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

Release Information for Natural Version 6.3.3

This document covers the following topics:


Supported Operating Systems

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.

Top of page

Migration from Windows XP to Windows Vista

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.

Top of page

New Features

Certificates

As of Natural Version 6.3.3, deliverables are signed. This does not affect your work with Natural.

Adabas 6 (Open Systems) and Adabas 8 (Mainframe) Support

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.

Read-Only Buffer Pool

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 for Windows

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).

Natural Web I/O Interface Service

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.

Natural for Ajax

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

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.

Parameters

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.

Application Programming Interfaces

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.

Top of page

Changes and Enhancements

New Corporate Layout

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.

Localization for Japan

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.

Natural Studio

Workspace Options

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.

Editors

Program Editor

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.

Map Editor

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.

Data Area Editor

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.

DDM Editor

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.

Configuration Utility

Database Management System Assignments

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.

Buffer Pool Assignments

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.

Natural Web I/O Interface

The new profile parameter WEBIO can be specified. See Web I/O Interface in the Configuration Utility documentation.

Remote Procedure Call

The new profile parameter SRVWAIT can be specified. See RPC (Server) in the Configuration Utility documentation.

Other Utilities

Data Browser

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.

Object Handler

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.

Parameters

ACIVERS

The 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.

STEPLIB

The 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.

System Commands

CATALL

The 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.

Local Versioning

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.

Natural Web I/O Interface Client

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.

Application Programming Interfaces

The application programming interface USR6203N (available with the utility SYSEXT) has been enhanced. It can now be used to add and delete resources.

Error Messages Corresponding to Adabas Response Codes

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.

Top of page

Known Incompatibilities

This section provides additional information that you should be aware of after having installed Natural.

SQL Databases

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).

Usage of Database Field Short Names

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.

Top of page

Natural Remote Procedure Call (RPC)

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:

Wait Time of RPC Server

The new parameter SRVWAIT is used to specify the number of seconds the server is to wait for an RPC client request.

ACIVERS Profile Parameter Enhanced

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).

Support of Integrated Authentication Framework (IAF) on Server Side

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.

Top of page

Natural Security

The following enhancements are provided with Natural Security Version 6.3.3.

Administrator Services

The following enhancements are provided in Administrator Services:

Set *APPLIC-NAME Always to Library Name

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.

Logon/Countersign Errors

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:

Utility Profiles

Search Order for Applicable Profile

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.

SYSOBJH - Object Handler

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.

Natural RPC Server Profiles

Single-Library RPC Servers

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:

See the section Validation of an RPC Service Request in the Natural Security documentation for details.

Support of Integrated Authentication Framework

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.

Top of page