Applications

Con-nect offers an interface (the application) which enables you to run (PERFORM) an existing Natural program from within your Con-nect session. The Natural program itself is not added to Con-nect, it is merely made known to Con-nect via an application definition.

Through use of Con-nect applications, you have direct access to the data processing capabilities of your system. You can maintain data directly from Con-nect, as well as use it in your daily office work.

This document covers the following topics:


Adding an Application

Issue the following command sequence from any point in Con-nect:

ADD Application

As a result, the "Add Application" screen appears.

  11:49 AM             * * *  C O N - N E C T  3  * * *                 4.Feb.94
  Cabinet LS                    Add Application                           Friday
                                                                                
            Folder Work___________ File _______________                         
                                                                                
  Application Name ________________________________                             
                                                                                
                                                                                
       Description ____________________________________________________________ 
                   ____________________________________________________________ 
                   ____________________________________________________________ 
                   ____________________________________________________________ 
                                                                                
                                                                                
       Private use _  or Security Read 7  Modify 7                              
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
 Complete the information above and press ENTER to add                          
    Command /                                                              /    
 Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
       Help  Menu  Quit  Mod   Send                          Flip        Home   

In addition to the information which you enter in every "Add" screen (see The "Add" Screens), you must specify the following application definition criteria in the "Add Application" screen.

Application Name

A unique name which identifies the application within Con-nect. This name must not exceed 32 characters.

Press ENTER to display the "Add Application" window.

  11:49 AM             * * *  C O N - N E C T  3  * * *                 4.Feb.94
  Cabinet LS                    Add Application                           Friday
                                                                                
            Folder Work___________ F   +---------------------------------------+
                                       !            Add Application            !
  Application Name SN_______________   +---------------------------------------+
                                       !                                       !
                                       ! Library:   ________                   !
       Description Super Natural____   !                                       !
                   _________________   ! Program:   ________                   !
                   _________________   !                                       !
                   _________________   ! Parameters:                           !
                                       !   1)  ______________________________  !
                                       !   2)  ______________________________  !
       Private use _  or Security Re   !   3)  ______________________________  !
                                       !   4)  ______________________________  !
                                       !   5)  ______________________________  !
                                       !   6)  ______________________________  !
                                       +---------------------------------------+
                                                                                
 Complete the information above and press ENTER to add                          
    Command /                                                              /    
 Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
       Help  Menu  Quit  Mod   Send                          Flip        Home   

Specify the following information in the "Add Application" window:

Library Name

The name of the Natural library in which the program is cataloged.

Program Name

The Natural program which is to be executed whenever an application is performed.

The Natural program must have been defined previously (by the Con-nect administrator, yourself or another user).

Parameters

Optional - parameters which are passed to the application when it is performed. You may specify a maximum of six parameters.

The parameters will be placed in the Natural stack and will be read by the first INPUT statement of the application. In addition to other parameters, you can specify the following:

/C/ for current cabinet ID (A8).
/N/ for current name (A20).
/I/ for ISN of the current object (N10).
/P/ for password of current cabinet (A16); for usage of Administration and Utilities only.
/H/ for the name of your home node in the transport service (A8).

In all cases, the slash (/) is the pseudo blank character.

Press ENTER to close the window and to add the application.

The blank "Add Application" screen re-appears and you can add another application.

Adding an Application to Access the Con-nect Print Utilities

If Natural Security allows you to use the Natural library SYSCNT2B, you can perform the print utilities directly from your Con-nect session. See Con-nect Utilities, section Utilities - Format/Print for detailed information.

To access the print utilities from Con-nect, you must first ADD an application.

Specify the following information in the "Add Application" window:

Library Name

Specify "SYSCNT2B" as the name of the Natural library in which the program is cataloged.

Program Name

Specify "Menu" as the name of the Natural program which is to be executed.

Press ENTER to close the window and to add the application.

To work with one of the above utilities, you must PERFORM the application:

PERFORM Application name

As a result, the "Utilities - Main Menu" appears. Select "Format/Print Utilities" to access the "Utilities - Format/Print" screen. Mark the required utility with any character and press ENTER.

Note:
The System Maintenance functions can only be performed by an administrator.

Working with Applications

You can perform many of your daily office tasks using the applications which are available to you within your environment.

The following topics are covered below:

Performing an Application

To start an application, issue the PERFORM command in conjunction with the application:

PERFORM Application name

Generally, when you leave an application which you have performed from Con-nect, you are returned to your Con-nect session.

