Rexx

The first time I remember Rexx being mentioned was when I installed OS/2 2.0.
The installation procedure asked me if I wanted to install RexxUtil, an extension to Rexx.
Since I didn't have the slightest idea what Rexx was supposed to be doing on my system with its limited hard disk space, I answered NO.

Soon after that I bought VX-REXX, to try some programming in OS/2.
Though one can make nice interfaces in VX-REXX without any knowledge of Rexx itself, I soon found out I needed to know more about Rexx if I wanted to do some "serious programming".

That's when I heard about Dick Goran's OS/2 Warp Rexx Reference Summary Handbook.
Since then, I have spent many days and nights programming in Rexx.

One of my projects involved controlling an HP ScanJet 4c over a LAN Server based wide area network, which was, I suppose, the limit of Rexx's possibilities as far as maintainability is concerned (though I bet that many Rexx programmers won't agree).
Another project involved Microsoft Windows NT 4 Terminal Server with Citrix MetaFrame and Load Balancing. In short, this enabled OS/2 users at the office to run a full NT 4 desktop in a window on top of their OS/2 desktop (would work in Unix and DOS too, with the appropriate client software).
With 4 huge "powerhouse" servers, one hardly noticed a performance difference compared to a locally installed Windows Workstations.
I wrote some administrative tools, both Regina Rexx scripts and batch files, for NT 4 TS domains.

Rexx examples

During the last couple of years I created some useful - and some less-than-useful - tools and other programs that I will share here.
Start any of these commands without parameters or with /? as the only parameter to get a help screen.
Most of my Rexx scripts use RexxUtil (native in OS/2, Windows version can be downloaded from Patrick McPhee's site), and many Windows Rexx scripts use W32Funcs as well (also available at Patrick McPhee's site).

Rexx tools for OS/2 LAN Server administrators

These scripts are intended — surprise — for OS/2, OS/2 LAN Server, OS/2 Warp Server and eCS (OS/2 Warp 4.5*) only.
Unlike most of the other scripts, they cannot be ported to Windows easily because they depend heavily on IBM's LSRexxUtil library.

Rexx tools and other scripts for Windows NT and Citrix WinFrame administrators

Most of the Rexx scripts on this page were created during my years as OS/2 LAN Server/Windows NT 4 Terminal Server Edition administrator at a small Dutch bank.
I added other scripts, some in other scripting languages, that I guessed might be useful for Windows administrators.
With the current version of RegUtil (Patrick McPhee's Windows port of RexxUtil) many scripts that were originally written for OS/2 may now require little or no modification at all to run on Windows systems.

Rexx books

Several titles on Rexx.

Rexx bookmarks

Find more Rexx related information by following these links.