Anmerkung:
The
SYSEXV utility gives you
access to examples of new features available in the current and in some earlier
versions of Natural. SYSEXV is described in the Utilities
documentation.
This is an overview of the customer feature requests submitted in the Brainstorm portal of Software AG's Empower web site at https://empower.softwareag.com/ and the enhancement proposals that have been implemented in base Natural:
Request Number | Feature Request |
---|---|
00459 | Enhance the Service Directory Maintenance function of the SYSRPC utility to improve migration with NATCLTGS. |
00905, 1036158 | Provide
API that supports ACBX: see the new API USR8219N in
Application Programming
Interfaces.
|
00104 | Enhance
the description of the DS profiler parameter to estimate
the initial buffer size required to store all entries in the fast locate table:
see the updated description of the FLTUSER subparameter in
Table of
Buffer Sizes in the Parameter
Reference documentation.
|
01273 | Route
zIIP statistics generated with the ZIIP profile
parameter to a particular print file: see the new PNR option of
the ZIIP profile parameter in
Changed/Enhanced
Profile Parameters.
|
01277 | Provide
option to check whether Natural Security is installed in the current Natural
environment: see the new API USR8215N in
Application Programming
Interfaces.
|
01317 | Provide name of Predict file in data area: see the section Data Area Editor. |
02673 | Increase
limit of 65535 records in the TEST DBLOG output (see
DBLOG Trace
Screen in the Utilities
documentation).
|
02850 | Enhance
API USR8205N to check subroutines: see
Application Programming
Interfaces.
|
See also Customer Feature Requests for Natural Add-On Products.
The new Natural Roll Server module NATRSM83
takes
over the task of compressing and decompressing the Natural thread during
roll-out and roll-in operations. This reduces CPU usage by the Natural nucleus,
and thus CPU consumption of the hosting TP system (CICS or IMS TM) or the
Natural server (Natural RPC server or Natural Development Server). The
compression routines of the Natural Roll Server run on an IBM System z
Integrated Information Processor (zIIP), if available, improving overall
performance of Natural.
The module NATRSM83
is an optional replacement for
the module NATRSM82
which performs as before. For the changes in
installation, see
Create
and Start the Natural Roll Server in Installing
Natural on z/OS in the Installation for z/OS
documentation.
You can exploit the new functionality after activating the
Natural selectable units module with the profile parameter setting
SELUNIT=(U1=ON)
(see the Parameter Reference documentation). See also
Selectable Units Available for
New Roll Server Feature on z/OS.
The Natural buffer pool is now allocated either in a system key
(only possible for global buffer pools on z/OS) or in the storage key 9.
Therefore, it is no longer required to start Natural with profile parameter
SKEY=ON
(see the Parameter Reference
documentation) set for performance reasons if the storage threads used by
Natural are allocated in a storage key other than the storage key used by
Com-plete or the storage key 9.
Anmerkungen:
The ICU (International Components for Unicode) version has been upgraded to ICU Version 54.1 which supports Unicode Version 7.0.
ICU Version 54.1 enhancements include increased thread safeness and improved efficiency for the collation service through a new universal cache.
For a summary of all changes in ICU Version 54.1 and Unicode Version 7.0, see the Download ICU 54 website at http://site.icu-project.org/download/54 and the Unicode 7.0.0 website at http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode7.0.0/, respectively.
See also New ICU Data Modules.
ICS (International Components for Unicode for Software AG) Version supports dynamic loading of single ICU data items during runtime.
Since some code pages have been added or removed in ICU Version 54.1, make sure to use a data set with ICU data item modules delivered with ICS Version 2.1.1. Using a data set with data item modules of an older ICS version can lead to unpredictable results during code page conversion.
For more information, see ICU Data Items in the Unicode and Code Page Support documentation.