Returning from an Application which is not in the Con-nect Library

There are two methods of returning from an application which is not in the Con-nect library (SYSCNT2) to a Con-nect session.

Include the following Natural statements in the application to cause an automatic return when the application is exited:

STACK TOP COMMAND 'RETURN'
STOP

Or exit the application (refer to the documentation for the application or to the application administrator) and then issue the following Natural command:

RETURN

Integrating Applications into the Con-nect Office

The following suggestions may be useful in integrating applications into your Con-nect office.

PERFORM is the default command for an application. If you assigned a unique name to the application (i.e. if there is no other object with that name in your cabinet), you can simply enter the name of the application in the command line and press ENTER to perform it.

You can assign the command sequence "PERFORM Application name" to a PF-key (see PF-Key Assignments).

You can create a new menu that contains the application, or incorporate it into an existing menu (see Creating Your Own Menus). You can then choose to have that menu displayed as your "Menu" each time you access Con-nect (see Menu and Overlay Calendar).

Managing Your Applications

Issue the following command sequence from any point in Con-nect to display a list of all available applications which have been made known to Con-nect:

DISPLAY Application

As a result, the "Display Applications by Name" screen appears.

  11:53 AM             * * *  C O N - N E C T  3  * * *                 4.Feb.94
  Cabinet LS              Display Applications by Name                    Friday
                                                                                
  Cmd Name                 Description                           Folder         
  --- -------------------- ------------------------------------- ---------------
  __  SN                   Super Natural                         Work           
  __  D-TRACE                                                    (S)            
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
 Cmds are 1 or 2 characters from the list below (FLIP for PF-keys)              
    Command /                                                              /    
  Display  Erase    File     Modify   Perform  Send     Top                     
                                                                                

The applications are arranged alphabetically. Your own applications are displayed first, followed by those created by the Con-nect administrator.

The columns display the following information:

Name

The name of the application.

Description

The description entered when the application was added.

Folder

The name of the folder in which the application is stored. Applications which have been created by the Con-nect administrator are marked with (S); you can use these applications, but cannot erase, file or modify them.

Commands for Applications

The command prompting line of the "Display Applications by Name" screen shows all the commands which apply to applications. The commands are described in section Commands. The following exceptions apply when working with applications:

DISPLAY

The DISPLAY command displays the application definition criteria specified when the program was added. (The application itself is stored in a Natural library, and the only way to display it is via the appropriate Natural commands and statements.)

MODIFY

The MODIFY command allows you to modify the application definition criteria (which identifies the Natural program to Con-nect), but does not allow you to modify the Natural program itself. You can, however, specify that another Natural program be used for the application, or modify the parameters.

PERFORM

The PERFORM command starts the application as discussed in section Performing an Application.

SEND

When you SEND an application, the "Send" screen appears; you enter addressee(s), attach a cover note (mandatory) to the application and send it with the CONFIRM command, just as with any other mail item.

When the addressee displays the new mail item in the Inbasket, the cover note is shown first. A message at the bottom of the Inbasket screen says that the mail item is an application. To display the application definition criteria, the addressee must issue the QUIT command.

To use the application, the addressee must must first FILE it and then issue the PERFORM command as discussed in section Performing an Application.

Example

This example demonstrates how to create a Con-nect document using an application (in this case, the Software AG product Super Natural).

First you must ADD an application as shown below:

  11:54 AM             * * *  C O N - N E C T  3  * * *                 4.Feb.94
  Cabinet LS                    Add Application                           Friday
                                                                                
            Folder Work___________ File _______________                         
                                                                                
  Application Name snat____________________________                             
                                                                                
                                                                                
       Description ____________________________________________________________ 
                   ____________________________________________________________ 
                   ____________________________________________________________ 
                   ____________________________________________________________ 
                                                                                
                                                                                
       Private use _  or Security Read 7  Modify 7                              
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
 Complete the information above and press ENTER to add                          
    Command /                                                              /    
 Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
       Help  Menu  Quit  In    Send  Foldr Docs  Note  Cal   Flip  Last  Home   

Press ENTER to display the "Add Application" window in which you enter the following information:

  11:54 AM             * * *  C O N - N E C T  3  * * *                 4.Feb.94
  Cabinet LS                    Add Application                           Friday
                                                                                
