New and Changed Features of Base Natural

Note:
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.

Customer Feature Requests for Base Natural

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
00333

Provide more precise completion messages for the CATALL command: see the section CATALL System Command.

00614

Provide option to ignore conditions returned for global buffer pool commands: see the section New Condition Code Option for Global Buffer Pool Commands on z/OS or z/VSE.

01400

Provide a system variable that holds the library name of a called program: see the section System Variables.

Return the name of steplib library in *LIBRARY-ID system variable: see the new API USR8217N in Application Programming Interfaces.

02861

Provide an API to display the name of a z/OS data set: see the new API USR8223N in Application Programming Interfaces.

03192 Provide an API to display single or multiple Adabas file names: see the new API USR8224N in Application Programming Interfaces..
03753

Support the HTTP request methods DELETE and PATCH for the REQUEST DOCUMENT statement: see the section REQUEST DOCUMENT Statement.

04006

Provide an ignore case option for the SCAN command: see the section SCAN System Command.

04277

Provide option to check whether a Software AG Editor session exists: see the enhanced APIs USR1035N and USR2014N in Application Programming Interfaces.

04330 Provide an ignore comments option for the SCAN command: see the section SCAN System Command.
04403 Provide the option to write Object Handler reports to a dedicated report library: see New Options for Report Library Specification in the section Object Handler.
04416 Provide the option to store Workplan library values in the Object Handler profile: see Storage of Workplan and Report Library Specifications in the Object Handler Profile in the section Object Handler.
04626

Provide a user exit to write dynamic parts of error messages: see the new API USR8401N in Application Programming Interfaces.

Operations and Performance

New Condition Code Option for Global Buffer Pool Commands on z/OS or z/VSE

In a z/OS or z/VSE environment, the new CC function parameter provides the option to ignore a condition code returned by a command executed by the global buffer pool manager.

When CC=N is specified for a command, the condition code returned by the command is not considered for the response code returned by the respective job.

For more information, see CC - Count Condition Code in the Operations documentation.

BS2000 C/C++ Time Overflow

Software AG products on BS2000 platforms are affected by the BS2000 C/C++ time overflow problem which can occur after January 19, 2018. For details, see the appropriate White Paper about BS2000 Time Functions published by Fujitsu.

The Software AG product versions and fixes listed in the following table must be installed to ensure that all Software AG products using C/C++ time functions on BS2000 will run properly after this date.

Products not listed in the table are BS2000 C/C++ time overflow compliant.

Product Name Product Code Required Version Required Fix
Entire Net-Work

WCP

WTC

WCA

6.3.2 Fix not yet available
Entire System Server NPR 3.6.2 None
3.6.1 NPR361L003
webMethods EntireX EXX 8.1.1 EXX811L047
webMethods EntireX Remote Procedure Call EXP 8.1.1 EXP811L050
Natural NAT 8.2.6 and 8.2.7 See 2
Natural TIAM Interface NRT
Natural openUTM Interface NUT
Natural Development Server NDV 8.3.3 and 8.3.4 See 1 and 2
8.2.6 and 8.2.7 See 1
Natural Web I/O Interface NWO 8.3.3 and 8.3.4 See 1
8.2.6 and 8.2.7
SMARTS Application Server APS 2.7.2 APS272L021
SMARTS BS2000 Issues Resolved with APS 2.7.2 CF 21

  • Abend during start of an Adabas nucleus with UES codepage support is fixed.

  • Start failure of the server sockets task after January 19, 2018 on account of the overflow of the C function time() is fixed.

  • TLB2TIME: The accidental mix up of day and month from the GTIME macro call is fixed.

1 SMARTS Application Server: APS Version 2.7.2 CF 21 Required

Use the fix APS272P021 (library APS272.L021) in your startup procedures for:

  • Natural Development Server (NDV)

  • Natural Web I/O Interface

You can also copy the library by using the delivered procedure P.MERGELIB, for example: 

/CALL-PROC  P.MERGELIB, (PROD-LIB=APS272.LIB, PATCH-LIB=APS272.L021)
2 Affected Natural Modules NAT2TCP and NATADvrs

If you use one of the following Natural modules, the Natural environment-dependent nuclei (front parts) have to be re-linked with the BS2000 TIMESHIFT bind library:

Module Function Product Code Product Version
NAT2TCP REQUEST DOCUMENT and PARSE XML Statements NAT 8.2.6
NATAD833 and NATAD834 Debug Attach Server for NaturalONE NDV 8.3.3 and 8.3.4

Note: The module NAT2TCP of Natural Version 8.2.7 already uses the new BS2000 64-bit time function provided by Fujitsu and is not affected.