- REQUEST DOCUMENT
The
HEADER/VALUE
option of theRETURN
clause now also supports arrays in addition to scalar values. Arrays are required if more than one occurrence of the same header is returned by the HTTP server.For more information, see the
header-value-in
operand of thereturn-clause
described in the Statements documentation.
Anmerkung:
The sections indicated for more information are contained in
the System
Commands documentation, unless otherwise
noted.
Under Natural for DB2 Version 8.4.1, the
COMPOPT
system command provides the new
DB2PKYU
compiler option: see New Compiler Option for Update of DB2
Primary Keys.
- Architecture Level Now Shown for Cataloged Objects
The
LIST
system command now displays the IBM architecture level used when cataloging Natural sources with theARCH
option of Natural Optimizer Compiler (see the Natural Optimizer Compiler documentation). Prerequisite is Natural Optimizer Compiler Version 8.3.3 or above.The architecture level is displayed in the object directory and in a new column of the object list. You can also use the new
ARCHLEVEL
option of theLIST
range-clause to list objects for a specific level or a range of levels.- Optimized Code Now also Shown in Object List
The size of code generated with the Natural Optimizer Compiler (if used) is now also displayed in a column of the object list.
- CODE-PAGE Options no longer Supported
The
DISPLAY-CODE-PAGE-IN-LIST
parameter of theLIST
profile is no longer supported. As a result, this parameter will be removed from yourLIST
profile the next time you execute theUPDATE
function of theLIST
profile maintenance (invoked with theLIST
subcommandLISTPROF
).The
LIST
subcommandsCODE-PAGE ON|OFF
andCP ON|OFF
are no longer supported. Code-page information is always shown in the object directory or object list.
Anmerkung:
The sections indicated for more information are contained in
the Editors
documentation, unless otherwise noted.
The data area editor has been enhanced. When a Predict file is included into a data area, the name of that file is written into a field of the Miscellaneous column of the data area editor. This allows identifying the origin of the imported fields.
Anmerkung:
The sections indicated for more information are contained in
the Utilities
documentation, unless otherwise noted.
The DBLOG utility has been enhanced to report more than 65535
records in the output produced by TEST DBLOG
system command: see
DBLOG Trace
Screen.
- Additional Statistics in Batch
In batch mode, the Profiler utility now provides additional statistics on a running Natural batch application: the code page used by the application, the libraries and programs opened/executed first during the session, and the highest level of an object invoked during program execution.
For detailed information, see Profiler Statistics in the section Natural Profiler.
- Enhanced Event Data Processing in Batch
The Profiler utility can now also be used to read the event data from the Profiler resource files and process it further.
The Profiler utility provides new functions for data consolidation (aggregation), event tracing and program tracing. It also provides a program summary and displays the Profiler properties and statistics. The resulting data can be exported in text or CSV (comma-separated values) format, or in the format expected by the Natural Profiler MashApp (see the following section).
For detailed information, see Using the Profiler Utility in Batch Mode in the section Natural Profiler.
- Presentation of Profiler Data on an Interactive Dashboard
The new Natural Profiler MashApp is used to evaluate Profiler event data with MashZone.
MashZone is a browser-based application from Software AG which is used to visualize data on a graphical, interactive dashboard.
For detailed information, see Natural Profiler MashApp in the section Natural Profiler.
A Natural RPC server that waits for the next client request is
now recorded as a separate event of the new type RW
(wait for RPC
client request). Before, it was recorded as an event of the type
RO
(outbound RPC message).
The SYSRPC utility is a subcomponent of Natural RPC: see SYSRPC Utility in the section Natural RPC.
Anmerkung:
The sections indicated for more information are contained in
the Parameter
Reference documentation, unless otherwise
noted.
