicated coding we use to do.

Speakers

Simon Hutchinson

Author, RPGPGM.COM

Simon Hutchinson has been writing his highly acclaimed IBM i blog, RPGPGM.COM, for eleven years sharing his knowledge, experience, and giving many detailed examples of the latest RPG, SQL, and CL. His work has led him to be recognized by IBM as an IBM Champion for Power and IBM i Community Advocate. He is a subject matter expert for COMMON North America and... Read More →

Simon Hutchinson 354 RPG array magic pdf

Monday May 20, 2024 5:50pm - 6:10pm CDT
Meeting Room 204A 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience RPG programmers looking to make their use of arrays easier & simpler for others to understand

8:00am CDT

219: Modernization Case Study – Creating a Database Abstraction Layer

By providing a layer of separation between your applications and your database, you have much more agility to respond to changing business requirements and you can reduce your maintenance burden at the same time. This case study will review three approaches that can be used to provide database abstraction and the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

Learning Objectives:
1. Evaluate three different approaches to database abstraction and their benefits.
2. Walk step by step through the implementation of a Logical File database abstraction layer.
3. Review the reference architecture for a database I/O service program.
4. Best Practice design recommendations for new tables.

Speakers

Ray Everhart

Senior IBM i Analyst and X-Analysis Product Manager, Fresche

For over 30 years, Ray has helped companies understand, develop and manage their RPG, COBOL and CA 2E application environments. He also specializes in helping clients enhance and modernize their systems to meet evolving business demands and take advantage of digital transformation... Read More →

Tuesday May 21, 2024 8:00am - 9:00am CDT
Meeting Room 201C 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level All
Audience Developers

9:15am CDT

195: No Limits Modern Excel Reports Using RPG-The Whole Story

Our businesses often want reports delivered in Excel format. While there are several ways to create these spreadsheets using RPG, they all have some drawbacks. Writing to the current XLSX format for Excel spreadsheets may seem a formidable challenge, but we will see that the prospect of success is better than it might seem at first. And we will see how to use tools such as CGIDEV2 to accomplish the task of creating these modern, highly-functional spreadsheets.

The first part of this session looks at what you need to get started with this approach. It also looks at the advantages of using CGIDEV2 to create Excel files.

The second part digs deeper into adding more features of Excel to your spreadsheets, optimization, and troubleshooting - what to do with that "unreadable content" message!

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the internal structure of modern Excel (XLSX) files
2. Begin to get hold of the workings of CGIDEV2 and XML
3. Understand how to design and implement an Excel (XLSX) application
4. Get some idea of just what CAN be done to make even more useful spreadsheets
5. Learn what to do when...

Speakers

Vern Hamberg

Senior Software Engineer, Ecolab, Pest Elimination

Vern has worked on IBM midrange systems for over 30 years, beginning with the System/38 and AS/400. At present he is a senior software engineer for the Pest Elimination division of Ecolab. He serves on the COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) and SET and is one of the SMEs for... Read More →

OPEN LAB Fast Modern Excel (XLSX) Workbook Creation Using RPG pdf

OPEN LAB Fast Modern Excel (XLSX) Workbook Creation Using RPG docx

Shared Strings Table Resources zip

DIY XLSX Lab setup zip

No Limits Modern Excel Reports Using RPG The Whole Story 2up pdf

Tuesday May 21, 2024 9:15am - 11:30am CDT
Meeting Room 203B 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience Developers (and their managers) who are asked to create spreadsheets will see a way to get high functionality and good run-time performance.

10:30am CDT

350: Maximizing the benefits of embedding SQL in your RPG code

Many people are now integrating SQL into RPG programs & procedures. Simon will give practical examples of how you can optimize the performance of your statements & simply diagnose the feedback returned from Db2. Will include mentions of how using Views enhances this optimization process.

Learning Objectives:
1. SQL I/O methods to get data from the database faster
2. Better method to capture errors, or what happened with your SQL statements

Speakers

Simon Hutchinson

Author, RPGPGM.COM

Simon Hutchinson has been writing his highly acclaimed IBM i blog, RPGPGM.COM, for eleven years sharing his knowledge, experience, and giving many detailed examples of the latest RPG, SQL, and CL. His work has led him to be recognized by IBM as an IBM Champion for Power and IBM i Community Advocate. He is a subject matter expert for COMMON North America and... Read More →

Simon Hutchinson 350 Maximizing the benefits of embedding SQL in your RPG code pdf

Tuesday May 21, 2024 10:30am - 11:30am CDT
Meeting Room 203A 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience Any RPG programmer looking to modernize their skills by using embedded SQL within in their work in a manner that will increase the performance of their programs & procedures.

