Lists or grids of business data are often pretty straightforward to filter, particularly when applying single-column comparisons. Do your users need a way to limit a list of customer orders to a specific destination country and shipping date? No problem! Two simple column filters — one over the ship-to country, one over the ship date...Read More

If your company’s ERP system database had its genesis in the 1980s or early 1990s, and it hasn’t “evolved” a whole lot since then, you likely have a number of files where date values are stored inside numeric fields. Whether your dates are parsed into separate year/month/day fields, or held in single YYYYMMDD, CYYMMDD fields,...Read More

In today’s internet-connected society, just about any kind of information you need to know can be pulled into your system through a web service API. These APIs make it possible to pull public (or private) record sets into your Valence apps from databases that are not necessarily located within the walls of your company’s data...Read More

Without doubt, the most effective way to create powerful web or mobile apps with minimal code is achieved by harnessing the power of SQL in your data sources. We’ve used variations of SELECT * FROM DEMOCMAST in countless examples here over the years, and likely you’ve leveraged that concept in many of your own applications as well....Read More

If you spend enough time handling end user app requests, you’re bound to run into a case where someone wants to see data from a detail level file inside a grid displaying header-level data. For instance, a customer service rep might ask you to integrate a list of line items into a customer orders app that currently only shows header...Read More

When creating grid apps, it can be tempting to pull in every conceivable column someone in the company might want to see. Consider, for example, the case of a grid of inventory items. You know users in accounting like to see dollars, while warehouse users like to see quantities, people in purchasing like to see dates, etc… Everybody has something special...Read More

Business systems are replete with lists of data, many of which entail users editing, adding or removing records in one or more underlying physical files. Conventionally, a maintenance app for, say, basic customer info would be initially presented to users in the form of a grid. Users would then click on a row to bring...Read More

Programs running on IBM i routinely need to retrieve the specific user ID associated with the person executing the code. In traditional interactive 5250 programs, the user ID is often accessed in RPG through the program status data structure, or by making a call to a CL program that uses the RTVJOBA command. These “old school” green screen approaches...Read More

A checkbox filter is one of the most intuitive user constraints you can add to a grid. The user simply checks a box and the rows of the underlying grid are immediately filtered to reflect the condition labeled on the checkbox. In earlier versions of Valence, a checkbox filter condition was active regardless of whether the box was checked...Read More

Imagine going to a buffet and being told you can only choose ONE item for your plate, and if you wanted more you’d first need to take that single-item plate back to your table, consume it, then return for the next item.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could just load up your plate with...Read More