Binding the TIMESHIFT Library

  1. Pay attention to the correct bind order of the BS2000 TIMESHIFT bind library. It must be defined before the general CRTE library as indicated in the following example:

    BS2000 Binder Procedure Binder Statements
    Old procedure 
    // RESOLVE-BY-AUTOLINK  LIBRARY = $SAG.ADAnnn.MOD
// RESOLVE-BY-AUTOLINK  LIBRARY = $.SYSLNK.CRTE
    With BS2000 TIMESHIFT option 
    // RESOLVE-BY-AUTOLINK  LIBRARY = $SAG.ADAnnn.MOD
// RESOLVE-BY-AUTOLINK                                -  
//    LIBRARY = ($.SYSLNK.CRTE.TIMESHIFT,$.SYSLNK.CRTE)

    where nnn is the three-digit Adabas version.

  2. When using System Maintenance Aid (SMA), set the new parameter TIMESHIFT to Y. If this parameter is not yet available in your environment, please go to Empower and get the latest GLOBAL SMA tables.

  3. Generate the JCL and submit the generated Jobs I060 and I080.

    List of job steps:

    Product Name Product Code Description Job Step
    Natural NAT Link the environment-dependent nucleus LNATFRNT. I060 3801
    Natural TIAM Interface NRT Link the environment-dependent nucleus LNRTFRNT. I080 0110
    Natural openUTM Interface NUT Link the environment-dependent nucleus LNUTFRNT. I080 0210

Unicode and Code Page Support

ICU Version Upgrade

The ICU (International Components for Unicode) version has been upgraded to ICU Version 58.2 which supports Unicode Version 9.0.

ICU Version 58.2 enhancements include improvements in performance and robustness.

For a summary of all changes in ICU Version 58.2 and Unicode Version 9.0, see the Download ICU 58 website at http://site.icu-project.org/download/58 and the Unicode 9.0.0 website at http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode9.0.0/, respectively.

See also Changes to ICU Data Libraries.

New Names for Data Item Modules

The naming conventions for data item modules have been changed to reflect the ICU version in the names of the data items.

For more information, see Naming Conventions for Data Item Modules in the section ICU Data Items in the Unicode and Code Page Support documentation.

Caution with ICU Data Items

ICS (International Components for Unicode for Software AG) Version 2.2.1 supports dynamic loading of single ICU data items during runtime.

Since the naming conventions for data items have changed, make sure to use a data set with ICU data item modules delivered with ICS Version 2.2.1. Attempting to use a data set with data item modules of an older ICS version results in errors.

Programming Language

Statements

REQUEST DOCUMENT Statement

The REQUEST DOCUMENT statement now provides the option to use the request methods DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS and TRACE in a REQUEST-METHOD header specified by the user.

See also the section REQUEST DOCUMENT in the Programming Guide.

System Variables

*LOAD-LIBRARY-ID

The *LOAD-LIBRARY-ID system variable is now also supported in a Natural mainframe environment for compatibility with Natural for UNIX and Natural for Windows.*LOAD-LIBRARY-ID returns the name of the library from where an executing object was loaded.

For more information, see the System Variables documentation.

System Commands

Note:
The sections indicated for more information are contained in the System Commands documentation, unless otherwise noted.

CATALL System Command

The messages returned after executing a CATALL have been enhanced. They now indicate the exact action performed on the objects: checked, saved, cataloged or stowed (saved and cataloged).

LIST System Command

New Time Stamp Option for Catalog Date/Time

The LIST command now provides the option to view the original time stamp (store clock) value actually returned when cataloging an object.

For more information, see the new SHOW-CAT-TIMESTAMP-VALUES parameter of the LIST profile and the new USE-TIMESTAMP subcommand for selection lists.

NOCSTAT System Command

For the new features provided with the NOCSTAT system command, see New PC Download Option for NOCSTAT Reports and Statement Category and Type Improved in NOCSTAT Reports in the section Natural Optimizer Compiler.

SCAN System Command

The SCAN system command provides the following enhancements:

New Ignore Case Option

If the new Ignore Case option is set to Y (Yes), the SCAN system command processes all lines where the entered value is found independent of the use of upper and lower case characters. For more information, see the section Menu Options.

New Ingore Comments Option

If the new Ingore Comments option is set to Y (Yes), the SCAN system command excludes commentary text from the search. For more information, see the section Menu Options.

SCAN Profile

The SCAN system command now provides the option to define an individual scan profile. For more information, see Defining an Individual SCAN Profile.

SYSRPC System Command

The following options are new in the SYSRPC system command:

SYSRPC PING - Ping Server

Pings an RPC server in online or batch mode. For more information, see Pinging an RPC Server and Using the SYSRPC PING Direct Command in SYSRPC Utility in the Utilities documentation.

