Skip to Main Content
IBM Power Ideas Portal


This portal is to open public enhancement requests against IBM Power Systems products, including IBM i. To view all of your ideas submitted to IBM, create and manage groups of Ideas, or create an idea explicitly set to be either visible by all (public) or visible only to you and IBM (private), use the IBM Unified Ideas Portal (https://ideas.ibm.com).


Shape the future of IBM!

We invite you to shape the future of IBM, including product roadmaps, by submitting ideas that matter to you the most. Here's how it works:

Search existing ideas

Start by searching and reviewing ideas and requests to enhance a product or service. Take a look at ideas others have posted, and add a comment, vote, or subscribe to updates on them if they matter to you. If you can't find what you are looking for,

Post your ideas
  1. Post an idea.

  2. Get feedback from the IBM team and other customers to refine your idea.

  3. Follow the idea through the IBM Ideas process.


Specific links you will want to bookmark for future use

Welcome to the IBM Ideas Portal (https://www.ibm.com/ideas) - Use this site to find out additional information and details about the IBM Ideas process and statuses.

IBM Unified Ideas Portal (https://ideas.ibm.com) - Use this site to view all of your ideas, create new ideas for any IBM product, or search for ideas across all of IBM.

ideasibm@us.ibm.com - Use this email to suggest enhancements to the Ideas process or request help from IBM for submitting your Ideas.

ADD A NEW IDEA

Languages - RPG

Showing 220

Coding free format line should be possible from column 8 to end of line

If you can use fully free format (**free) then the free-form statements can appear between column 1 and the end of the line. Otherwise, the source is column-limited, and a free-form statement is coded in columns 8-80. I would like this limitation ...
almost 4 years ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 6 Not under consideration

Assign a timestamp to a date/time field without %date() / %time()

When assigning a timestamp to a date field or a time field it shouldn't be necessary to use %DATE() or %TIME() to do this. Use Case: D dateIso1 s D D dateIso2 s D D timeStamp s Z inz(*SYS) C eval dateIso1 = %date( timeStamp ) C eval dateIso2 = tim...
over 4 years ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 3 Not under consideration

Allow array index to start from zero instead of 1

I would like to have the possibility to specify that the index of an array starts from zero instead of 1. Many times I have to code something like thiseval myArray(x+1) = 1234where x can have the value zero. If it was possible to specify that the ...
almost 5 years ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 5 Not under consideration

Create shortcut for eval(h) so user doesn't need to type in eval(h)

When performing calculations where we want to round-up, instead of typing Result = (Factor1 - Factor2) * Factor3; we need to type eval(h) Result = (Factor1 - Factor2) * Factor3; It would be nice if that could be simplified to Result(h) = (Factor1 ...
about 5 years ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 4 Not under consideration

Add template for function prototypes/Procedure Interfaces

Currently when defining a procedure prototype that references a procedure pointer, the prototype must be defined in scope with the pointer which causes issues for me in a highly modularized environment with service programs and sub-procedures. I f...
almost 8 years ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 4 Future consideration

Provide a CTL-OPT keyword to prohibit or issue a compiler warning when $ or @ are used in Variable or Procedure names

The use of $ and @ in variable names and procedure names in RPG IV hasn't been recommend in nearly 30 years. Yet we still see some legacy developers using those symbols for some reason. I'd like to see a compiler option or CTL-OPT keyword and eith...
9 months ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 1 Future consideration

Create a varying length field with the length from a fixed length field

It often happens that I have a field from a database og a screen that is fixed length and have to create a field that is varying length but having the same size as the fixed length. unfortunately it is not possible to do this:dcl-s fixedField char...
about 1 year ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 6 Future consideration

bring timestamp timezone awareness

Please add timezone awareness to TIMESTAMP primitive value. Additionally, add the possibility to return current UTC time to BIF %TIMESTAMP ts1 = %TIMESTAMP() // system current timestamp ts2 = %TIMESTAMP(*UTC) // current utc timestamp seconds = %DI...
over 1 year ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 3 Future consideration

Easier Access to Returned Data Structures

As far as I know, for procedures that return a data structure you always have to declare an auxiliary data structure to that the returned value has to be assigned. It would be a great help to be able to directly access the subfields of the returne...
about 3 years ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 4 Not under consideration

A new OPTION to force pointer declaration

A new OPTIONs to force explicit declaration of pointer type variables. Use Case: Developing programs
about 3 years ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 7 Future consideration