Parameter |
Corresponding |
Task | Change/Enhancement |
---|---|---|---|
CMPO |
NTCMPO |
DB2PKYU – Place Primary Key Fields into the Natural DML UPDATE
Statement
The new |
|
RPC |
NTRPC |
Remote-Procedure-Call Settings | Translate Subprogram Name into Upper Case
The default setting of the
This corresponds to the default upper case translation Natural performs on UNIX and Windows platforms. |
DFS - Specify
RPC Client's Default Server Address
The maximum possible value for a node name specified
with the |
|||
SRVNODE - Name
of Node
The maximum possible value for a node name specified
with the |
|||
ZIIP |
NTZIIP |
zIIP Processing (z/OS Only) | Route zIIP Processing Information to Print File
The new |
Issue Natural zIIP Support Message
The new |
The following Natural application programming interfaces (APIs)
are new in the SYSEXT
system library or have changed:
API | Task | Enhancement |
---|---|---|
USR1009N |
Convert store clock to microseconds. | Performance of these APIs has been improved: see Improved Performance of Time Conversion APIs. |
USR1023N |
Convert date and time format. | |
USR2036N |
Convert binary variable (B8) to
numeric variable (P20).
Can be used to convert the system variable
|
|
USR8205N |
Get called subprograms and subroutines with parameters. | This API now also returns the names and parameters of the called external subroutines of a cataloged Natural object. |
USR8215N |
Get the Natural and NSC versions. | This new API returns the Natural and Natural Security versions installed at your site. |
USR8216N |
Maintain the RPC service directory. |
This new API retrieves a Natural RPC service directory and creates, changes and deletes the node and server definitions in the directory. |
USR8217N
|
Search execution library for a Natural object. | This new API searches in the Natural search path the execution library for a given object. If the object name is not specified, the name of the calling program is used. |
USR8218N
|
Get all databases accessed by Natural. | This new API returns the versions, types and options of all databases accessed during a Natural session. |
USR8219N |
Perform Adabas direct calls with ACBX interface. | This new API enables you to issue Adabas direct calls by using the extended Adabas control block (ACBX) interface. All Adabas buffers you can specify with this API are defined as dynamic variables of the format A. |
USR8220N |
Trigger termination of current RPC server. | This new API causes an active RPC server to terminate if it is called by a Natural RPC server subprogram. Explicit server termination through this API is useful when severe errors occur. |
See also the changes to Natural RPC-specific APIs and Natural Security APIs.
Performance of the time conversion APIs USR1009N
,
USR1023N
and USR2036N
has been improved
significantly. We recommend that you replace any previous versions of these
APIs with the new API versions supplied with this Natural release.
For USR1023N
and USR2036N
, in addition
to the usual example programs
(USRnnnnP
) and text objects
(USRnnnnT
), the following new copycode
objects are supplied to further improve conversion performance for time-related
values:
Copycode | Task |
---|---|
USR1023W |
Convert microseconds to a store clock value. |
USR1023X |
Convert microseconds to Natural time. |
USR1023Y |
Convert a store clock value (such as
*TIMESTMP ) to microseconds.
|
USR1023Z |
Convert Natural time to microseconds. |
USR2036Z |
Convert a binary variable of the
Natural format/length B8 to a numeric variable of the Natural format/length
P20.
This copycode can be used to convert the system
variable |
For instructions on implementing the copycodes, see Using a Natural API in the SYSEXT Utility section of the Utilities documentation.
The following graphic illustrates a performance comparison between the old and new versions of the APIs tested with a Natural program that converts the following one million times:
Converts a store clock value to microseconds by using the
old USR1009N
API, compared with the corresponding new API and its
related USR1023Y
copycode.
Converts a store clock value to microseconds and Natural
time by using the old USR1023N
API and the function
S
, compared with the corresponding new API and its related
copycodes USR1023Y
and USR1023X
.
Converts a store clock value to a numeric variable (P20) by
using the old USR2036N
API, compared with the corresponding new
API and its related copycode USR2036Z
.
The new versions of the time conversion APIs perform about three times faster than the old ones. The new copycodes are about 16 times faster than the old APIs.