Version 6.3.8 for OpenVMS
 —  Release Notes for Natural Version 6.3 for OpenVMS  —

General Information

This document covers the following topics:


License Key File Handling

A path to a valid license key file is required during the installation of Natural. The license key file is an XML file which is delivered by e-mail.

Separate license key files are required for Natural Security and Natural Development Server.

For further information, see the Installation documentation.

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Migrating Applications to Version 6.3

Applications that were created with Natural for OpenVMS Version 3.1 and above can be executed with Version 6.3 with the following restrictions:

Natural for OpenVMS Version 6.3 supports Unicode. For this reason, Natural has internally been Unicode-enabled which means that many structures containing strings have Unicode format now. Therefore, existing data which is available in code page format will be converted internally to Unicode format in several situations. This is especially necessary when loading a Natural source into the source area and when displaying alphanumeric strings at runtime. However, a conversion from code page to Unicode and vice versa can only be performed successfully if the correct code page is used for conversion. If all objects and other alphanumeric data are coded in the system code page, no changes are necessary. For more information, see Migrating Existing Applications in the Unicode and Code Page Support documentation.

The internal Unicode structure will most probably need more memory. If you have defined a low value for the profile parameter USIZE, it may be necessary to increase this value.

The CP parameter, which was used with Natural RPC, has been renamed to CPRPC. A new CP parameter is now available which defines the default code page for Natural data. When you are working with Natural RPC and have previously used the CP parameter dynamically, you have to change this parameter to CPRPC. When you use parameter files from a previous version, you need not change anything; the Configuration Utility automatically migrates CP to CPRPC. See also Natural Remote Procedure Call (RPC).

The structure of the Natural library directory file FILEDIR.SAG has changed. The old format can still be read by Natural Version 6.3. However, it is automatically converted into the new format whenever a modify access is made. Older versions of Natural cannot read the new FILEDIR.SAG format. Therefore, it is no longer recommended to share the system file FUSER with previous Natural versions. When you have two installations of Natural (for example, version 5.1.1 (or below) and version 6.3), you have to use two different version-specific FUSER system files. This is because the format of the Natural library directory file FILEDIR.SAG has changed. FILEDIR.SAG is automatically converted into the new format the first time you modify an object in the FUSER. After FILEDIR.SAG has been changed to the new format, Natural Version 5.1.1, which is mentioned in the above example, is not longer able to process the FUSER. For detailed information, see Portable Natural System Files and its subsection Migrating an Old FILEDIR.SAG File in the Operations documentation.

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Natural Single Point of Development

Natural Single Point of Development (SPoD) connects Natural for OpenVMS Version 6.3 to

This infrastructure enables the developer to create and maintain Natural applications using the Natural Development Server for OpenVMS to connect to Natural Studio under Windows.

For further information (including any limitations that may apply for your installation), see the separate Natural Single Point of Development documentation and the Natural Development Server documentation.

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Changes in the Documentation

A revised and updated documentation set is available with this Natural version.

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Changes in Terminology

For consistency reasons, the documentation now distinguishes between "user exits" and "application programming interfaces". Application programming interfaces is a term used to describe SYSEXT and the USR programs. For the definitions of these terms, refer to the Glossary.

"Real batch mode" has been renamed to "batch mode".

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Unsupported Features in the Documentation

In some places, the documentation set for Natural for OpenVMS mentions features which are (currently) not supported with Natural for OpenVMS. Such features are:

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Examples

The example library SYSEXV provides examples of the new features of Natural since version 5.1.

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Last-Minute Changes

Information on last-minute changes made just before the product release can be found in the file READ_ME_FIRST.TXT that is provided on the Natural installation medium.

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