VS Code instead of RDi: Code for IBM i from day one
Code for IBM i connects VS Code to the system over SSH. What the administrator has to do, what goes on the PC, and the five first-day problems.
IBM i / AS400
Resources for IBM i
Technical articles, guides and utilities for people working on IBM i and AS/400. The tools run in the browser, with nothing to install.
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Packed and zoned decimal
How a number is really written to disk, byte by byte, and how much room it takes.
123.4512 34 5C
The same bytes can be read as packed or as zoned: both readings appear here when they are valid. Spaces, lowercase and 0x prefixes are all accepted.
How to read these bytes
In zoned decimal every digit takes a whole byte: the high nibble is F and the low one holds the digit. In packed decimal two digits share a byte, so it takes nearly half the room. In both, the last nibble carries the sign: C positive, D negative, F unsigned. The decimal point is never stored: it lives only in the field definition. This matters when you stare at a record in hex through DSPPFM and F10, or when you need to know what a file will really weigh before you create it.
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Tools ready to use
IBM i utilities: EBCDIC conversion, date formats, packed and zoned decimal, data reading. They run in the browser, with no installation.
12607272026-07-27
123.4512 34 5C
C1 C2 C3ABC
Guides
Complete treatments of a topic, split into chapters and kept up to date. Each guide states the date of the last review and the IBM i release it was verified against.
- Programming on IBM i: sources, ILE, RPG and SQL
- Administering an IBM i: how the system works
Recipes
Short solutions to recurring problems, with ready-to-use code and the caveats to consider before running it in production.
Recipes →Software
Editor extensions, programs and command line tools useful for IBM i work. Unlike the tools on this site, which run in the browser, these are installed on your computer or on the system.
Software →IBM i releases
Every OS/400, i5/OS and IBM i release: when it came out, how long it is supported, what it brought and which Technology Refreshes followed it.
Is your release still supported? →Jobs
IBM i and AS/400 job listings, and people making themselves available. Every entry is reviewed before it appears and expires automatically.
Jobs →Latest articles
All articles →Who uses this file? Dependencies with DSPPGMREF
Before changing a file you need to know which programs use it. DSPPGMREF writes the references to a file and a query answers.
Opening a SAVF without an IBM i
A SAVF from a vendor, or the backup of a system that is gone, and no IBM i to restore it on. jSAVF reads it on a PC and extracts sources and tables.
IBM i licences: concurrent users count, not enabled ones
WRKLICINF counts enabled profiles, but the per-user licence asks for users signed on at the same time. What that means before a renewal.