This document covers the following topics:
As of Natural Version 6.3.3, Windows Vista is also supported, in addition to the operating systems listed in the section Supported Operating Systems of the release information for Natural Version 6.3.1.
Important:
Adabas for Windows Vista and Entire Net-Work for Windows Vista
will only be available at the beginning of 2008. Therefore, when you install
Natural Version 6.3.3 on Windows Vista, it is currently not possible to install
Natural Security or Predict.
If you want to migrate from Windows XP to Windows Vista on the existing hardware, you must re-install Natural Version 6.3.3 on Windows Vista. This is due to the changed directory structure as of Natural 6.3.3. An upgrade installation is not offered in this case.
If you remain on Windows XP, you can use the upgrade installation.
As of Natural Version 6.3.3, deliverables are signed. This does not affect your work with Natural.
With Natural Version 6.3.3, a new database driver (ADA2) is delivered for testing purposes. This database driver supports large objects and LA fields of Adabas 6 (Open Systems) and Adabas 8 (mainframe). This database driver is not yet intended for a production environment since the complete Adabas functionality is not yet supported.
Currently, large objects in MU and PE fields are not supported.
By default, the "old" database driver ADA is used. This ensures that your Natural applications run as usual; there is no difference to previous Natural versions. Only when you define the database type ADA2 in the Configuration Utility, the new database driver will be used.
It is now possible to define a special buffer pool that only allows read access. For a read-only buffer pool, it is also possible to define an alternate buffer pool. See Read-Only Buffer Pool in the Operations documentation.
Natural Development Server (NDV) can now be installed with Natural for Windows if the corresponding option is set during installation. It is installed as a Windows service and enables remote development functionality for Natural for Windows. This component requires a separate license key file. For further information, see the Natural Development Server for Windows documentation which is available separately (it is not part of this Natural for Windows documentation).
The Natural Web I/O Interface service can now be installed with Natural for Windows if the corresponding option is set during installation. See Installing and Configuring the Natural Web I/O Interface Server in the Natural Web I/O Interface documentation.
The new Natural Development Server for Windows and the new Natural Web I/O Interface service can also be used with Natural for Ajax. See the Natural for Ajax documentation.
Natural for Ajax Tools, which is an optional plug-in for Natural Studio, allows you to use Natural for Ajax functionality directly from within Natural Studio. Using Natural for Ajax Tools, you can design web pages for rich internet applications, import adapters for these pages into a Natural library, generate programs that display these pages and test these programs in an internal browser. For detailed information, see Natural for Ajax Tools in the Natural Studio Extensions documentation.
The following new Natural profile parameters are provided in this version:
| Profile Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
BPID2 |
Specifies the name (ID) of an additional read/write buffer pool to which Natural can attach/detach during execution. |
SRVWAIT |
Specifies the number of seconds the server is to wait for an RPC client request. |
WEBIO |
Defines whether the Natural input and output (I/O) remains unchanged (i.e. terminal emulation in case of SPoD) or whether the Natural Web I/O Interface is used. |
The utility SYSEXT provides the following new
application programming interfaces (APIs):
| API | Description |
|---|---|
USR4209N |
Return short name of subroutine. |
USR4210N |
Base64 conversion of alphanumeric and binary bytes. |
In this version, the first changes have been applied to the product which reflect Software AG's new corporate layout. More changes will follow in subsequent versions.
Natural Studio and most of the Natural error messages have been
localized for Japan. The system variable
*LANGUAGE has to be
defined as "Japanese (Kanji)" (language code 59) for
activating the Japanese Natural error messages.
A performance-optimized refresh mode, which improves the performance when working in a remote development environment or with huge libraries, is now available. See Workspace Options in Using Natural Studio.
The find and replace functions have been enhanced: you can now find and replace a text string in either single or multiple program sources. In addition, you can continue editing a source without explicitly closing the Find or the Replace dialog box first. See Finding Text and Replacing Text in the Program Editor part of the Editors documentation.
The new text type "Numerical values" is now
available in the Color Definition dialog box for the
syntax (which is part of the program editor options). By default, numerical
values are shown with the color green. This new text type also defines the
color for the constants TRUE and FALSE. See
Defining Different Colors for the
Syntax in Using Natural
Studio.
It is now possible to import the occurrences of a multiple field or a periodic group from a view definition in a local or global data area. See Importing Fields in the Map Editor section of the Editors documentation.
It is now possible to import the occurrences of a multiple field or a periodic group from a view definition in a local or global data area. See Importing Fields in the Data Area Editor section of the Editors documentation.
