You don't have to have been following this blog for long to know that we are both big fans of RSE, which is currently packaged in Rational Developer for Power Systems (RDP). Many of you are probably RSE users as well and you may have noticed that Rational came out with a new version, RDP 8.5, back in June. If so, you may have wondered why you haven't seen us blog about it.
Well, we installed 8.5 and while there was at least one really major new feature we liked, we also encountered a few idiosyncrasies that gave us some problems. In particular if a connection dropped while we had source files open, it took forever to get the workbench back in action as you had to respond to a seemingly endless series of connection-related dialogs. None of them offering the option to work off-line, etc. Admittedly we are perhaps unusual in that we often travel to a client site, connect to their system, and then go back to our hotel with the sources still open, knowing that we will be back on site next day. Once we open up the laptop again it can take 10 to 15 minutes to regain control. There were other issues, but to be honest, neither of us can remember exactly what those were. We're also not sure whether they were new features that we just needed to learn how to utilize properly or whether they were bugs. We also saw several reports on the WDSC-L list on Midrange.com and other places of other people who were having trouble with 8.5.
Bottom line, we are both so addicted to using RDP for our development that we decided to postpone digging into it for a while. Fortunately, we had also kept our old installation of RDP 8.0.3 so it was an option for us to keep on working with that version.
The good news is that a fix pack for RDP 8.5 has recently become available. So maybe it's time that we give 8.5.1 a try and see if it works better for us than our earlier attempts at 8.5.
Another reason for postponing the use of the new release is that we didn't have a really burning requirement for the only significant new feature that we heard about in the community--a dynamically updated Outline View. It's a nice feature, to be sure, but since we don't work as much with very large programs, occasionally refreshing our Outline Views isn't exactly a huge burden.
And we also had real difficulty finding a good list of any other enhancements in 8.5 that would cause us to want to dive in right away. We have now found such a list on developerWorks and thought we'd share with you, just in case some of you are also postponing the upgrade. So here it is--courtesy of Dave Dykstal--a nicely detailed list of new features, complete with link to a video of the RPG Outline View enhancements by Edmund Reinhardt.
But wait, that's not all! (sounds a bit like a late night infomercial, doesn't it?). The 8.5.1 fix pack includes several new features, not just bug fixes. You can read all about the 8.5.1 fixes and enhancements here. Spoiler alert: any IBM i COBOL programmers out there may want to pay particular attention to the Outline View in 8.5.1, according to this list. They have waited a long time for a usable Outline View, and it looks like their patience has been rewarded.
Maybe in a future blog post, we'll report on our findings of all the cool new things we've experienced in 8.5.1. As soon as we're both able to get the fix pack installed, that is. Jon's update to 8.5.1 worked flawlessly, but Susan seems to have hit a (hopefully temporary) snag.
In the meantime, any of you who have used 8.5 or 8.5.1, please feel free to share your experiences in the comments.
Well, we installed 8.5 and while there was at least one really major new feature we liked, we also encountered a few idiosyncrasies that gave us some problems. In particular if a connection dropped while we had source files open, it took forever to get the workbench back in action as you had to respond to a seemingly endless series of connection-related dialogs. None of them offering the option to work off-line, etc. Admittedly we are perhaps unusual in that we often travel to a client site, connect to their system, and then go back to our hotel with the sources still open, knowing that we will be back on site next day. Once we open up the laptop again it can take 10 to 15 minutes to regain control. There were other issues, but to be honest, neither of us can remember exactly what those were. We're also not sure whether they were new features that we just needed to learn how to utilize properly or whether they were bugs. We also saw several reports on the WDSC-L list on Midrange.com and other places of other people who were having trouble with 8.5.
Bottom line, we are both so addicted to using RDP for our development that we decided to postpone digging into it for a while. Fortunately, we had also kept our old installation of RDP 8.0.3 so it was an option for us to keep on working with that version.
The good news is that a fix pack for RDP 8.5 has recently become available. So maybe it's time that we give 8.5.1 a try and see if it works better for us than our earlier attempts at 8.5.
Another reason for postponing the use of the new release is that we didn't have a really burning requirement for the only significant new feature that we heard about in the community--a dynamically updated Outline View. It's a nice feature, to be sure, but since we don't work as much with very large programs, occasionally refreshing our Outline Views isn't exactly a huge burden.
