Natural for Windows stores objects in files accessible by operating system functions. Unlike Natural for Mainframes where the objects are stored in Adabas system files, Natural for Windows stores the objects in specific directories on the disk. Thus, a database such as Adabas is not required to run Natural for Windows.
This document covers the following topics:
By default, the Natural libraries are created as subdirectories below the Natural root directory of a specific Natural version. The subdirectories have the same names as the libraries.
The Natural objects are stored as files in the subdirectories. The file name for a Natural object has the following form:
file-name.NKT
| file-name | This the name of the object. See also Object Naming Conventions in Using Natural Studio. | ||||||||
| N | The first character of the extension is always "N". It stands for "Natural". | ||||||||
| K |
|
||||||||
| T | The third character of the extension stands of the type of the object. For valid values, see the list below. | ||||||||
For example, the source program TESTPROG is stored as file
TESTPROG.NSP, while the generated code for the map
TESTMAP is stored as file TESTMAP.NGM.
Note:
The file name is not always identical to the object name. Both the
current object name and the corresponding internal object name are documented
in the file FILEDIR.SAG.
The following object types and the respective letters and numbers are used for the extensions available:
| Letter or Number | Object Type |
|---|---|
| A | Parameter data area (PDA) |
| C | Copycode |
| D | DDM |
| G | Global data area (GDA) |
| H | Helproutine |
| L | Local data area (LDA) |
| M | Map |
| N | Subprogram |
| P | Program |
| S | Subroutine |
| T | Text |
| 3 | Dialog |
| 4 | Class |
| 5 | Command processor |
| 6 | Adapt view |
| 7 | Function |
| 8 | Adapter |
The Natural system files FNAT (for system programs) and
FUSER (for user-written programs) are located in different
subdirectories.
FNAT assumes the following directory structure:
FNATLIBDIR.SAG
The file LIBDIR.SAG, which is only
available for FNAT, contains information on all further installed
Software AG products using Natural. This information can be displayed by using
the system command SYSPROD.
FUSER assumes the following directory structure:
FUSER
The name of a user library must not start with "SYS".
The directory structure is generated during the installation of Natural. The directories representing the system and user libraries contain the following:
FILEDIR.SAG
This file contains internal library information used by Natural. For
further information, see The
File FILEDIR.SAG below.
SRC
This subdirectory contains the Natural source objects stored in the
library.
GP
This subdirectory contains the generated Natural programs stored in
the library.
ERR
This subdirectory contains the error messages stored in the library.
RES
This subdirectory contains the private and shared resources stored in
the library.
DDMs can be stored in local libraries. If DDMs are used by a program,
Natural first searches the current library, then the steplibs, and then the
library SYSTEM. If the DDMs are not found, the program does not
compile and displays an error message. However, if
FDDM mode has been
activated, Natural searches for the DDMs only in the system file
FDDM.
The paths to the system files FNAT, FUSER and
FDDM are defined in the Configuration Utility. System files are
version-dependent. Therefore, Natural can only access system files of the
current Natural version. It is recommended that you only have one
FNAT system file. It is possible, however, to define several
FUSER system files (for example, when you have different
development areas for different purposes).
The system file FDDM is a container in which all DDMs can
be stored.
FDDM assumes the following directory structure:
FDDM
By default, the system file FDDM is not active. If you
want to use it, you have to activate FDDM mode as described
below.
If FDDM mode is activated (both database ID and file number do not
equal 0 in the global configuration file), all DDMs are stored and read in the
system file FDDM. DDMs stored in libraries will no longer be
accessible from Natural. This is similar to the mainframe, where all DDMs are
stored in the system file FDIC.
If the FDDM system file is undefined in the global
configuration file, the DDMs are stored in the Natural libraries
FUSER and FNAT, and the
FDDM system file is displayed as an inactive environment.
To activate FDDM mode
Create an empty directory in which the DDMs are to be stored in FDDM mode. The directory can have any name which corresponds to the Natural naming conventions.
Invoke the Configuration Utility.
In the global configuration file (category System
Files), assign a database ID and file number for the system file
FDDM and define the path to the directory that you have created in
the first step.
Select the required parameter file.
Locate the parameter FDDM.
Tip:
Locate this parameter by searching for
"FDDM". See
Finding a
Parameter in the Configuration
Utility documentation for further information.
Select the required path for the parameter
FDDM from the drop-down list box.
Save your changes.
Migrate all required DDMs to the system file FDDM as
described below.
All DDMs that are to be available in FDDM mode must be contained in
the system file FDDM. Especially the example DDMs delivered with
Natural in library SYSEXDDM must be available in the system file
FDDM.
For migration of DDMs to the FDDM system file, you can
choose between different alternatives:
You can use the Object
Handler which supports the FDDM system file and offers
the possibility to migrate the DDMs into the FDDM system file. The
DDMs can be unloaded from the Natural libraries and can be stored into the
FDDM system file in the active Natural session.