            Folder Work___________ F   +---------------------------------------+
                                       !            Add Application            !
  Application Name snat_____________   +---------------------------------------+
                                       !                                       !
                                       ! Library:   SYSSN___                   !
       Description _________________   !                                       !
                   _________________   ! Program:   MENU____                   !
                   _________________   !                                       !
                   _________________   ! Parameters:                           !
                                       !   1)  ______________________________  !
                                       !   2)  ______________________________  !
       Private use _  or Security Re   !   3)  ______________________________  !
                                       !   4)  ______________________________  !
                                       !   5)  ______________________________  !
                                       !   6)  ______________________________  !
                                       +---------------------------------------+
                                                                                
 Complete the information above and press ENTER to add                          
    Command /                                                              /    
 Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
       Help  Menu  Quit  In    Send  Foldr Docs  Note  Cal   Flip  Last  Home   

Press ENTER to close the window and to add the application.

PERFORM the application and create a Super Natural transaction using Report Destination Con-nect. See the Super Natural documentation for further information.

In this example, the transaction selects the staff members in department COMP02 who have more than 22 days of vacation remaining.

RUN the Super Natural transaction.

As a result, a document is sent to the Con-nect system folder Connect.

Note:
If the transaction is of Report Type Con-nect and Report Destination Con-nect, a Con-nect document is created for each record found and is stored in the Con-nect system folder Compose.

Exit Super Natural and return to Con-nect. See your Super Natural administrator for further information.

The name of the document created by the Super Natural transaction is enclosed in parenthesis. The document is identified by a prefix supplied by Super Natural, transaction ID and date and time of transaction execution.

  11:55 AM             * * *  C O N - N E C T  3  * * *                 4.Feb.94
  Cabinet LS                Display Documents by Name                     Friday
                                                                                
  Cmd Document Name                Enc Typ Folder         File      Date Filed  
  --- ---------------------------- --- --- -------------- --------- ------------
  __  Planning Guide                   Txt Work                         2.Feb.94
  __  Report                           Txt Work                         1.Feb.94
  __  sample-doc                       Txt Work                         4.Feb.94
  __  Structure                        Txt Work                         2.Feb.94
                                                                                
  __  Test Results                     Txt Work                         2.Feb.94
  __  Tool                             Txt Work                         2.Feb.94
  __  Vacation                         Txt Work                        31.Jan.94
  __  Work Results                     Cnf Work                         1.Feb.94
                                                                                
  __  Zoo                              Txt Work                         3.Feb.94
  DI  (ICONN    1994/02/04 10:33)      Txt Connect                      4.Feb.94
  __  CON-FORM1                        Txt (S)                         20.Oct.93
  __  CON-FORM2                        Txt (S)                         25.Oct.93
                                                                                
 Cmds are 1 or 2 characters from the list below (FLIP for PF-keys)              
    Command /                                                              /    
  Copy     Display  Enclose  Erase    Export   File     Format   Info     Modify
  Output   Print    Send     Top      Translat X                                

The following example is a document created by a Super Natural transaction.

  11:56 AM             * * *  C O N - N E C T  3  * * *                 4.Feb.94
  Cabinet LS         Display (ICONN    1994/02/04 10:33)                  Friday
  Folder  Connect          File                          Page 1       Line 1    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    101      DEPT ='COMP02'                                               1     
             AND LEAVE-DUE > 22                                         4.Feb.94
         FIRST-NAME              NAME         DEPARTMENT LEAVE    
                                                 CODE     DUE   PLANNED LEAVE   
    -------------------- -------------------- ---------- ----- -------- --------
                                                                                
    LARS                 BOLAN                COMP02      33   94/04/13 94/04/24
    HARRY                ROSE                 COMP02      33   94/06/01 94/06/05
    ULRICH               CHRIS                COMP02      32   94/03/16 94/03/20
    SYBIL                HANSEN               COMP02      31   94/04/27 94/05/01
    THOMAS               PINKERTON            COMP02      30   94/02/17 94/02/28
    KARIN                FORD                 COMP02      30   94/02/26 94/02/28
    JAMES                LAMPERT              COMP02      29   94/03/18 94/03/20
    ROGER                BACH                 COMP02      29   94/05/26 94/06/03
    WILLIAM              OSBOURNE             COMP02      28   94/03/26 94/03/27
   
 Press ENTER for next page, or type a command (FLIP for PF-keys)                
    Command /                                                              /    
  Column   Copy     Erase    Export   File     Flip     Format   Info     Modify
  Output   Page     Position Print    Quit     Send     Top      Translat