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Unlock the Power of IBM i at POWERUp 2026!

Join us in New Orleans, Louisiana for POWERUp 2026, the premier conference for IBM i professionals. Whether you’re an experienced expert or just starting your IBM i journey, this event offers unparalleled education, hands-on workshops, and valuable networking opportunities. Stay ahead of the curve with insights from industry leaders, explore the latest innovations, and connect with a thriving community that shares your passion for IBM i. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your knowledge, grow your skills, and power up your career!

Type: Database clear filter
Wednesday, April 29
 

9:15am CDT

Visual Explain - IBM's SQL Performance Show-&-Tell
Wednesday April 29, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT
For many years now IBM have positioned SQL as the primary interface to the database on IBM i. At the same time, new capabilities are being added only to SQL, not to the native database interface. We need a different tool to understand and analyze query implementation plans and feedback from the optimizer – the SQL component that determines the most effective way to deliver the data we ask for in SQL statements. Visual Explain is just such a tool, and it both shows us graphically what plan the optimizer has chosen, as well as tells us details about each step along the way. It can also give us suggestions on ways to improve performance of our queries. With IBM i 7.6, IBM continue to enhance our ability to manage the database effectively.

Learning Objectives:

1. A brief description of optimization with SQL 2. The several ways of invoking Visual Explain 3. The various panes of the Visual Explain window 4. Some features of Visual Explain for managing how it behaves 5. Examples of improved performance after using suggested changes
Speakers
avatar for Vern Hamberg

Vern Hamberg

Senior iSeries Developer, OneMain Financial
Vern has worked on IBM midrange systems for over 35 years, beginning with the System/38 and AS/400. At present he is a Senior iSeries Developer at OneMain Financial. He serves on the Strategic Education Team (SET) of COMMON and is one of the SMEs for Db2. He is also honored to have... Read More →
Wednesday April 29, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT
Studio 3-4
 
Thursday, April 30
 

3:00pm CDT

Fun with JSON Publishing: Letting SQL Do the Dirty Work
Thursday April 30, 2026 3:00pm - 4:00pm CDT
If you've ever been tasked as a developer with creating complex responses for an internal or external web service, you've likely explored multiple avenues for generating JSON from your IBM i programs. From constructing responses manually in your RPG code, to using various publicly available toolkits like YAJL, RPG NextGen, etc., there are a myriad of ways to create JSON strings with all the requisite curlies, commas, colons, quotes and hard brackets. If you're on IBM i OS 7.2 or higher, there's yet another avenue you can explore in which you let SQL do all the JSON construction work for you. The biggest benefit of this approach becomes most apparent when your JSON response requires arrays, and especially nested subarrays. Coding such responses can be a bit tedious when done on a record-by-record basis in your program, whereas by using some nifty functions you can can let SQL assemble your JSON response automatically. In this session we'll review the basics of JSON publishing functions such as JSON_Object, JSON_Array, JSON_ObjectAgg and JSON_ArrayAgg. We'll explore some practical use examples for publishing your business data in JSON, letting SQL do all the dirty work.

Learning Objectives:

* Learn the syntax of the most commonly used SQL JSON publishing functions * Understand the differences between a standard SQL select statement and an SQL statement constructing a JSON response * See how to integrate these SQL functions into an RPG program
Speakers
avatar for Robert Swanson

Robert Swanson

Senior Partner, CNX
Rob has worked as an in-the-trenches IBM i developer since 1992, with the past 15 years focused on developing modernization efforts for legacy systems written in RPG. Currently serving as Senior Partner for CNX Corporation in Chicago, Rob is a strong advocate of introducing highly... Read More →
Thursday April 30, 2026 3:00pm - 4:00pm CDT
Studio 3-4

3:00pm CDT

Using SQL to Overcome Challenges when Consuming XML (Case Study)
Thursday April 30, 2026 3:00pm - 4:00pm CDT
In the new world of mobile data collection by field specialists, we ran head-on into special characters as well as emojis. This case study tells the tale of overcoming the hurdles we were stumbling over to deal with them.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn what issues can be raised when using mobile devices to collect information from the field 2. Learn how XML support in Db2 for i was used to resolve these issues
Speakers
avatar for Vern Hamberg

Vern Hamberg

Senior iSeries Developer, OneMain Financial
Vern has worked on IBM midrange systems for over 35 years, beginning with the System/38 and AS/400. At present he is a Senior iSeries Developer at OneMain Financial. He serves on the Strategic Education Team (SET) of COMMON and is one of the SMEs for Db2. He is also honored to have... Read More →
Thursday April 30, 2026 3:00pm - 4:00pm CDT
Galerie 5
 

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