This document covers the following topics:
Many Software AG product installations are currently being changed in order to use the common Software AG Installer. Thus, all major products can be installed with the same look and feel. Natural for UNIX and Natural Security already use the Software AG Installer since version 8.3.1.
In the future, the Natural add-on products Predict Version 8.2.3 and Natural Construct Version 8.2.2 will also use the Software AG Installer. These releases are planned for October 2014. If you want to install Predict and/or Construct, it is therefore recommended that you wait for the October release where these products can be installed with the Software AG Installer.
The following new Natural profile parameter is provided in this version:
| Profile Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
RENCONST |
Can be used to renumber the line number references in alphanumeric constants within a Natural source. By default, line number references in alphanumeric constants are not renumbered. |
For the default buffer pool NATBP, the default size in the
local configuration file has been changed from 100 MB (Natural Version 8.3.1
for UNIX) to 20 MB (Natural Version 8.3.2 for UNIX). If required, you can
change this size using the Configuration Utility (BP Size
option). See Buffer Pool
Assignments in the Configuration
Utility documentation.
The SYSPCI utility, which is used to configure the installed products, can now be called with direct command data (that is, with keywords and their corresponding values), both in batch mode and online. For example:
SYSPCI PRODUCT NDV FUNCTION ALL DBID 177 FNR 501
For more information, see Calling the SYSPCI Utility with Direct Command Data in the Tools and Utilities documentation.
- Editor Options
The parameter group Natural Development Environment now contains the new category Editor Options. The new profile parameter
RENCONSTis available in this category. See Editor Options in the Configuration Utility documentation.
The buffer pool monitor now indicates whether a buffer pool is a
special read-only buffer pool or not. See also the following in the Operations
documentation: the description of the PARAM command (Displaying the Buffer
Pool Settings) in Using the Buffer Pool Monitor
(NATBPMON).
The precision of the information shown with the
STATUS command has been increased. This leads to a
different output of the statistics shown in the Natural Buffer Pool Monitor (NATBPMON
utility). See Statistical
Information About the Buffer Pool in the
Operations documentation.
Natural now always displays the error "Invalid code page
name specified" independently whether
the code page is defined with the CP parameter or comes
from the operating system. This is especially necessary on Linux machines where
the default encoding is often UTF-8 which is not allowed as the default code
page.
The work file types ASCII and
ASCII-COMPRESSED can now handle dynamic variables with a maximum
field/record length of 32766 bytes. Reading a dynamic variable from an
ASCII or ASCII-COMPRESSED work file puts the rest of
the work file record into the variable. Thus, for work files with these types,
the dynamic variable is resized in each execution of the READ WORK
FILE statement to match the exact length of the remaining part of the
record. See also the sections Handling of Large and Dynamic
Variables in the descriptions of the
READ WORK FILE and
WRITE WORK FILE
statements.
The Natural Web I/O Interface client is now delivered in the Version 1.3.14.
This is the last version that supports JBoss Application Server 4.2 and Oracle Glassfish 3.1. Support of subsequent versions of JBoss Application Server and Oracle Glassfish is not planned.
Important:
Due to changes and corrections in the right-to-left (RTL)
handling, the following prerequisites must be met to run RTL applications
correctly: The Natural Web I/O Interface client Version 1.3.14 requires Natural
Version 8.3.2 or above on Linux, UNIX or Windows, or Natural Version 8.2.4 or
above on mainframes, and vice versa.
The Natural Web I/O Interface client now supports Internet Explorer 11. For a list of the currently supported web browsers, see Browser Prerequisites in the Natural Web I/O Interface documentation.
With the configuration tool, it is now possible to define the filler character that is to be removed from the input fields of an application. Trailing filler characters will be removed from the input fields, and leading filler characters will be replaced with blanks. See Editing a Session in the Natural Web I/O Interface documentation.
Natural RPC (Remote Procedure Call) is available as a separate subcomponent of Natural. It has its own version number. This measure takes into account that Natural RPC is a cross-platform component and makes it possible to provide new Natural RPC versions independent of new Natural versions for the various platforms supported.
With Natural Version 8.3.2, Natural RPC Version 6.3.4.9 is still delivered. This version only contains error corrections. New functionality is not provided.
The following enhancements are provided with Natural Security Version 8.3.2.
- Time Differential
With previous versions, Time Differential could only be set in user profiles of types Terminal and Group. As of this version, you can also set it in user profiles of types Administrator, Person and Member.
- SYSPCI
The use of the Natural product configuration and initialization utility SYSPCI can now be controlled by Natural Security. See SYSPCI Utility Profiles under Protecting Utilities in the Natural Security documentation for more information.