Summer is over and fall is here. In Texas we know it’s fall because it’s only 92F (33C) at night. Relief at last!
This issue covers IBM i V7R5 and DataGate for IBM i, upgrading DataGate for IBM i, an exciting Visual Studio 2022 announcement, how to tame the Windows ComboBox control, and a list of Windows products that are obsolete or headed that way.
Enjoy the rest of your fall! (For those of you across the globe from us, enjoy your spring!)
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ASNA DataGate for IBM i: V7R5 coming and DG 15.x going
The currently supported versions of DataGate for IBM i are: * 16.x, which supports IBM i V7R3, and V7R4 * 15.x, which supports IBM i V7R3
By the time you read this, IBM will have released IBM i V7R5. The upcoming DataGate for 17.x, which enters beta availability soon will support V7R3, V7R4, and V7R5. DataGate 16.x will probably work on IBM i V7R5 but it won’t be formally supported there. We recommend using the upcoming DataGate for IBM i 17.x with V7R5.
Shortly after DataGate for IBM i 17.x is generally available (which we expect will be sometime in 2023Q1), our 15.x family of products (as well as the corresponding 9.x Wings and Mobile RPG products) will retire–which means tech support will no longer be available for those products.
Please read this! If you’re using any of our 15.x/9.x products, please start planning your upgrades now to keep your products under the support umbrella.
Got upgrade?
Note that IBM ended support for IBM i V7R1 in April, 2018 and V7R2 in April, 2021. ASNA does not support retired IBM i platforms.
Frequently heard DataGate for IBM i upgrade question
I am running DataGate for IBM i 15.x on my IBM i and we are moving to IBM i V7R4. Do I need to upgrade that server produce and my DataGate clients or or can I get by with just a server upgrade from DataGate for IBM i 15.x to 16.x?
Higher-level DataGate clients work with lower-level DataGate clients. For example, DataGate for IBM i 16.x works with any client (ie, Windows deployment or WebPak) equal to or lower than 16.x. There is no need to upgrade your lower-level clients when you upgrade to DataGate for IBM i 16x.
That said, please keep these two considerations in mind:
- We support the current version of a product and one version back. Today, for example, we support DataGate for IBM i 16.x and DataGate for IBM 15.x. When we introduce DataGate for IBM i 17.x (probably in 2023Q1) the 15.x version is retired and therefore doesn’t qualify for technical support. It’s very important to keep your products updated to the products we support. If you have any questions please contact tech support at support@asna.com.
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Generally speaking, the likelihood of encountering speedbumps when you upgrade DataGate clients (ie, Windows deployment or WebPak) goes up exponentially the older the client version is that you are replacing. That is, the upgrade from a 15.x client to 16.x is very smooth, upgrading from 14.x to 16x may inject a few issues, and upgrading from 10.x to 16.x is even more likely to inject issues. The moral of the story, staying current (on servers and clients) on an ongoing basis is far less trouble than the likely grief of upgrading a woefully old client.
Read more: Frequently heard DataGate for IBM i upgrade question
ASNA product betas for Visual Studio 2022 are now available
We recently released the beta versions of several products that work with Visual Studio 2022. These products include Visual RPG for .NET 17.0, Mobile RPG 11.0, Monarch 11.0, and DataGate 17.0 (for IBM i and DataGate for SQL Server). Other products (such as Wings) will follow soon.
There are three important constraints to remember:
- Visual Studio 2022 needs to be a 17.2 or higher.
- Development and production PCs must be running .NET 4.8.
Another constraint (that was introduced with our Visual Studio 2019 support) is that you can no longer use Visual Studio Community Edition or the Visual Studio Isolated Shell with these products. Effective with Visual Studio 2019:
- Visual Studio Community Edition no longer works with our third-party components.
- Microsoft discontinued the Visual Studio Integrated/Isolated Shells with the introduction of Visual Studio 2019.
If you are interested in being a beta tester for our Visual Studio 2022 please send us an email at info@asna.com and we’ll hook you up.
DataGate for IBM i 16.x new product builds available
On September 14th, we published new, generally available builds of our 16.x and 10.x products. Read about these new builds, as well as other older family product builds, here.
Taming AVR for .NET Windows ComboBox
The Windows ComboBox is the most passive aggressive control in the .NET. For very simple basic uses, it’s simple to use. However, things get challenging quickly when you go beyond the basics. This article takes a look at how to tame the ComboBox with Visual RPG for .NET.
Read more: Taming AVR for .NET Windows ComboBox
Windows products that are heading towards (or already at) their great reward
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Windows Server 2008 R2 has reached end-of-support from Microsoft and is no longer a supported ASNA platform.
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Windows 8.1 reaches end-of-support from Microsoft on January 10th, 2023 and at that time will no longer be a supported ASNA platform.
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SQL Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2 reach end of support on October 10, 2023. At that time ASNA will no longer support those versions.
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