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perhaps as an interim solution, enhance the user-defined atttribute field from 10 characters to 100 characters?
i propose to spread this interesting RFE into public discussion to check out public interest, then we can discuss with IBM possible efforts on system development...
any comments?
Thank you for submitting your request. While we agree this would be a nice feature, it did not make it into our current development plan.
Yes, user defined attributes also need to be saved and restored.
Thank you for the information.
Most object attributes are saved with SAVLIB/SAVOBJ and restored with RSTLIB/RSTOBJ.
Did you want the user defined attributes to be saved and restored?
Each user defined attribute should consist of a key, a value and the length of the value. The key can be of fixed length. That should work.
Setting and querying the value(s) via API would be enough. Commands can be self made as needed.
Using "object control level attribute" and "build identifier attribute" ... I don't think that this will suffice. When multiple software packages are used for a single object then multiple entries need to be supported. 2 or 3 entries are not enough. Especially when we have to save the key with the value in those small storages because you will want to know what those values mean. So storing the value alone is no good.
We have a couple of questions about the change that you requested.
For each user-defined attribute, you want to be able to define:
the name of the attribute, length of the data and the attribute data.
Is that correct?
Do you want the object attributes to be changed and retrieved only thru APIs?
How did you want to be able to query the information?
Our object attributes are currently returned on the following object interfaces:
Display Object Description (DSPOBJD) cmd (display/print/outfile)
RTVOBJD (Retrieve Object Description) cmd
QUSLOBJ (List Objects in Library(ies) API
QUSROBJD (Retrieve Object Description) API
QGYOLOBJ (Open List of Objects) API
These are returning a defined list of attributes and each attribute is a fixed-length. These APIs would probably not be able to return the user defined attributes.
For the example you described in your "use case":
We have an 8-byte object control level attribute which you could use for a source code version.
There is a 16-byte build identifier attribute which you could use for a build version. The build identifier can currently be retrieved
only with the Open List of Objects (QGYOLOBJ) API. We are adding the object attribute to additional interfaces in the future.
Both the object control level attribute and the build identifier attribute can be changed with the Change Object Description (QLICOBJD) API. The attributes are fixed-length.
The CAAC has reviewed this requirement and recommends that IBM view this as a medium priority requirement that should be addressed.
Background: The COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) members have a broad range of experience in working with small and medium-sized IBM i customers. CAAC has a key role in working with IBM i development to help assess the value and impact of individual RFEs on the broader IBM i community, and has therefore reviewed your RFE.
For more information about CAAC, see www.common.org/caac
For more details about CAAC's role with RFEs, see http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/Blogs/i-Can/May-2017/COMMON-Americas-Advisory-Council-%28CAAC%29-and-RFEs/
Dawn May - CAAC Program Manager
This is something many of us have talked about in regard to supporting more effective object change management in this era of modern tooling coming to the IBM i platform in #IBMiOSS.