SYSRPC SRVLIST - Show Server Information

Provides information on Natural RPC servers registered on EntireX Broker. For more information, see Listing Servers Registered on EntireX Broker in SYSRPC Utility in the Utilities documentation.

ZIIP System Command

The zIIP Component Switch Statistics report produced by the ZIIP system command now lists the product to which a component belongs, the percentage of component switches and an indicator (P) set for component switches that can be influenced by a parameter. The report list can be sorted by product. Additionally, you can filter the list by specifying a product range and/or selecting only components for which the new P indicator is set.

The ZIIPUX01 user exit (ZIIPUS01 source object in the SYSEXT system library) for the ZIIP system command has been adapted for the new ZIIP command functions.

The new ZIIP command functions have also been implemented in the USR8204N application programming interface.

Terminal Commands

%P=SQ - Standard Linkage for Call of Quasi-Reentrant Subprograms

If Natural CICS Interface Version 8.3.4 is installed, on z/OS, the new %P=SQ terminal command can be used in a Natural CICS running in the CICS OTE environment (threadsafe) to call quasi-reentrant user programs.

See also New Terminal Command for Calling Quasi-Reentrant Subprograms under Natural CICS Interface Version 8.3.4.

Utilities

Note:
The sections indicated for more information are contained in the Utilities documentation, unless otherwise noted.

NATRJE Utility

BS2000: Support for ENTER-JOB and ENTER-PROCEDURE Commands

Under BS2000, the NATRJE utility provides the option to submit a job with the ENTER-JOB or ENTER-PROCEDURE command. Moreover, you can supply multiple parameters with a command by using the new parm5 option of the NATRJE CALL statement.

parm5 is described in Invoking NATRJE in the section NATRJE Utility - Natural Remote Job Entry.

Object Handler

New Options for Report Library Specification

The Object Handler provides the following options to specify the library into which an Object Handler report is written:

Storage of Workplan and Report Library Specifications in the Object Handler Profile

The Object Handler provides the new Store values in profile option to directly store the values (such as library name, DBID, FNR) specifed on a Workplan or report library screen as Workplan-Library and Report-Library parameter settings in the Object Handler profile.

For more information, see Change the Workplan Library and Change the Report Library.

Profiler Utility

Data Input for Profiler from Natural text objects

In batch mode, the Profiler utility now provides the option to retrieve data from Natural text objects and include them in the input data for the Profiler.

For more information, see Including Profiler Input from Natural Text Objects in the section Using the Profiler Utility in Batch Mode.

Code Coverage of Natural Applications

In batch mode, the Profiler utility now provides options to retrieve and evaluate code coverage information of Natural applications. For more information, see Natural Profiler in the Utilities documentation.

SYSERR Utility

The SYSERR utility is now case-sensitive and no longer translates the input from lower to upper case by default. See also Adding Messages and Modifying Messages in the section SYSERR Utility.

SYSPARM Utility

The SYSPARM utility now provides the option to terminate a Natural session when a SYSPARM error or warning is encountered during batch processing. In addition, you can specify the return code to be used for the termination.

For more information, see the new TERM1ST option of the SYSPARM command described in Direct Commands and Batch Processing in the section SYSPARM Utility.

SYSRPC Utility

The SYSRPC utility is a subcomponent of Natural RPC: see SYSRPC Utility in the section Natural RPC.

SYSTP Utility

The Natural License Information function of the SYSTP utility now provides the option to display the product license file for Natural zIIP Enabler as an alternative to the product license file for Natural. This function corresponds to the LIC option of the ZIIP system command (see the System Commands documentation).

Application Programming Interfaces

The following Natural application programming interfaces (APIs) are new in the SYSEXT system library or have changed:

API Task Enhancement
USR0620N Convert string into ASCII or EBCDIC code. The new functions "1" and "2" provide the same functionality as the functions "E" and "A", respectively. They have been introduced for compatibility with UNIX and Windows.
USR1035N Maintain objects using the Software AG Editor engine These APIs have been enhanced to check whether a given Software AG Editor session exists.
USR2014N
USR8204N Perform ZIIP command.

This API has been enhanced to provide the new functions of the ZIIP command.

USR8221N Generate code page translation table. This new API generates a translation table which maps all code points of the source code page to the corresponding value of the target code page. The delivered sample program USR8221P generates the translation tables used by the API USR0620N for ASCII/EBCIDC translation.
USR8223N Get z/OS data set name. This new API returns the data set name assigned to a given DDNAME under z/OS.
USR8224N Get Adabas file name. This new API returns the name of a single Adabas file or the names of all Adabas files for a given DBID.
USR8401N Read/write dynamic error message parts. This new API reads or writes the dynamic parts (:1:,:2:, ...) of a Natural system or user-defined error message.

See also the changes to Natural Security APIs.