This site is built with NOVA CMS, Bob Cozzi's Content Management System for IBM i.

It is written entirely in RPG IV with Embedded SQL. There is NO DDS and NO CL used in this application at all. The graphical user interface is browser-based and driven by RPG IV using Bob Cozzi's RPG xTools' CGILIB service program (a commercial competitor of the EASY400 CGIDEV2 service program). There is a lot of HTML and JavaScript being used in this system, but NO .NET, NO JAVA, NO PHP, just basic HTML, JavaScript, RPG IV and SQL.

Site Updates

01 September 2011

• Updated the POSTING requirements. You must be a Registered and Confirmed member to post any Content (including discussion forum posts and comments) to this site. If you haven't clicked on the link in your verification email we sent to you upon registration, you must do so in order to comment or create content for MidrangeNews.com

29 August 2011

• Fixed a bug in the Discussion list that, when a member was signed on, showed only their own discussion threads.
• Added a color code to Discussion threads that have been updated since your last visit. Remember, a visit is considered only at sign on.
• Fixed a problem with new user confirmation emails. If you received a confirmation email between 29-August-2011 and 01-Sept-2011 your confirmation may have not be recorded. Please re-verify your registration if you receive another Confirming/Verification email.

25 August 2011

• Discussion Forum added. The new Community Discussions (aka "Discussion Forum") has been activated.
• To create a new Community Discussion, click the icon in the menu bar at the top of the webpage masthead.
• A new TOC box has been added to the homepage. This TOC contains the most the Discussion topics in most-recent first order.
• Advertising via Chitika publishing is now on the viewer page. These are similar to "google adsense" but not owned by google. Clicking those ad helps support this site.

18 August 2011

• Added comment-count to the right-end of the TOC (Most Recent Articles List) on the homepage.
• Moved Comment entry box to end of Previous Comments (it was before the comments, which sort of blocked the comments).
• Added the ability to EDIT or DELETE your own Comments for up to 72 hours after creating it.
• Fixed a bug in the way Article Title/Subtitle was being displayed on the article Viewer page.

11 August 2011

• Comments have now been implemented across all articles. Scroll to the bottom of the article to view or add your own comments.
• If using the Firefox browser, the built-in spell checker is enabled for comments.

July 7, 2011

• Fixed (we hope!) a major bug in the signon routine. This problem only occurred in certain timezones and only if your clock was accurate. If you are having trouble signing in, please try one or both of the following:
1. Sign Off and Sign back on, or
2. Delete your cookies for the midrangeNews.com website. All of our cookies begin with the letters NOVA followed by an underscore character, that is:  NOVA_

• Remember, try option 1, first and if doesn't work, try option 2. In most cases, users should not have an issue and have to take no action (i.e., most will not have to do either of the above steps). So if the site is working for you, do nothing.

June 10, 2011

• Added a non-recurring Premium Membership option. Many customers told use that they want to subscribe but prefer a non-recurring option. Some have signed up for a year and then gone in and immediately cancelled the future payments. To accommodate these customers, we have instituted a $24 annual Premium Membership option that is a one-time payment. It is up to the Member to renew and pay for their future membership when it expires. A notice will appear on the MidrangeNews homepage for members, when they sign in, notifying them that their membership is up for renewal.

May 17, 2011

• Fixed a bug in the Access to Premium Content logic where the wrong Access Level was being displayed when non-members would access the page.

May 12, 2011

• Fixed a bug in the Feedback/comments page that threw away the feedback/comment when the Subject field was empty.
• Updated Bob's Blog to require at least the "free" membership level to access its content.
• Updated RPG Report to allow free access to the first 3 issues, and Premium (paid) membership thereafter.
• Signed up two major advertisers for the balance of the year:
1. BCD Software, Inc.
2. CNX Corp.

April 25, 2011

• Added "Published On" date to the info pane in the Viewer.
• Published the 4th issue of "Bob's Blog" (April 11, 2011)
• Signed up BCD Software and CNX Corp. as recurring Advertisers
• Added a work-around for an RPG IV compiler bug that IBM says is "working as designed"
• Had to do with implicty return opcodes in a subprocedure.

April 8, 2011

• Fixed (hopefully) the anomally in session cookies that some people were having trouble using when signing on or off.
• Updated the tiny_mce editor to the latest "point" release.
• It still has an issue with source code (it inserts BR tags in place of true linefeeds within PRE tags).
• Signed Up Bruce Hoffman to post very raw, and brief tips and techniques.
• Went live with the Subscription/Paid/Premium business model. Now only paid members may view RPG Report and certain video content.
• Went live with our members-only content model. Now some "free" content requires that you have a free or paid membership and be signed in to view it.
• Downloaded the Paypal transaction database from February 1 to April 1 to update our the paid members database.
• If you subscribed prior to February 1, 2011 please leave us feedback and we'll correct your record it, if necessary. Although we didn't allow sign up prior to that date, some members say they had signed up in January.

March 25, 2011

• Fixed a bug in the sign on routine.
• Fixed a bug in the "reset password" routine.
• Updated the basic Twitter feed (on the homepage)
• Created "Bob's Blog" a new periodic (free) blog from Bob Cozzi
• Updated the online WYSIWYG editor from the beta version to the latest release
• Prepared the site for the April 1st Premium/Registered User-Only option

March 1, 2011

• Premium Members now see an asterisk * next to their user profile when they are signed in.
• Non-confirmed members may now post Comments in our Feedback section
• The Table of Contents (on the Viewer page) now has the Content SubTitle appear when the mouse hovers over the title
• Twitter Feed is now live on the home page--if you don't see it, your network blocks Twitter.
• Fixed JavaScript bugs in the Registration/Create User Profile system.
• Fixed JavaScript bugs in the SignOn routine.
• Implemented the Follow (subscribe to) email notification system. Daily notices wil begin going out on March 1, 2011
• Notices are only sent if something has changed/updated and only for items you Follow.
• Notified members that effective April 1, 2011 Membership-level Restrictions on Content go into effect.
• Added general-use content to the site (more coming).

February 21, 2011

• Number of views no longer "counts" content author visits/views
• Mapped the system menu "About" link to the About Us document ID
• Added Facebook "like" button for site only (not for individual pages)
• Included "Tweet this" for content pages
• Enbabled registered users to provide site feedback via the Feedback option on main system menu
• Now using Amazon Web Services S3 to host embedded Video (for better performance)
• Added a midrangeNews community twitter feed to the homepage. Its updated every 8 seconds.

February 8, 2011

• Added support for "forgot my password"
• Added support for "forgot my user ID"
• Added "My Links" support for homepage
• Implemented a FOLLOW/Unfollow feature for articles that allows members to subscribe to content
• Added email signon option. You may now sign in with either your user ID or your email address
• Added a new user profile attribute for paypal email address. This private option allows subscribers to pay their monthly fee using a paypal account that has a different email address than that assocaited with their user profile.