And we also had real difficulty finding a good list of any other enhancements in 8.5 that would cause us to want to dive in right away. We have now found such a list on developerWorks and thought we'd share with you, just in case some of you are also postponing the upgrade. So here it is--courtesy of Dave Dykstal--a nicely detailed list of new features, complete with link to a video of the RPG Outline View enhancements by Edmund Reinhardt.
But wait, that's not all! (sounds a bit like a late night infomercial, doesn't it?). The 8.5.1 fix pack includes several new features, not just bug fixes. You can read all about the 8.5.1 fixes and enhancements here. Spoiler alert: any IBM i COBOL programmers out there may want to pay particular attention to the Outline View in 8.5.1, according to this list. They have waited a long time for a usable Outline View, and it looks like their patience has been rewarded.
Maybe in a future blog post, we'll report on our findings of all the cool new things we've experienced in 8.5.1. As soon as we're both able to get the fix pack installed, that is. Jon's update to 8.5.1 worked flawlessly, but Susan seems to have hit a (hopefully temporary) snag.
In the meantime, any of you who have used 8.5 or 8.5.1, please feel free to share your experiences in the comments.
I've been "testing" 8.5 since it came out. There were a few little quirks that I was able to overlook. KLists didn't always show up in the Outline View, and there was a problem with the hover in Debug, but both were easily work-around-able. I like the dynamic Outline, and that host variables in SQL statements now show up in the Outline. The 'reconnect' issue you mentioned was probably the most bothersome. I am now in the habit of saving before I undock my laptop, closing RDP, and opening it back up when I get where I'm going.
All in all, not too bad an experience, and the fix-pack (8.5.1) seems to have made things better.
Posted by: Steve Anderson | December 12, 2012 at 01:25 PM
I found that if you move the KLISTs to the top of your source they do show up in the Outline, but if you put them in the *INZSR they do not.
Posted by: Danny Hayes | December 13, 2012 at 08:03 AM
I like the update to the table view to change the date format: Windows>Preferences>Remote systems>IBM i>Table View>Date Column Format.
And the "Remote Reconciler" view is pretty nice for off-line projects too! A nice was to check if files are in synch.
Posted by: Ken Killian | December 13, 2012 at 01:01 PM
Here is a feature that should be in RDP by now. I put in the RFE to request it back in May 2012 when I noticed rdp for aix tooling got this feature and which java already had in RAD/eclipse. The feature is test coverage in rdp for i languages (rpg/cobol/clp). More people need to vote on this to get it on the radar for ibm rational development. Could you promote the RFE?
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/execute?use_case=viewRfe&CR_ID=22920
Posted by: Chris Nickchen | January 16, 2013 at 02:51 PM
Jon/Susan:
I've been trying to get/install the latest RDP update to no avail. Any chance that you could point me to something other than the circular references on the IBM website?
I downloaded RDPOWER-8.5.1.zip and tried to get it installed, but keep getting asked for the CDs...it's a ZIP...not a disk image. (But I digress...)
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Posted by: Bruce Guetzkow | January 30, 2013 at 01:40 PM
Hi Bruce - the answer is actually quite simple. If you take the zip (or .exe if that is what you have) of the RDP 8.5 install media and unzip it manually to a directory on the PC you will see a directory in there called (I think) Disk1 or something similar. When it asks for the CD you just point it at that directory.
I seem to recall that there was a discussion on this on WDSC-L at midrange but I can't see it now. It is a strange one because the problem did not occur for me but did for Susan. This was how we fixed it.
Posted by: Jon Paris | January 31, 2013 at 05:34 PM
For anyone following this thread here is a followup:
I exchanged a couple of emails with Jon and the "disk" that I needed had nothing to do with the fix pack...it was from the original install media for V8.5, something I NEVER would have thought of. Once I got the correct CD in the drive it only took a couple of minutes to install.
We have 3 disks for RDP: One labeled "Quick Start", one labeled "RPG and COBOL Development Tools for i" and a third disk that has no special designation. It is that third disk that got me going (I have since labeled it for future reference).
Jon, thanks again for your help...see you & Susan at WMCPA in March!
Posted by: Bruce Guetzkow | February 01, 2013 at 09:24 AM
I just installed version 8.5 and so far it looks ok EXCEPT the outline view is empty and the refresh icon is grayed out :(
No outline for me?
Also, have I missed a link to get the fix in here somewhere?
Posted by: Carol Bastien | April 26, 2013 at 03:17 PM