The Run SQL Scripts tool provided by IBM i Access Client Solutions (ACS) does a great job of making an SQL statement more understandable with its color highlighting of SQL keywords and its formatting of the statement text.
I think you would agree that it would be great if that same
highlighting and formatting could ride along with your SQL statement text to
make it clearer to your peers when sharing your SQL via email, presentations, design docs, etc. This actually is possible - assuming that you have ACS 1.1.9.2
or later installed on your workstation.
The Run SQL Scripts auto-prompting
support for host variables and parameter markers got all the fanfare when
ACS 1.1.9.2 was released, but this version of ACS also delivered Rich Text Format copy
capabilities. Without this new capability, the following figure shows how the SQL
syntax highlighting disappears when an SQL statement text is copied from Run
SQL Scripts to a word processing tool or an email.
Now that the Run SQL Scripts copy captures the rich text format (i.e., color highlighting) associated with your SQL statement, you’ll be able to choose the highlighted Paste Option on the left as shown below to preserve the source statement format when performing a paste operation.
Once you select the highlighted Keep Source Formatting paste option in the prior figure, the SQL will be transformed back to the highlighted and formatted SQL statement as shown below. It's the same stylish presentation as Run SQL Scripts, but available in a different medium.
Hopefully, it’s now clear to how newer versions of ACS enable you to communicate and share your SQL statement text in a more comprehensible format.
