This document covers the following topics:
When the Adabas client (ACL) is installed, the adabas.o file is now taken from the Adabas client directory when linking the Natural nucleus.
For the UNLOAD command, the
Object Handler provides a new
type of report: In addition to reporting from the source environment where the
object has been unloaded, which is the default case, the Object Handler can now
also report from the target environment where the object is to be loaded, for
example, a change within a parameter such as the library name. You can select a
reporting type using the option
REPORT-FORMAT.
The Object Handler provides two new return codes for the load function:
| Return Code | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 9995 | Function completed successfully, but object(s) could not be replaced. |
| 1115 | Function completed successfully, but Natural Security errors have occurred and object(s) could not be replaced. |
When objects are to be replaced using the load function,
return code 9995 is issued in one of the following situations:
a Natural source to be loaded is locked,
a replacement has been rejected by Natural Security,
a subroutine, resource, class name or class GUID exists,
a DDM to be loaded is locked,
an extended error message to be loaded has no corresponding short error message.
Note:
In batch mode, the Natural session terminates with condition code
50 unless Object Handler user exit OBJHEX01 is activated.
In case of additional Natural Security errors, return code
1115 is issued instead.
The term Stub Generation has been changed to the term Interface Object Generation. See Generating Interface Objects in SYSRPC Utility in the Tools and Utilities documentation.
See also Documentation in the Release Notes for Version 6.3.11.
The Remote Directory Maintenance function has been removed from the SYSRPC utility. The directory for a remote server can now be created and maintained with the Service Directory Maintenance function of the SYSRPC utility. For detailed information, see the section Service Directory Maintenance in SYSRPC Utility in the Tools and Utilities documentation.
The Natural Web I/O Interface client is now delivered in the Version 1.3.10. This version now also supports Safari 5.1 on Mac OS X, Internet Explorer 9, and Firefox 9 and 10.
Note:
Mozilla Firefox 10 (Extended Support Release) is supported. In future versions, only the Extended Support Releases of Mozilla
Firefox will be explicitly supported.
Apache Tomcat 6 is now supported. See Installing the Natural Web I/O Interface Client on Apache Tomcat in the Natural Web I/O Interface documentation.
As of Version 1.3.11 of the Natural Web I/O Interface client, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) will no longer be supported (this has already been announced previously). If you are currently using the Natural Web I/O Interface client on IIS, you will have to move to another supported server platform. This may be JBoss Application Server, Oracle GlassFish Server or Apache Tomcat. The most simple solution is to migrate the Natural Web I/O Interface client from IIS to Apache Tomcat. For detailed information, see Migrating the Natural Web I/O Interface Client from IIS to Apache Tomcat in the Natural Web I/O Interface documentation.
Natural Remote Procedure Call (RPC) is available as a separate subcomponent of Natural. It has its own version number. This measure takes into account that Natural RPC is a cross-platform component and makes it possible to provide new Natural RPC versions independent of new Natural versions for the various platforms supported.
With Natural Version 6.3.12, an enhanced Natural Remote Procedure Call Version 6.3.4.5 is delivered that replaces the existing Natural RPC Version 6.3.4.4.
The following changes and enhancements are available.
The Natural RPC has been extended to support Natural RPC clients using Natural redefinitions (REDEFINE statement) and other features introduced with the IDL Extractor for Natural. The IDL Extractor for Natural has been extended
with a graphical user interface to complete the extraction process with user decisions. This allows modeling of the IDL for
a Natural client which differs from the RPC server interface and enables selection of the appropriate (Natural to IDL) mapping
where multiple possibilities exist and where automatic decision taking can lead to incorrect or suboptimal IDL.
For the IDL extraction and wrapping of Natural RPC clients with the EntireX workbench, the use of the latest supported EntireX workbench and the use of latest supported Natural on the RPC server side is recommended to reach best results.
The following enhancements are provided with Natural Security Version 6.3.12:
Access control to the Administrator Services subsystem of Natural Security has been revised. With previous versions, it was
only possible to allow or disallow access to Administrator Services as a whole. As of this version, you can allow/disallow
individual functions of Administrator Services. For this purpose, the command processor NSCCMD01 has been enhanced. For details, see the section Access to Administrator Services in the Natural Security documentation.
The options Del and Par in SYSOBJH profiles can now be allowed for a user, even if the respective function is disallowed for all object types. Both options can only be set in user-specific profiles; but their settings in the user-specific profiles also apply to the library-specific and user-library-specific profiles.
In some cases, the checking of logon data for an access to a library via a Natural RPC service request includes a check if the Natural RPC user ID is identical to the EntireX user ID. If your external security system uses a so-called "domain separator" to separate the domain name from the user ID, this check may be applied to the wrong data, thus leading to incorrect results. To avoid this, a new field is provided in RPC server profiles in which you specify the domain character. This ensures a correct user ID evaluation. For details, see the Domain Separator description in the section Components of an RPC Server Profile of the Natural Security documentation.
Deferred countersigning allows you to perform a maintenance function, and obtain the required countersignature later. This is possible for the functions Add, Modify, Rename and Delete of user profiles and library profiles, and if only one countersignature is required.
When you attempt to maintain a security profile and the Countersignatures screen is invoked, but none of the other owners of the security profile is available to supply his/her password, you may defer the countersigning. This means that you can proceed with your intended maintenance function and obtain the other owner's countersignature afterwards. For details on how this works, see the section Deferred Countersigning in the Natural Security documentation.
With the current version of Natural Security, deferred countersigning is available for the functions mentioned above. With subsequent versions, it is planned to make it available for further functions.
New user exits NSCXXEX3 (where
XX is the object type) are provided.
They are invoked when a maintenance function has been invoked and after data
have been entered - but before these data are validated and processed by
Natural Security. For details, see the section
Other User Exits in the
Natural Security documentation.
The application programming interface (API)
NSCADM has been enhanced: It allows you
to process logon records with time-stamp-related ETIDs. For details, see the
example program PGMADM05 and text member TXTADM05 in
the library SYSSEC.
The section Portable Natural System Files in the Operations documentation has been updated so that it now contains the information below. See also Migrating Non-Portable Message Files to 64-Bit Platforms in the Operations documentation.
Message files which have been created with a Natural version older than 6.2 are not automatically converted to the portable format. In addition, they are not converted to the portable format by simply changing and saving them with a newer version of Natural. This does not cause difficulties on 32-bit platforms. On 64-bit platforms, however, message files in the old, non-portable format which have not been created on a 64-bit platform are not readable.
If you want to migrate your applications from a 32-bit platform to a 64-bit platform, you must first convert your old message files to the portable format. You do this by using the export and import functions of the SYSERR utility. First, you export the message file to a text file, and then you generate a new message file by importing the text file into Natural. This creates a portable message file which is readable on Windows, UNIX and OpenVMS. For detailed information on the export and import functions, see Generating Message and Text Files in the Tools and Utilities documentation.
The new section APIs for Providing an RPC Context from the Natural Client Side in the Natural Remote Procedure Call (RPC) documentation provides an overview of the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) available to set up an RPC environment.
The section also provides details on RPC-CNTX, an API used to test programs generated by the Natural Wrapper of EntireX.
PF4 is no longer available in the standard view of the Server Command Execution. Since Natural Version 6.3.9, you can use PF11 to toggle between the standard and the extended views of Server Command Execution. See also Server Command Execution in SYSRPC Utility in the Tools and Utilities documentation.
