Version 4.2.6 for Mainframes
 —  Utilities  —

SYSAPI Utility - APIs of Natural Add-On Products

The utility SYSAPI is used to locate and test Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) provided by Natural add-on products such as Entire Output Management.

The API of a Natural add-on product is a Natural subprogram (cataloged object) that is used for accessing and possibly modifying data or performing services that are specific to an add-on product or a subcomponent.

The API of a Natural add-on product is supplied in the Natural library and/or system file provided for objects that are specific to a particular Natural add-on product. For instructions on using the API of a Natural add-on product, refer to the documentation of the respective add-on product.

For each API of a Natural add-on product, the utility SYSAPI provides a functional description, one example program and API-specific keywords.

The SYSAPI Utility - APIs of Natural Add-On Products documentation covers the following topics:

Related Topics:


Prerequisites

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Invoking and Terminating SYSAPI

This section provides instructions for invoking and terminating the SYSAPI utility.

Start of instruction set To invoke the SYSAPI utility

Note:
In the Command line of any SYSAPI utility screen, you can enter any Natural system command.

Start of instruction set To terminate SYSAPI

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Listing API Example Programs

You can obtain a list of all example programs available for a selected API group. You can shorten this list by specifying the name of an API example program or a particular range of names.

Start of instruction set To list all API example programs

Start of instruction set To list a single example program or a particular range

  1. On the SYSAPI list screen, in the Example input field, enter any of the input values listed in the table below where value is any combination of one or more characters:

    Input Example Programs Selected
    value The example program that matches value.
    * All example programs. This is the default setting.

    value
    *
    value
    ?

    All example programs that match value combined with one or more asterisks (*) and/or one or more question marks (?) entered in any position and any order where:

    asterisk (*) denotes any string of characters,
    question mark (?) denotes a single character.

    Examples:

    ABC*
    A?C*Z

  2. Press ENTER.

    The SYSAPI list screen displays the specified example program(s).

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Performing a Keyword Search

Keywords help you find the APIs relevant to your current task. You can use the keyword search function to list all keywords relevant to the selected API group or list API example programs by keyword(s).

Start of instruction set To list all keywords relevant to an API group

Start of instruction set To list example programs by keyword

  1. On the SYSAPI list screen, in one or more of the input fields next to Keywords, enter a valid keyword. If required, press PF10 to clear the contents of all Keywords fields.

    Or:
    From the List Keywords window, choose a maximum of three keywords:

  2. If required, in the And/Or field, enter an A or an O (the default setting is A) to combine keywords with a logical condition.

  3. Press ENTER to perform the keyword search.

    The example programs that contain the specified keyword(s) are listed on the screen.

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Using an API Example Program

The SYSAPI utility provides line commands that can be used to display, modify or execute an API example program. You enter a line command on the SYSAPI list screen, in the Cmd column next to the example program required. For a list of valid line commands, enter a question mark (?) in this column.

The following line commands are available on the SYSAPI list screen:

Line Command Function
L List source code.
E Edit source code.
X Execute program.

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