2:45pm CDT

153: Overloading in RPG

One of the coolest new features in ILE RPG is the ability to overload your prototypes! With overloading, you can accept differing parameter types while keeping the same routine name. Overloading can be used with programs, but the biggest value comes when using it with subprocedures.

Learning Objectives:
- What is overloading? Why use it?
- Technical details of parameters, candidates, etc
- Full examples you can use yourself

Speakers

Scott Klement

Development & Solutions Architect, Midrange Dynamics

Scott volunteers as a member of COMMON's Board of Directors, Strategic Education Team, Certification Committee and Innovation Awards. He is the author of around 1000 articles and a dozen open source projects. Scott's efforts to help out the IBM i Community have resulted in dozens... Read More →

Tuesday May 21, 2024 2:45pm - 3:45pm CDT
Room 202 C-D 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate

5:15pm CDT

207: Developing an Weather Application for your IBM i

I know, I know... we don't need another Weather Application. This is a fun session where I can show you how to put the pieces together, using an API, JSON_TABLE function, RPG, PHP into a store procedure. This will give you ideas on things you can do to impress your users and boss!

Learning Objectives:
1. Internalize how API"s can be used in your shop.
2. Understand how easily these pieces fit together.

Speakers

Jim Buck

CEO & Head Instructor, imPower Technologies

Jim Buck’s career in IT has spanned more than 35+ years, primarily in college education, manufacturing, and healthcare industries. Past president (13 years) of the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association (www.wmcpa.org) and has served on several teams developing IBM... Read More →

Tuesday May 21, 2024 5:15pm - 5:35pm CDT
Room 202 C-D 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level All
Audience Manager or any type of developer

8:00am CDT

240: How Do I Improve Software Quality?

Every programmer wants to do the best job. How do you test your program and ensure that you aren't missing anything? From the simplest bug fix to large complex projects, there are key concepts that you can use to ensure that your program is properly tested.

This session is co-presented by expert developer, Scott Klement, and expert tester, Yvonne Enselman so that you can see things from both a developer and tester's perspective.

Learning Objectives:
1. What are the key points in the development process where testing should be considered?
2. How developers can identify the need for support from a tester or project manager.
3. How to minimize risk from software errors.

Speakers

Scott Klement

Development & Solutions Architect, Midrange Dynamics

Scott volunteers as a member of COMMON's Board of Directors, Strategic Education Team, Certification Committee and Innovation Awards. He is the author of around 1000 articles and a dozen open source projects. Scott's efforts to help out the IBM i Community have resulted in dozens... Read More →

Yvonne Enselman

Principal Architect for Quality Assurance on IBM i, Yvonne Enselman Professional Services

I am a Quality Assurance, Project Management, and Professional Services expert.Named IBM Champion 2024I have twenty-five years of experience in the IBM i industry starting in application development, transitioning through quality assurance, and into management. My passion has been... Read More →

Wednesday May 22, 2024 8:00am - 9:00am CDT
Meeting Room 201B 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience Software developers who want to improve their quality.

1:30pm CDT

163: What's the Fuss? Using Procedures and Service Programs

This session discusses the advantages of using modern techniques in your RPG programs. After a short introduction to modularity in programming; we go step-by-step through the process of replacing called programs with sub-procedure modules and then converting these modules to procedures in a called service program.

Learning Objectives:

Internalize the benefits of using modular coding practices.
Understand the steps in coding modular subprocedures and service programs.
Develop reusable subprocedures and service programs.

Speakers

Jim Buck

CEO & Head Instructor, imPower Technologies

Jim Buck’s career in IT has spanned more than 35+ years, primarily in college education, manufacturing, and healthcare industries. Past president (13 years) of the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association (www.wmcpa.org) and has served on several teams developing IBM... Read More →

Wednesday May 22, 2024 1:30pm - 2:30pm CDT
Room 202 C-D 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level All
Audience Any developer that wants improve their coding methods and write modern RPG code

1:30pm CDT

290: How to Use SQL in RPG

In this session, I will walk through how to use SQL in your RPG modules/programs. We will talk about static and dynamic concepts, how to write SQL in an RPG module/program, use of host variables, and more.

