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
Post an idea.
Get feedback from the IBM team and other customers to refine your idea.
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.
7.4:
ILE RPG compiler: 5770WDS SI84886
7.5:
ILE RPG compiler: 5770WDS SI85009
ILE RPG compiler, TGTRLS(V7R4M0): 5770WDS SI85043
For more information, see https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7047134.
- IBM Power Systems Development
By the way if you are going to implement an %RIGHT() function then please make it possible to use it as a result of an assignment. Just like %SUBST()
Please avoid abbreviations like %RSUBST() when RIGHT() and LEFT() are well known in SQL and many other languages. It will be much easier to remember and use %RIGHT() and %LEFT().
For example we have the %EDITC() function in RPG but in DDS it is called EDTCDE.
I don't know how many times I have written %EDTCDE() instead of %EDITC()
and I don't understand why the naming hasn't been standardised.
The CEAC has reviewed this requirement and recommends that IBM view this as a MEDIUM priority requirement that should be addressed.
Background: The COMMON Europe Advisory Council (CEAC) members have a broad range of experience in working with small and medium-sized IBM i customers. CEAC has a crucial 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.
To find out how CEAC help to shape the future of IBM i, see CEAC @ ibm.biz/BdYSYj and the article "The Five Hottest IBM i RFEs Of The Quarter" at ibm.biz/BdYSZT
Therese Eaton – CEAC Program Manager, IBM
This request is still a candidate to be an enhancement for the RPG compiler.
Consider amending %subst to accept a negative start position meaning start from the right and count back. No need for any new BIFs.
The CAAC has reviewed this requirement and recommends that IBM view this as a medium priority requirement that should be addressed. This requirement will make IBM i more mainstream and similar to how other products do this.
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
IBM will use this request as input to planning but no commitment is made or implied. This request will be updated in the future if IBM implements it. IBM will use votes and comments from others in the community to help prioritize this request.
The suggestion to also add %Center to center text in a field is different from the proposed %Left and %Right which substring from either the left or the right. Adding a centering function would be a separate RFE.
It probably wouldn't be named %Center, since %Left, %Center, %Right would seem to be related, and that could cause confusion over what %Left and %Right do.
A possible alternative to the name %Center is a set of %Pad built-in functions, %PadLeft, %PadRight, and %Pad that would add blanks on the left, right, or both to achieve the required length. But again, that would require a separate RFE.
and %Center that would center text in a field. As with the others, this can be done in a program, but is often unique as anytime it is needed the fields are different sizes.
IBM has received the requirement and is evaluating it. IBM will provide a response after evaluation is complete.
A %RIGHT built-in function wouldn't have an implicit %TRIMR. It would just take the last N characters.
A substring-right built-in function would probably have to be named %RSUBST, to avoid confusion with abbreviations for "substring" in other languages, and especially since the debugger has a built-in function %SUBSTR which means the same as %SUBST.
Since we already have %Subst, why not a %SubstR rather than duplicate the function to create a %Left & %Right?
Creating a new RFE based on Community RFE #93115 in product IBM i.