Important:
To migrate a complete development environment, it is
recommended to use the Object Handler.
It is also possible to migrate the DDMs with the copy or move
function of the SYSMAIN
utility, or to copy and move (or drag-and-drop) the DDMs with
Natural Studio as described below. In this case, it is required that
the FDDM parameter is first deactivated so that your old
environment is used again.
These alternatives are described below in detail.
Note:
The INPL
utility loads DDMs either to Natural libraries if FDDM mode is not
active or to the system file FDDM if FDDM mode is active. This may
have some impact if the loaded INPL files are intended to work in both modes.
It may be necessary that the DDMs are available in the Natural libraries as
well as in the FDDM system file.
To migrate DDMs to the system file FDDM using the
Object Handler
Activate FDDM mode as described above.
Start Natural Studio using the modified parameter file (that is,
the parameter file in which path for the parameter FDDM
has been defined).
From the menu, choose to start the Object Handler.
From the menu of the Object Handler, choose .
In the resulting dialog box, select the option button Additional Options and choose the button.
In the resulting dialog box, select the Special page.
Deactivate the check box Use FDDM file for DDMs.
This activates your old environment (which contains the DDM to migrated). If you do not deactivate this check box, you cannot access the DDMs that are to be migrated.
Unload the DDMs stored in Natural libraries (either with the wizard or in advanced-user mode).
Activate the check box Use FDDM file for DDMs (see the above steps).
This activates your new environment containing the
FDDM system file.
Note:
In different libraries, DDMs can exist with identical names. To
prevent overwriting DDMs in the FDDM system file and to detect
DDMs with identical names, it is recommended to load the DDMs with the
Do not replace option. This option is located on the same
page as the check box Use FDDM file for
DDMs.
Load the DDMs into the FDDM system file (either with
the wizard or in advanced-user mode).
To migrate DDMs to the system file FDDM using the copy
or move function of Natural Studio
Start Natural with the dynamic parameter
FDDM=0,0 as shown below:
natural FDDM=0,0
This activates your old environment containing the DDM to migrated.
If you do not override the new FDDM specification in
your modified parameter file, you cannot access these DDMs.
Copy or move
all required DDMs from the Natural libraries into the library
SYSTEM in your designated FDDM file. This file is
displayed in the inactive environment of Natural Studio.
Terminate Natural.
The next time you start Natural without the above-mentioned dynamic
parameter, the FDDM system file will be used.
When you have migrated all DDMs to the system file FDDM,
you can check whether FDDM is used.
To check whether FDDM is used
Start Natural.
From the menu, choose . See also System Files in the documentation Using Natural Studio.
The SYSPROF dialog box appears.
If the FDDM file is displayed, Natural will access
only DDMs stored in this system file.
If the FDDM file is not displayed or if the expected
files are not displayed, revise the parameter file used for your session.
A Natural developer must have read, write and delete rights for all objects.
An end-user must only have read rights for the generated programs (and in some special cases also read rights for the sources).
Do not access Natural files with operating system utilities. These utilities might modify and destroy the Natural directory information.
Do not store private data files in the directories FNAT,
FUSER and FDDM, since Natural may delete or modify
them in an unexpected way.
Do not use one of the directories FNAT, FUSER
and FDDM as working directories for your Windows applications, since this can cause problems when
issuing Natural system commands.
The file name (i.e path including file name in 8.3 format) of any object accessed by Natural must not exceed 255 bytes.
The file FILEDIR.SAG supports up to 60000 objects. It contains internal library information used by Natural including the programming mode of an object (structured or reporting) and internally converted object names. These internal object names are automatically created when storing Natural objects to disk with:
names longer than 8 characters (which can be the case with DDMs);
names containing any special character supported by Natural but not by the operating system.
Internal object names are unique and consist of an abbreviation of the current object name and an arbitrary number. Both the current object name and the corresponding internal object name are documented in FILEDIR.SAG.
Even if an object is located in the correct directory, it can only be used by Natural after this library information is included in FILEDIR.SAG. For objects created within Natural, the library information is included automatically. Information on how to import other objects can be found in the section Importing Objects in the documentation Using Natural Studio.
The utility FTOUCH can be used to update
FILEDIR.SAG without entering Natural.
Starting with Natural Version 6.2, the directory file
FILEDIR.SAG in a Natural library as well as the Natural
error message files are created in a portable platform-independent format. This
offers, for example, the possibility of exchanging FUSER libraries
between different Windows, UNIX and OpenVMS platforms simply by copying the
libraries via operating system commands.
The FNAT system file belongs to a Natural installation and
is both version-specific and platform-specific. Therefore, it is not
recommended to share FNAT system files among different platforms.
Especially the FNAT system file on a Windows platform contains a
completely different set of utilities as the FNAT system file on
some UNIX or OpenVMS platforms.
