I wanted to share a little tidbit which is in the Studio documentation (http://docs.intersystems.com/cache20152/csp/docbook/DocBook.UI.Page.cls?...) but many people who have been using the InterSystems Studio for a long time missed the addition of this *very* useful feature, and every time I mention this to an audience I see at least one face light up because of how excited they are to learn about it!

Within Studio, the Output pane (View -> Output) is actually misnamed. It is actually an Input/Output window which can be used to run Caché ObjectScript commands!

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Article
· Oct 18, 2016 7m read
Macros in the InterSystems Caché

In this article I would like to tell you about macros in InterSystems Caché. A macro is a symbolic name that is replaced with a set of instructions during compilation. A macro can “unfold” in various instruction sets each time it is called, depending on the parameters passed to it and activated scenarios. This can be both static code and the result of ObjectScript execution. Let's take a look at how you can use them in your application.

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Recently I was conducting a remote support session with a site. The desktop they were sharing with me was on a PC configured with German as the native language. Since my German is rather rusty, and virtually non-existent when it comes to computing terms, I was glad to be able to switch the Portal session into English.

This is done from the page that appears when you use the About link:

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Hi All

I'm looking for some field experiences, lessons learned, or actual deployed solutions to the problem of replicating non-CACHE.DAT data in a mirrored Cache environment.

Environment:

  • Operating System is IBM AIX
  • Hardware is IBM Power w/ virtualised storage
  • Cache 2017.1
  • 2x Production mirror members
  • 1x DR mirror member
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Article
· Apr 24, 2017 1m read
Diagnosing the cause of <PROTECT> errors

If your application is raising <PROTECT> errors and you're finding it hard to work out why, here's a way to get additional information.

First, if auditing is not already enabled, turn it on:

Then use "Configure System Events" (highlighted above) and locate the event named %System/%Security/Protect. In the screenshot below I used the Filter field to do this (type "protect" - highlighted below - and press TAB):

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It's almost time to get your customers upgraded to new versions - are you worried about showing off your SQL Performance after upgrades? If you want to upgrade without worrying, then I have just the program for you!!! Check out this video from Global Summit 2016 featuring yours truly explaining how to upgrade a system without worrying about pesky SQL queries showing on your waistline!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfFPYfIoR_g

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Article
· Mar 28, 2017 2m read
Map, Reduce and Filter Collections

Inspired by the article "Declarative development in Caché" that's still trending on the dev com. The OP explored a functional style of iterating over a collection. A comment today suggested "Caché would need syntax support for anonymous functions".

With Macros you can kind of get anonymous like syntax using dot notation.

This is not production code, but it does work. First the macros...

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Hi Community,

This article assumes that you are familiar with Zabbix and SNMP monitoring, if not, there are some very interesting posts on the Community, especially this one (https://community.intersystems.com/post/creating-custom-snmp-oids) which contains a lot of information on how to configure and request an SNMP Cache server.

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A feature I recently used in working on ISC internal applications is the ability to send emails on behalf of someone. This is useful when generating system notifications from an application when you want some of them to show up as being from a specific person, perhaps posting comments on a work ticket.

In my case I was updating our facilities work order system for tracking requests. Normally all notification emails are sent from the same noreply email address. I wanted to change that so comments added from the original requester would show up as being from them and stand out.

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Article
· Mar 2, 2017 1m read
Trusting the code you import

As more people join Developer Community, and with increasing efforts to promote code sharing, I'd like to draw fresh attention to this post I wrote a year ago. It spotlights a feature within the class compiler which is both useful and dangerous. When importing code (e.g. from an XML export of classes received from someone), it's worth considering the risks.

Even if that post doesn't seem relevant to you at the moment you may wish to note it for the future. A handy way of doing this is to click the star icon at the end of it.

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Article
· Feb 14, 2017 1m read
Portal tip: The inconspicuous Menu button

Amongst the large fonts and chunky icons of Portal's pages, the Menu button in the top left corner is easily overlooked:

When clicked, it often produces the following menu:

When I remember it's there, I find the "View Console Log" option particularly handy.

I wrote "often" above because I've also noticed that the Menu contents change when I'm on a page within the Ensemble section of Portal:

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Article
· Feb 14, 2017 1m read
Portal tip: Feel at home on the Home page

Until recently I didn't pay much attention to Portal's home page:

If it's not showing when you initially launch Portal you can easily jump to it using the button / tab at the top of the left-hand column of options. And later during your session, get there via the Home link that will be visible at the top of every page.

On the Home page the "Recent" section is automatically maintained for you.

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Article
· Feb 14, 2017 1m read
Portal tip: Use the search box

User interfaces such as Portal often give us multiple ways of doing a task. Sometimes we stick with habits and don't realize that another way might save us time.

Here's one that I learned by watching someone else using Portal.

Use the Search box to get quickly to a page that may otherwise be several layers deep in the Portal hierarchy. For example, suppose I want to check the status of the ECP networking:

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This is the second part of my long post about package managers in operating systems and language distributions. Now, hopefully, we have managed to convince you that convenient package manager and rich 3rd party code repository is one key factor in establishing of a vibrant and fast growing ecosystem. (Another possible reason for ecosystem success is the consistent language design, but it will be topic for another day.)
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Points to remember before you start:

  1. It is not possible in a COS (Caché Object Script) job/process context to have multiple Named Pipes. It is a one Named Pipe per job/process limited line of communication.
  1. Named Pipes, in Caché, like most pipes on most operating systems are Unidirectional. That means you open them for either Read or Write, but not both.
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Importance and Collection of Exact Version Information ($zv / $zversion)
The explanation of:
- why collecting $zv is important (The WHY),
- what the components of $zv mean (The WHAT),
- and how to collect $zv (The HOW).
(The Ultimate $zv Guide to the ISC Galaxy in large, friendly letters)
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