The Field Initialization dialog box has been improved especially for array definitions. See Defining Initial Values in the Data Area Editor section of the Editors documentation.
When modifying, inserting or deleting a field of the type redefinition, group, periodic group or structure, the levels of all subsequent fields are now automatically adjusted. See Modifying Fields, Inserting Fields and Deleting Fields in the Data Area Editor section of the Editors documentation.
When modifying the format of a field, the current length specification is either kept (if possible) or the default length is automatically assigned. See Modifying Fields in the Data Area Editor section of the Editors documentation.
When modifying, inserting or deleting a field of the type group or periodic group, the levels of all subsequent fields are now automatically adjusted. See Inserting and Modifying Fields and Deleting Fields in the DDM Editor section of the Editors documentation.
When modifying the format of a field, the current length specification is either kept (if possible) or the default length is automatically assigned. See Inserting and Modifying Fields in the DDM Editor section of the Editors documentation.
It is now possible to specify the database type ADA2. This database type supports alphanumeric objects (Adabas LA option) and large object database fields (LOBs), which are dynamically defined inside a view, and view sizes greater than 64KB. It can be used for Adabas as of version 6 on Open Systems and Adabas as of version 8 on mainframes. See DBMS Assignments in the Configuration Utility documentation.
It is now possible to define a read-only buffer pool and an alternate buffer pool for the read-only buffer pool. See Buffer Pool Assignments in the Configuration Utility documentation.
The new profile parameter
WEBIO can be specified. See
Web I/O Interface in the
Configuration Utility documentation.
The new profile parameter
SRVWAIT can be specified. See
RPC (Server) in the
Configuration Utility documentation.
For a DDM field that has been defined as an array, you can now specify a range of occurrences to be displayed in the DDM report. In previous Natural versions, only a single occurrence could be specified. See Field Properties in the Data Browser section of the Tools and Utilities documentation.
The Natural Studio filter now also applies to the DDM selection list. See Natural Studio Filter in the Data Browser section of the Tools and Utilities documentation.
The Object Handler now supports resources in a remote mainframe
environment. For this object type, code 9 can now be specified with the
NATTYPE keyword.
ACIVERSThe EntireX ACI Version 9 is now supported by
ACIVERS. Therefore, the
maximum value has been increased from 8 to 9. See
also the corresponding information in the section
Natural Remote Procedure Call
(RPC) below.
STEPLIBThe profile parameter LSTEP has been renamed
to STEPLIB. The information which
was previously provided for the STEPLIB parameter is now
available under
Additional Steplib Assignments in
the Configuration Utility documentation.
CATALLThe system command
CATALL can now also be
used to check, save or stow objects. By default, the source-code lines of
sources that were saved or stowed are now automatically renumbered.
When Natural Security is active, it is now checked whether the selected action (catalog, check, save or stow) is allowed under Natural Security. When it is not allowed, an occur occurs.
In the Local Versioning
options, you can now define that data areas are to be
converted to DEFINE DATA format before they are copied to the
workspace and committed to a repository.
Projects can now be enabled and disabled in the Maintain Projects window.
In the project definition, you can now define a Natural library and map it to another library in your source control system if you want to change the library for committing and checking out of objects.
For detailed information, see Local Versioning in the Natural Studio Extensions documentation.
The Natural Web I/O Interface client can now be installed on JBoss Application Server 4.0.5. See Installing the Natural Web I/O Interface Client on JBoss Application Server in the Natural Web I/O Interface documentation.
It is now possible to define the screen resolution
for the output window in the configuration file for the session (attributes
rows and columns
of the screen element). In
this file, it is also possible now to define the platform on which user ID and
password are to be authenticated (attribute type
of the session element) and whether the input field
for the user ID is in upper-case mode (attribute
ucase of the user
element). Furthermore, it is now possible to specify the version of the Natural
Web I/O Interface protocol that is to be used (attribute
protocol of the
session element); the latest Natural versions
automatically use the appropriate protocol version. For older Natural versions,
it is required to define the appropriate protocol version in the configuration
file. See Overview of Configuration File
Elements in the Natural Web I/O
Interface documentation.
The application programming interface USR6203N (available
with the utility SYSEXT) has been enhanced. It can now be
used to add and delete resources.
The Natural error messages that correspond to Adabas response codes have been completely revised with Natural Version 6.3.3.
Natural displays subcodes or other information from Additions fields if they are provided by Adabas.
This section provides additional information that you should be aware of after having installed Natural.