Although it is now possible to share an FUSER system file
among different platforms, this possibility should by handled with care because
Natural's locking mechanism does not cross machine boundaries and hence it
would be possible for two Natural sessions on different platforms to modify the
same object at the same time with unpredictable results.
All libraries that are newly created as of Natural Version 6.2 have a
new FILEDIR.SAG structure. Especially the
FNAT system file delivered and installed as of Natural Version 6.2
has only libraries with the new structure.
The following topics are covered below:
When the application to be ported uses the system variable
*LANGUAGE,
you have to take notice of the following information.
Almost all Natural objects are stored in the system file with a name which contains only upper-case characters. An exception are the language-dependent objects (that is: the objects which have been created for a specific language). Language-dependent objects may contain lower-case characters in their names. Since Windows is a case-preserving operating system (whereas UNIX is a case-sensitive operating system), it may happen that names which have been created under UNIX cause a conflict in Windows, or that an application which has been developed under UNIX yields unexpected results in Windows.
Note:
OpenVMS behaves similar to Windows. It does not distinguish between
upper-case and lower-case characters. However, file names are always created
with upper-case characters.
The command SAVE PGM& creates an object
where the object name contains the language identifier. The resulting object
name depends on the setting of *LANGUAGE:
Setting of
*LANGUAGE
|
An object with the following name is created |
|---|---|
| 33 | PGMX (with an upper-case
X)
|
| 59 | PGMx (with a lower-case x)
|
The separate objects which have been created under UNIX
(PGMX.NGP and PGMx.NGP) get entries
in the file FILEDIR.SAG with the names PGMX
and PGMx. These two objects will be treated differently, depending
on the environment in which Natural is being executed:
When you execute PGMX with Natural for UNIX, the file
PGMX.NGP is loaded into the buffer pool and executed.
When you execute PGMX with Natural for Windows, either
the file PGMX.NGP or PGMx.NGP is
loaded into the buffer pool and executed. This is because Windows does not
distinguish between these two objects and treats them as one and the same
object. Thus it may be possible that applications which share an
FUSER, or a copy of such an FUSER, behave in a
different manner.
Starting with version 6.2, Natural can read old platform-specific FILEDIR.SAG files on the platform for which they were formerly generated, but it cannot modify old FILEDIR.SAG files. When a library with an old FILEDIR.SAG file is accessed for modification, FILEDIR.SAG is converted into the new format before any further modification takes place.
Important:
It is recommended that you create a backup copy of the old
FUSER system file before executing any of the steps (which lead to
a conversion of FILEDIR.SAG) listed below.
There are a number of possibilities that lead to a conversion of an old FILEDIR.SAG file into the new format:
As of version 6.2, Natural automatically converts an old
FILEDIR.SAG format when a modify access is made. This is
completely transparent for the user; it has not to be forced in any way. A
modify access is, for example, a SAVE of a new
source, a CATALOG of a
source or a CATALL. A
copy operation modifies the destination library and hence the
FILEDIR.SAG file of the destination library. A move
operation additionally modifies the source library because the object has to be
deleted there. In any case, the original FILEDIR.SAG file
is saved as FILEDIR.BCK in the library directory.
All libraries that are to be converted can be unloaded with the
Object Handler
(SYSOBJH). When the resulting work file is reloaded into a new
FUSER system file, all libraries are generated with the new
FILEDIR.SAG structure.
The utility FTOUCH provides the option
convert which converts the FILEDIR.SAG file
of the specified library into the new structure. The original
FILEDIR.SAG file remains in the library directory as
FILEDIR.BCK. Refer to the description of the
FTOUCH utility for
the syntax and a usage example.
The copy function of the utility SYSMAIN or the drag-and-drop (copy and paste)
functionality of Natural Studio can be used to copy a complete set of
libraries from an old format FUSER system file into a new
FUSER system file. In the destination FUSER, the
FILEDIR.SAG files are automatically generated with the new
structure.
The Natural versions prior to Natural Version 6.2 cannot access
libraries with a new portable FILEDIR.SAG file. Therefore,
system files cannot be shared between Natural Version 6.2 or above and an older
version of Natural. This is only possible when all libraries are still in the
old FILEDIR.SAG format and when no modify access has ever
been made. In a production environment, it is possible, for example, to make
use of an FUSER from Natural Version 6.1 with Natural Version 6.2
when no modification on the libraries is made. However, it is recommended not
share system files between Natural Version 6.2 or above and an older version
When you use NFS (Network File System) to store Natural libraries, you can run into problems when the directories in which the Natural libraries are stored are mounted via NFS from a file server in your network.
The reason for this is the need to lock the FILEDIR.SAG file stored in each library during update operations of Natural objects.
If your NFS locking is incompatible or not properly set up between the involved platforms, Natural can hang in an uninterruptible state while waiting for NFS locking requests to be processed. These requests are generally logged on the consoles of the involved systems or in some other system-dependent log file.
The work-around to solve this problem is to store Natural libraries only on local disks if problems with a hanging and uninterruptible nucleus occur.
