To enable Natural to access an SQL/DS table, a Natural DDM of the table
must be generated. This is done either with Predict (see the relevant Predict
documentation for details) or with the Natural utility SYSDDM; see
also SYSDDM
Utility in the Natural Editors
documentation.
If you do not have Predict installed, use the SYSDDM
function SQL
Services to generate Natural DDMs from SQL/DS tables.
This function is invoked from the main menu of SYSDDM and is
described on the following pages.
For further information on Natural DDMs, see Data Definition Modules - DDMs in the Natural Programming Guide.
This section covers the following topics:
The SQL Services function of the Natural
SYSDDM utility (see Using SYSDDM Maintenance and
Service Functions in the Natural
Editors documentation) is used to access SQL/DS tables.
You access the catalog of the SQL/DS server to which you are connected, for
example, by using the CONNECT command of the
SYSSQL
Utility (see the section Database Management), or by
entering the name of a server in the Server Name field on
the SQL Services Menu. The name of the SQL/DS server to
which you are connected is then displayed in the top left-hand corner of the
screen SQL Services Menu. You can access any SQL/DS server that is
located on either a mainframe (z/OS or z/VSE) or a UNIX platform if the servers
have been connected via DRDA (Distributed Relational Database Architecture).
For further details on connecting SQL/DS servers and for information on binding
the application package (SYSDDM uses I/O module
NDBIOMO)
to access data on remote servers, refer to the relevant IBM literature.
The SQL Services function determines whether you are connected to a mainframe DB2 (z/OS or z/VSE) or a UNIX DB2, access the appropriate DB2 catalog and performs the functions listed below.
Note:
If you use SYSDDM SQL Services in a
CICS environment without file server, specify CONVERS=ON in the
NDBPARM module
(see the relevant section in Installing Natural for SQL/DS); otherwise you
might get SQL code -518.
The individual functions are described below.
To invoke the SQL Services function
In the command line, enter the Natural system command
SYSDDM and press Enter.
Or:
From the Natural main menu, choose Maintenance and Transfer Utilities to display the Maintenance and Transfer Utilities menu.
From the Maintenance and Transfer Utilities menu, choose Maintain DDMs.
The menu of the SYSDDM utility is displayed. The fields
and functions provided on the SYSDDM utility menu are explained in
the section Using
SYSDDM Maintenance and Service Functions.
In the Code field of the Natural
SYSDDM utility Menu, enter code
B and press Enter.
The SQL Services Menu is displayed.
14:43:41 ***** NATURAL SYSDDM UTILITY ***** 2009-12-04
Server DAVNDB2 - SQL Services: Menu -
Code Function
S Select SQL Table from a List
G Generate DDM from an SQL Table
L List Columns of an SQL Table
? Help
. Exit
Code ... _
Table name ... ________________________________
Creator ...... ________________________________
Replace ...... N (Y,N) DDM Name with Creator .. Y (Y/N)
Server name .. DAVNDB2___________
Command ===>
Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
Help Exit Canc |
The functions available on this screen are described in the corresponding sections.
This function is used to select an SQL/DS table from a list for further processing.
To invoke the Select SQL Table from a List function
On the SQL Services Menu, enter Function Code
S.
If you enter the function code only, you obtain a list of all tables defined to the SQL/DS catalog.
If you do not want a list of all tables but would like only a certain range of tables to be listed, you can, in addition to the function code, specify a start value in the Table Name and/or Creator fields. You can also use asterisk notation (*) for the start value.
Press Enter.
The Select SQL Table From A List screen is invoked displaying a list of all SQL/DS tables requested. On the list, you can mark an SQL/DS table with a function code:
| Code | Function | Description |
|---|---|---|
G |
Generate DDM from an SQL Table | This function can be used to generate a Natural DDM from an SQL/DS table, based on the definitions in the SQL/DS catalog. |
L |
List Columns of an SQL Table | This function lists all columns of a specific SQL/DS table. |
This function is used to generate a Natural DDM from an SQL/DS table, based on the definitions in the SQL/DS catalog.
The following topics are covered below:
To invoke the function
On the SQL Services Menu, enter function code
G along with the name and creator of the table for which you wish
a DDM to be generated.
If you do not know the table name/creator, you can use the function Select SQL Table from a List to choose the table you want.
If you do not want the creator of the table to be part of the DDM
name, enter an N (No) in the field DDM Name with
Creator when you invoke the Generate function. The default setting
is is Y (Yes).
Important:
Since the specification of any special characters as part
of a field or DDM name does not comply with Natural naming conventions, any
special characters allowed within SQL/DS must be avoided. SQL/DS delimited
identifiers must be avoided, too.
If you wish to generate a DDM for a table for which a DDM already
exists and you want the existing one to be replaced by the newly generated one,
enter a Y (Yes) in the Replace field when you
invoke the Generate function.
By default, Replace is set to N
(No) to prevent an existing DDM from being replaced accidentally. If
Replace is N, you cannot generate another DDM
for a table for which a DDM has already been generated.