When working in structured mode, the format/length of a variable must now be the same for both DDMs and views. With previous versions, it was possible, for example, to define a variable as dynamic in the DDM and with a fixed length in the view. This is no longer possible. When a variable is defined as dynamic in the DDM, it must now also be defined as dynamic in the view.
If you want to retain the previous behavior, you can add a corresponding entry with a fixed length to the DDM (however, this is not recommended).
In previous versions, a database field short name was not rejected
during compilation if the parameter DBSHORT=ON and the
DEFINE DATA LOCAL statement were specified. This problem was
corrected with Natural Version 6.3.3 PL 1. The syntax error NAT0981 is now
returned. For further information, see the enhanced description of the
DBSHORT parameter.
With Natural Version 6.3.3 an enhanced Natural Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Version 6.3.1 is delivered that replaces the existing Natural RPC Version 6.2.3.
As of Natural RPC Version 6.3.1, the following enhancements are available:
The new parameter SRVWAIT is used to specify the
number of seconds the server is to wait for an RPC client request.
The EntireX ACI Version 9 is now supported by
ACIVERS. This allows you to
enable the EntireX Broker stub to send additional environmental information
about client and server to the EntireX Broker, or to use the Integrated
Authentication Framework (IAF).
If Natural Security is installed on the Natural RPC server side and if
the EntireX Broker uses IAF for authentication, the Natural RPC server can
optionally be configured to use an IAF token for client authentification
instead of the Natural Security logon data. The IAF token is provided by the
EntireX Broker and contains the user ID that the client has used to log on to
the EntireX Broker. As a consequence, after a successful authentication the
Natural user ID *USER is always identical to the
client user ID used by the EntireX Broker. It is no longer possible to use a
user ID within Natural that is different from the client user ID used by the
Entirex Broker.
To use this feature, the Natural RPC server and IAF must be configured in Natural Security. See the section Protecting Natural RPC Servers and Services in the Natural Security documentation for details.
No changes are required on the client side.
The following enhancements are provided with Natural Security Version 6.3.3.
The following enhancements are provided in Administrator Services:
With previous versions, the Natural system variable
*APPLIC-NAME either contained the name of the
library to which the user was logged on, or, if the user was logged on via a
special link, the special-link name.
With this version, a new general option
Set
*APPLIC-NAME always to library name is available. It can be set so
that *APPLIC-NAME always contains the library
name, regardless of whether the user is logged on via a special link or
not.
The functions for the handling of logon/countersign error records have been enhanced. They allow you to selectively handle logon errors which occurred in conjunction with Natural RPC service requests and Natural Web I/O service requests. To do so, you specify the following in the Start Value field on the Logon/Countersign Errors Menu:
RPCSRVRQ - for logon errors in conjunction with Natural RPC service requests.
NWOSRVRQ - for logon errors in conjunction with Natural Web I/O service requests.
When a user invokes a utility function and Natural Security searches
for appropriate utility profile to be applied, the search sequence, by default,
includes user-library-specific and user-specific utility profiles of all groups
in which the user is contained. With the new session option
*GROUP
Only, which can be set in a utility's default profile, you can
restrict the search to utility profiles of the current group (as determined by
the current value of the Natural system variable
*GROUP) and exclude the utility profiles of other
groups from the search sequence. See the section
Which Utility Profile Applies? in
the Natural Security documentation for details.
A new Additional Option named
Utilities option is available in the default utility
profile of the Object Handler (SYSOBJH utility). With it, you can
make the
Utilities option in library profiles apply to
SYSOBJH.
For Natural RPC servers which provide services performed by subprograms contained in a single library, a new option Logon Mode is available. It can be specified in the security profiles of Natural RPC servers to improve performance.
Setting the option to "S" (Static Mode) has the following effects:
The library on the server is set at the start of the server session, and will remain unchanged until the end of the server session.
The server will process only service requests for this library. Service requests for any other library will be rejected.
If the library is unprotected (People-protected = N), the user's authorization to access the library is not checked. If the library is protected (People-protected=Y), the user's authorization to access the library is checked.
After a successful check, the user's conditions of use of the library are determined by the library profile. Even if a special link exists between the user and the library, any settings in the special link profile will be ignored.
See the section Validation of an RPC Service Request in the Natural Security documentation for details.
As of this version, Natural Security supports Natural RPC servers which use an Integrated Authentication Framework (IAF) server for token validation. See also Support of Integrated Authentication Framework (IAF) on Server Side in the RPC section of these Release Notes.
See the section IAF Support in the Natural Security documentation for details.