The Flight Plan Window in Visual Studio provides a convenient, flexible overview of the file members to be migrated with the source tree to the left, and detailed information about whichever node is selected from the tree in the Tag Values frame on the right.

The data which make up a Flight Plan are stored in three XML files, at a location in the file system chosen when first Saving a Flight Plan.

For a more general overview of the Flight Plans tool, including a set of steps to get started with, see Wings Flight Plans.

Note – Should your Visual Studio session end unexpectedly while you're working with Flight Plans, you can recover your work by:

  1. Reopening Visual Studio,
  2. Clicking File.
  3. Selecting Recent Files, and picking the Flight Plan you've been working on from the list that appears.

The Source Tree

As soon as sources are added to a Flight Plan Wings will automatically detect which members are programs and which are display files, and divide them by type. Moreover, it cross-references them to detect which display files and programs call one another, and assigns them one of three categories:

  • Single – Not called by any files or unable to locate files that call them.
  • Matched – Calls and is called by one other file.
  • Mixed – Calls or is called by multiple files.

Wings sorts the members using these categories (By Status) unless instructed otherwise using the Group Sources dialog, and displays them as filenames with icons in the Flight Plan Window.

The nested groups of members can be expanded and hidden the arrow widgets on the left. To tweak the displayed names or icons for specific members or groups, users can edit the tags for them.

The Tag Values Frame

The Tag Values frame on the right of the Flight Plans Window shows the values of each tag (in this Flight Plan) for the member or folder selected in the file tree. The ability to define, change, and sort by tags gives Flight Plans a great deal of its power and flexibility.

Flight Plans uses curly brackets ({TagName}) as a syntax to indicate the value for a particular member's tag. So {Library}\{Source}\{Member} will yield the value of the Library, Source, and Member tags for the member in question.

The Icon Bar

The icon bar (located above the file tree) provides access to a number of Flight Plans operations:

  • Select Sources (The binoculars icon ) - Opens a dialog for selecting which sources to use.
  • Group Sources (The list icon ) - Opens a dialog for choosing which tags to sort the files in the Flight Plan by. This option is only usable when a folder (real or virtual) is selected.
  • Define New Tag (The tag icon ) - Opens the dialog for creating an entirely new tag.
  • Edit Tags (The table-and-pencil-icon ) – Opens a dialog for changing the text and defaults for existing tags.
  • Add Source Members (The file-plus icon ) – Opens the dialog used to choose members to add to the Flight Plan.

The Context Menu

Some options for manipulating the files (including actually converting files) can also be accessed by right-clicking on files or folders and opening the context menu. These include:

  • Select Sources - Opens the Select Source Nodes dialog, where the user can select which sources to use in the Flight Plan.
  • Group Sources - Opens the Group Sources dialog, where the user can choose which tags to sort the files in the Flight Plan by. This option is only usable when a folder (real or virtual) is selected.
  • Convert - Opens the Convert Selected Nodes dialog, where the process of modernizing the files is managed.
  • Create New Tag - Opens the dialog for creating an entirely new tag.
  • Edit Tags – Opens a dialog for changing the text and defaults for existing tags.
  • Add Source Members – Opens the dialog used to choose members to add to the Flight Plan.

Clicking anywhere outside the context menu will close it.

Groupings Tabs

Right-clicking on the tab (or one of the tabs) in the lower-left of the window will open the Groupings Tabs context menu, which allows you to save and switch between various groupings of tags and files.

File Naming Conventions

The Wings modernization process involves automated changes to files on the IBM i that can potentially result in many members and files with similar names, so Flight Plans was designed to employ standards that keep files at various stages of conversion distinct and separate. Flight Plans defaults to:

  • {Origin} - The name of the original file.
  • {Origin}H - Files containing members that have had the HANDLER keyword successfully injected into their F-specs.
  • {Origin}X - The file that holds modernized Display Files after they've been exported back to the IBM i.

Wings also creates two Source files in which the modified files are stored: QRPGWINGS for members with the HANDLER keyword, and QDDSWINGS for exported Display Files.

Thus if you began with a member named GENERIC in a file called MISC, Wings would create a new member named GENERIC in a file named MISCH after adding the HANDLER keyword. It would then create member GENERIC in file MISCX when you export the modernized files back to the IBM i. These files need not already exist: Wings can create any files or libaries that it requires.

These standards are highly recommended, but entirely optional; simply changing the TargetQualifiedMember and ExportTo tags lets users determine exactly what goes where during conversion.