When the Generate DDM from an SQL Table function is invoked for a table for which a DDM is to be generated for the first time, the DBID/FNR Assignment screen is displayed. If a DDM is to be generated for a table for which a DDM already exists, the existing DBID and FNR are used and the DBID/FNR Assignment screen is suppressed.
On the DBID/FNR Assignment screen, enter one of the database IDs (DBIDs) chosen at Natural installation time, and the file number (FNR) to be assigned to the SQL/DS table. Natural requires these specifications for identification purposes only.
The range of DBIDs which is reserved for SQL/DS tables is specified in
the NTDB
macro of the Natural parameter module (see the Natural Parameter
Reference documentation) in combination with the
NDBID macro
of the parameter module NDBPARM. Any DBID not
within this range is not accepted. The FNR can be any valid file number within
the database (between 1 and 255).
After a valid DBID and FNR have been assigned, a DDM is automatically generated from the specified table.
The maximum field length supported by Natural is 1 GB-1 (1073741823 bytes). If an SQL/DS table contains a column which is longer than 253 bytes, the pop-up window Long Field Generation will be displayed automatically.
A field which is longer than 253 bytes may be defined as a simple Natural field with a maximum length of 32KB-1, or as an array. In the DDM, such an array is represented as a multiple-value variable.
On the Long Field Generation screen you specify the element length of the array, which means the length of the occurrences. The number of occurrences depends on the length you specify.
If, for example, an SQL/DS column has a length of 2000 bytes, you can specify an array element length of 200 bytes, and you receive a multiple-value field with 10 occurrences, each occurrence with a length of 200 bytes.
Since redefined long fields are no multiple-value fields in the sense of Natural, the Natural C* notation cannot be applied to those fields.
When such a redefined long field is defined in a Natural view for being referenced by Natural SQL statements (that is, by host variables which represent multiple-value fields), both when defined and when referenced, the specified range of occurrences (index range) must always start with occurrence 1. If not, a Natural syntax error is returned.
Example:
UPDATE table SET varchar = #arr(*) SELECT ... INTO #arr(1:5)
Note:
When such a redefined long field is updated with the Natural
native DML UPDATE statement, care
must be taken to update each occurrence appropriately.
For each variable length column, an additional length indicator field
(format/length I2) is generated in the DDM. The length is always measured in
number of characters, not in bytes. To obtain the number of bytes of a
VARGRAPHIC or LONG VARGRAPHIC field, the length must
be multiplied by 2.
The name of a length indicator field begins with "L@" followed by the name of the corresponding field. The value of the length indicator field can be checked or updated by a Natural program.
If the length indicator field is not part of the Natural view and if
the corresponding field is a redefined long field, the length of this field
with UPDATE and STORE operations is calculated
without trailing blanks.
With Natural, it is possible to distinguish between a null value and the actual value zero (0) or blank in an SQL/DS column.
When a Natural DDM is generated from the SQL/DS catalog, an additional
NULL indicator field is generated for each column which can be
NULL; that is, which has neither NOT NULL nor
NOT NULL WITH DEFAULT specified.
The name of the NULL indicator field begins with
N@ followed by the name of the corresponding field.
When the column is read from the database, the corresponding indicator
field contains either zero (0) (if the column contains a value,
including the value 0 or blank) or -1 (if the column
contains no value).
The column NULLCOL CHAR(6) in an SQL/DS table definition
would result in the following view fields:
NULLCOL A 6.0 N@NULLCOL I 2.0
When the field NULLCOL is read from the database, the
additional field N@NULLCOL contains:
0 (zero) if NULLCOL contains a value
(including the value 0 or blank),
-1 (minus one) if NULLCOL contains no
value.
A null value can be stored in a database field by entering
-1 as input for the corresponding NULL indicator
field.
Note:
If a column is NULL, an implicit RESET
is performed on the corresponding Natural field.
This function lists all columns of a specific SQL/DS table.
To invoke the List Columns function
On the SQL Services
Menu, enter function code L along with the
name and creator of the table whose columns you wish to be listed, and press
Enter.
The List Columns screen for this table is invoked, which lists all columns of the specified table and displays the following information for each column:
| Variable | Content | |
|---|---|---|
Name |
The SQL/DS name of the column. | |
Type |
The column type. | |
Length |
The length (or precision if
type is DECIMAL) of the column as defined in the SQL/DS
catalog.
|
|
Scale |
The decimal scale of the column
(only applicable if type is DECIMAL).
|
|
Update |
Y
|
The column can be updated. |
N |
The column cannot be updated. | |
Nulls |
Y
|
The column can contain null values. |
N |
The column cannot contain null values. | |
Not |
A column which is of a scale length or type not supported
by Natural is marked with an asterisk (*). For such a column, a view field
cannot be generated. The maximum scale length supported is 7 bytes. |
|
The data types DATE, TIME,
TIMESTAMP, and FLOAT are converted into numeric or
alphanumeric fields of various lengths: DATE is converted into
A10, TIME into A8, TIMESTAMP into A26, and
FLOAT into F8.
For SQL/DS, Natural provides an SQL/DS TIMESTAMP column
as an alphanumeric field (A26) in the format
YYYY-MM-DD-HH.SS.MMMMMM.