Learning Objectives:
1. To start using SQL in RPG modules/programs
2. Have examples and then be able to try at home

Speakers

Sven Jansson

Senior developer, Apper Systems AB

I have worked on the IBM i platform since 1995. My technical roles include developer, analyst, database specialist, application security, and communications. I also worked on IBMz for a few years, and I serve on the COMMON Sweden board. I'm a curious person who always wants to learn... Read More →

Wednesday May 22, 2024 1:30pm - 2:30pm CDT
Room 202 A-B 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Beginner
Digital Badge SQL
Audience Developers

4:00pm CDT

409: Modernization and 21st Century Skills - How to Move your Business into the 21st Century on IBM i

Faced with pressure from upper management, learn how different companies moved their company's software into the 21st century. Why 21st century technologies, require systematic training. We will discuss the steps these companies have followed to modernize their business and IT staff spending significantly less money and time than moving off the platform.

Topics Covered
1. Modernization requirements
2. Modernization and Staff training
3. Where to find IBM i Developers for your company
4. What about me… where do seasoned developers fit in?
5. Basics of training developers in 21st Century skills
6. Myths and truth
7. A sad alternative
Spoiler alert - abandoning the IBM i platform was not the answer!

Speakers

Jim Buck

CEO & Head Instructor, imPower Technologies

Jim Buck’s career in IT has spanned more than 35+ years, primarily in college education, manufacturing, and healthcare industries. Past president (13 years) of the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association (www.wmcpa.org) and has served on several teams developing IBM... Read More →

Wednesday May 22, 2024 4:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Meeting Room 203C 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level All
Audience Managers and developers will benefit from this presention

5:15pm CDT

178: Handling JSON With DATA-INTO and DATA-GEN in ILE RPG

Two of the most significant features added to ILE RPG recently are the DATA-INTO and DATA-GEN opcodes. The most common use case is to read and/or create JSON files.

Since JSON has become crucial to IBM i businesses, these are must-know features!

Learning Objectives:
1, Learn the basics of the JSON format.
2. Learn about DATA-INTO and how to use it.
3. Learn about DATA-GEN and how to use it.

Speakers

Scott Klement

Development & Solutions Architect, Midrange Dynamics

Scott volunteers as a member of COMMON's Board of Directors, Strategic Education Team, Certification Committee and Innovation Awards. He is the author of around 1000 articles and a dozen open source projects. Scott's efforts to help out the IBM i Community have resulted in dozens... Read More →

Wednesday May 22, 2024 5:15pm - 6:15pm CDT
Room 202 C-D 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience Real programmers.

8:00am CDT

202: IoT: Open My Garage Door with RPG

IoT is a big deal in IT today. Since RPG can call and host REST APIs, you can integrate it with IoT devices. For my first project, I decided to see if I could use RPG's "open" and "close" opcodes to open and close my garage door -- and it worked!

In this session I will show you how I integrated my RPG program with the Raspberry Pi, and talk about how the Raspberry Pi and similar devices can play a big part in the future of business applications.

Learning Objectives:
1. Learn the basic concept of Raspberry Pi (and other single-board computers)
2. Learn why physical computing and IoT are important.
3. Learn about integrating IoT with RPG programs.

Speakers

Scott Klement

Development & Solutions Architect, Midrange Dynamics

Scott volunteers as a member of COMMON's Board of Directors, Strategic Education Team, Certification Committee and Innovation Awards. He is the author of around 1000 articles and a dozen open source projects. Scott's efforts to help out the IBM i Community have resulted in dozens... Read More →

Thursday May 23, 2024 8:00am - 9:00am CDT
Room 202 C-D 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience Experienced RPG developers who are interested in physical computing, IoT, automation, etc.

9:15am CDT

125: Expand and Simplify RPG Using MI Functions

There are many MI functions that can safely be used in RPG programs. These functions give us the ability to do things we could not do easily or at all in what RPG gives us.

