Skip to Main Content
IBM Z Software


This portal is to open public enhancement requests against IBM Z Software products. 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
  1. Post an idea.

  2. Get feedback from the IBM team and other customers to refine your idea.

  3. 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.

Status Delivered
Created by Guest
Created on May 11, 2012

FMDB2 Template Report

In order to modify some 170+ existing File Manager DB2 templates, we need a way to print the current template definitions which includes how specifications were made for things like Edit options (changes to displayed column lengths, column headings, etc.), the column display order, the column sort sequence, which columns are held, etc.

This is particularly critical for FM/DB2 templates for the following three reasons:

1. Those templates used with the DB2 System Catalog (SYSIBM) tables require changes whenever we migrate to new DB2 Versions and these tables have columns that get changed, added or removed. Because there is no mechanism for migrating templates against the SYSIBM tables when these tables change as we migrate to newer DB2 versions, having a way to report on the current templates would at least give us a way to manually rebuild comparable ones that include new catalog columns.

2. With templates for business application tables, when the underlying table structure changes, having a way to print the existing FM/DB2 template would help with rebuilding the templates as well.

3. Having a means of printing FM/DB2 template definition information would provide documentation for application and system processing the same as program compile listings. Such reports would become part of application promotion through the various phases of development, test, Acceptance & QA testing up to Production, along with promoting the underlying templates forward.

We understand that there is a way to print File Manager Base template definitions, so the same ability for File Manager DB2 should be available.

Idea priority Medium
  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Mar 13, 2019

    This is being closed as we believe the functionality required here is addressed by using the export/import of templates into an XML format which should contain all the information required that can be modified and you can build import all the definitions. See option 7 from the FM/DB2 main menu, Apologies for the extremely late response as this has been available for many years.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Nov 19, 2015

    Due to processing by IBM, this request was reassigned to have the following updated attributes:
    Brand - Servers and Systems Software
    Product family - Development Tooling
    Product - IBM File Manager

    For recording keeping, the previous attributes were:
    Brand - WebSphere
    Product family - Enterprise Tooling
    Product - IBM File Manager

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Nov 7, 2012

    V12 PTF UK83148 provided a template XML API which may satisfy the issues being raised here. Existing templates can be exported to XML form. The XML form is readable and can be changed with the ISPF editor, REXX exec or whatever tool  eg. FM find/change. The XML form of the template can be used directly with File Manager or can be imported to the internal versions of the template.  This provides the ability to manage templates via batch processes, make global changes etc. The export full screen interface provides a powerful member list facility for existing templates - showing template names and associated creator , table names. These member lists can be tailored in terms of columns displayed and filters can be applied to the columns to select only templates that have be associated with a give table per say.
    Whilst this is not a printing mechanism as such - all FM templates (including DB2 templates) can now be created, updated and managed via this new Template XML API interface - meaning rebuilding templates can be automated, and DB2 templates can be processed independently of functions that created them.