2018 Fall Conference & Expo

Today, when we talk about application modernization, most think about having to reface their application and going mobile. New technologies will be used to change the layout and programs will be rewritten. … but what will a nice design be worth if the base, i.e. the underlying database is still in your grandfather’s style, grown over the years with lots of redundancies? In this workshop you will learn why to go from DDS to SQL, what are the benefits of SQL over DDS. Techniques for converting and redesigning your existing grown over the time database into a modern normalized database will be shown. In a modern environment database objects can and must be accessed from multiple interfaces and programming languages. For guaranteeing data integrity and security business logic and security rules should be moved into the database.

This is Session ID:170027

The first OLAP Functions were already introduced with Release 6.1, for building running numbers and ranks, in a specific sequence and even with the ability to restart numbering at a predefined level. At release 7.3 a bunch of additional OLAP functions and enhancements for existing OLAP functions are introduced. With these enhancements it is possible to easily build running totals or averages with or without level breaks. Data cannot only be accumulated over all rows, but also within a specific range. It is easy to access and compare the first, previous, next or last occurrence of the data within a partition. This session will give you an overview over the available OLAP functions and how they can be exploited.

Learning Objectives:
In this session you will learn which OLAP functions are available and how they can be used for and how they can be exploited especially for statistical reports.

This is Session ID:180278

With the latest releases and technology refreshes the SQL data definition language (DDL) for creating and maintaining database objects was enormously enhanced. DDS on the other hand is stabilized. But still a lot of applications even those with a modern graphical interface and where the latest goodies of the programming language are used in the source code are based on DDS described files. The excuse DDL enhancements cannot be used, because of the DDS description and the native I/O access of these files, does not count any more. With Reverse Engineering, the SQL code for DDS described objects can be retrieved. CREATE OR REPLACE statements allow DDS described files to be converted into SQL defined database objects, while the programs that use these files can stay untouched. With the CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE statement, files with fields based on field reference tables can be managed.

Learning Objectives:
In this session you will learn to convert DDS described files into SQL tables and SQL indexes without touching any program code. It will also be demonstrated how reference files can be used in composition with SQL tables and how (future) enhancements, for example adding columns on a specific position or changing data types and lengths can be managed.

This is Session ID:170028

SQL is IBM's relational database language that can be used to query, update and delete data from the database. SQL is becoming the 'de facto' industry standard for accessing distributed data. Record Level Access can only be used with RPG and Cobol, while in all other programming languages data access is performed through SQL. Additionally SQL provides a lot of great features, such as aggregating rows and building sub-totals or updating a bunch of rows with a single statement. SQL also includes various scalar functions for example for date and time calculation, that are not available in RPG or Cobol. Embedded SQL allows SQL commands to be included and executed directly from within RPG or Cobol and thereby profiting from all the powerful SQL features without additional programming.

This is Session ID:170051

JSON (Java Script Online Notation) is a data exchange format like XML, however JSON is simpler, less verbose and can be faster parsed than XML. In this way JSON becomes more and more important especially when data is exchanged by RESTful web services. The use of XML declines in favor of JSON. With Release 7.3 TR 3 a bunch of scalar and aggregate functions were integrated into SQL, for generating JSON objects, arrays and for combining JSON components into complete documents. The focus of this session is to generate JSON documents.

Learning Objectives:
Get an introduction into JSON basics. Learn how JSON object and arrays can be generated, concatenated or nested and composed into JSON documents.

This is Session ID:180016

JSON becomes more and more important especially in RESTful web services. The use of XML declines in favor of JSON. With the JSON_TABLE table function JSON documents can be parsed, converted into a relational representation and data picked specifically out. Additional scalar functions allow SQL to directly access JSON documents located within the IFS (Integrated File System) or in source physical file members. Last but not least IBM provides SQL functions for getting access to web services. In composition with the JSON_TABLE function the JSON answers returned by web services can be consumed.

Learning Objectives:
Learn how JSON documents located in either the IFS or a column in a table or JSON answers from web services can be parsed with the JSON_TABLE table function, converted into a relational representation and data specifically selected. You’ll also get an overview over the new http-functions and how to use them for getting access to web services.

This is Session ID:170054

IBM i Access Client Solutions is the newest member of the IBM i Access Product Family, and it is a platform independent client that is supported running on multiple Operating Systems like Macintosh, Linux, and Windows. Actually the future is already here as in April of 2015 IBM announced that there are no plans to support the r7.1 IBM i Access for Windows client on future versions of the Windows OS. So, this IBM i Access Client Solutions product is the only environment fully supported on the Windows 10 OS and its the strategic direction for IBM i Access workstation client environments. This session will specifically focus on the advanced Administration tools and approaches for IBM i Access Client Solutions.


This is Session ID:170163

Part 1 SQL is a very powerful language for accessing and manipulating data. This session will explore some of the more advanced SQL concepts. The session begins with a discussion about thinking “set at a time” vs. row at a time, then continues with Set operations, Sub queries, Common Table Expressions, Derived Tables and more. Part 2 This session will focus on more of the Set at a time concepts of SQL DML. Topics covered include: Grouping Sets, Cube, Rollup, Recursive Common Table Expressions, and OLAP Extensions provided by Db2 i 7.3


Learning Objectives:
1. Improved understanding of SQL language elements related to manipulation of data.
2. Change the thought process of manipulating data from processing rows, to processing sets..


This is Session ID:180112

This presentation will introduce a new capability in the 7.3 release called Authority Collection. Authority collection is new support designed to assist the security administrator and application provider in locking down object level security. This support will help ensure that object authority is set to the most secure value while still allowing an application to run successfully. This presentation is a must see for security administrators and application developers.


Learning Objectives:
1. Learn about new support in 7.3, called authority collection, that helps the system administrator lock down security on sensitive data files and objects.


This is Session ID:170023