Net.Data Reference Guide

Using Net.Data on the AS/400

Below is a list of distinguishing features of the OS/400 implementation of Net.Data and some helpful hints:

• Net.Data macros can be stored in any file system. You can copy Net.Data macros from the QSYS.LIB file system to another file system by using the Copy To Stream File (CPYTOSTMF) command.

• If you want to create your own language environments, the APIs to support the Net.Data language environment interface are in the QTMHLE service program. An ILE C language header file provides the prototypes required to call the Net.Data APIs in ILE C. Documentation about the interface can be found at the URL for Net.Data. To get the necessary prototypes, include the header file as follows:

      #include <dtwle.h>
  

  The QTMHLE *SRVPGM object is included in the QTCP library.

  The QSYSINC library contains header files, and is optionally installable. Make sure QSYSINC is on your system before compiling programs that use these header files.

• If you have problems getting a language environment to function properly, look in the job log of the HTTP server job to see if any messages were issued that may indicate the cause of the problem. When debugging newly created language environments, it is best to have the minimum and maximum number of server jobs set to 2 so that Net.Data requests are funneled through one HTTP server job. In addition, every time a language environment service program is updated, you must end the HTTP server and restart it so that Net.Data can activate the updated service program.

• The OS/400 implementation of Net.Data does not support the following Net.Data features that may be supported on other platforms:

  • INCLUDE_URL statement. It will ignore this statement if it encounters it.

  • Live connectivity using Common Gateway Interface thread management. However, connections to databases are kept persistent across URL invocations so that there is no performance degradation when accessing remote databases.

  • Application programming interface support for the IBM Internet Connection Servers (ICS), NetScape Servers (NS), and Microsoft's Internet Server (IS).