Learning Objectives:
1. How to read the MI documentation
2. How to prototype MI functions
3. Some useful examples of MI functions for everyday development

Speakers

Vern Hamberg

Senior Software Engineer, Ecolab, Pest Elimination

Vern has worked on IBM midrange systems for over 30 years, beginning with the System/38 and AS/400. At present he is a senior software engineer for the Pest Elimination division of Ecolab. He serves on the COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) and SET and is one of the SMEs for... Read More →

Expand and Simplify RPG Using MI Functions 2up pdf

Thursday May 23, 2024 9:15am - 10:15am CDT
Meeting Room 204A 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience RPG developers

9:15am CDT

381: Breaking Up a Monolith

Every RPG shop has them. Most developers avoid them like the plague. Large monolithic programs are a significant source of technical debt in all RPG shops. They limit your agility which in turn is detrimental to your business. So, once you are ready to deal with the issue, where do you start? There is no one answer, but there are steps you can take to begin dismantling and repurposing the code within these behemoths.

Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss steps to refactoring monolithic RPG programs
2. Learn common pitfalls to avoid
3. Learn how to organize extracted procedures for ease of use

Speakers

Brian May

Vice President of Product Management, Profound Logic

Professional IT Leader, Speaker and WriterSpecialties:Team Building, Development and RetentionTechnical SalesSolutions ArchitectureSoftware DevelopmentEnterprise Systems Manufacturing ProcessesApparel IndustryAccounting Principles

Breaking A Monolith pdf

Thursday May 23, 2024 9:15am - 10:15am CDT
Meeting Room 203A 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience RPG developers and managers wanting to eliminate monolithic code from their applications.

2:45pm CDT

174: SQL for the RPG Programmer “How To”: SQL Access to Data and ACS Tools

SQL is THE recommended interface from applications into your data. It is imperative to understand how to embed SQL or otherwise interface to SQL from RPG. We also need tools to enhance our use of SQL in our applications.

Learning Objectives:
1. Learn the basics of embedding SQL in RPG
2. Discover how RDi and ACS cooperate to enhance using SQL in our applications
3. Examine features in ACS that can have an impact on RPG development

Speakers

Vern Hamberg

Senior Software Engineer, Ecolab, Pest Elimination

Vern has worked on IBM midrange systems for over 30 years, beginning with the System/38 and AS/400. At present he is a senior software engineer for the Pest Elimination division of Ecolab. He serves on the COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) and SET and is one of the SMEs for... Read More →

SQL for the RPG Programmer “How To” SQL Access to Data and ACS Tools 2up pdf

Thursday May 23, 2024 2:45pm - 3:45pm CDT
Meeting Room 204A 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience RPG developers who want to see the ever-expanding opportunities SQL offers in their applications

2:45pm CDT

429: SQLRPGLE the Better File Access

We will learn and explore how you can go from record level access to embedded sql and from that how can you streamline your programming process with embedded sql. How to handle sql exceptions. And finally, how can you leverage SQL to replace your current record level access.

Learning Objectives:
Overview of embedding sql in your RPG programs. How to streamline sql procedures with the use of a SQL utility service program. how to modernize your current record level access to use embedded sql

Speakers

Marina Schwenk

Innovative Software Solutions

Marina started her career in January 2015 at Everbrite LLC in Greenfield WI after graduating from Gateway Technical College in May of 2014 with an Associate’s degree in IT Software Development. Marina worked for over nine years as a Senior Programmer Analyst/IBM i admin at Everbrite... Read More →

Thursday May 23, 2024 2:45pm - 3:45pm CDT
Room 202 C-D 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Beginner

4:00pm CDT

291: Simplify Your Life with SQL Services

There are so many services in SQL on our platform. They can make your life a bit simpler. I will show a few services and show how they are done within SQL.

Learning Objectives:
will leave with new ideas about how they can try new services when they get home.

Speakers

Sven Jansson

Senior developer, Apper Systems AB

I have worked on the IBM i platform since 1995. My technical roles include developer, analyst, database specialist, application security, and communications. I also worked on IBMz for a few years, and I serve on the COMMON Sweden board. I'm a curious person who always wants to learn... Read More →

Thursday May 23, 2024 4:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Meeting Room 102 1508 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Programming - RPG

Session Level Intermediate
Audience Developer