Release Information for Natural Version 8.3.3

This document covers the following topics:


Installation

Natural Add-On Products

The Natural add-on products now also use the Software AG Installer. These are:

  • Predict Version 8.2.3

  • Entire System Server Version 2.1.5

For detailed information on how to install the above-mentioned Natural add-on products using the Software AG Installer, see the documentation for these add-on products. This documentation is available separately. It is not part of the Natural documentation.

The Entire Systems Management (ESM) clients that are installed together with Natural need to be initialized before they can be used. See also Setting Up the Additional Natural Components in the Installation documentation.

New Features

Application Programming Interfaces

The utility SYSEXT provides the following new application programming interface (API):

API Description
USR8210N This API enhances profiler monitoring with the Natural profiler that is provided with NaturalONE. You can start or pause profiler monitoring or view the current state of the profiler monitoring process.

Changes and Enhancements

PROCESS PAGE MODAL and ESCAPE Statements

The statements ESCAPE TOP and ESCAPE BOTTOM are no longer applied to the PROCESS PAGE MODAL processing block.

The statements ESCAPE TOP and ESCAPE BOTTOM are designed to interrupt the flow of a processing loop. Due to the fact that the statements PROCESS PAGE MODAL and END-PROCESS form a processing block (and not a processing loop), the ESCAPE statement is no longer applied to the PROCESS PAGE MODAL processing block.

If an ESCAPE statement is encountered during processing of a PROCESS PAGE MODAL block, the execution of the processing block will be terminated and the ESCAPE processing will continue as defined.

Comparison of Binary Operands During Runtime

The comparison of a binary operand with a length of less than or equal to 4 with an operand of format I (integer), P (packed numeric) or N (numeric unpacked) was adapted in order to be compatible with the mainframe.

  • For binary operands with a length less than 4, the comparison is now integer4-based.

    Note:
    This handling was already in place for binary operands with a length of 4.

    The following example will now result in WRITE '#B2 GT -999':

    DEFINE DATA LOCAL 
      01 #B2 (B3) 
    END-DEFINE 
    #B2 := 12 
    IF #B2 < -999 
     WRITE '#B2 LE -999' 
    ELSE 
     WRITE '#B2 GT -999' 
    END-IF 
    END

    The following example will now result in WRITE 'TRUE....01':

    MOVE -5 TO BIN11(B1)
    MOVE -5 TO INT11(I1)
    IF BIN11 > INT11 WRITE 'TRUE....01' ELSE WRITE 'FALSE...01'
  • For binary operands with a length less than or equal to 4 that are compared with packed or numeric operands, the comparison is now based on P (packed) format where the decimal precision is ignored.

    In the previous implementation, the comparison was done according to the format of the second operand.

Natural Web I/O Interface Client

The Natural Web I/O Interface client is now delivered in the Version 1.3.15.

This is the last version that supports Internet Explorer 8.

A new option, Double-click behavior, is now available in the configuration tool. This option defines the key that is to be simulated when double-clicking an output field in a Natural map. By default, this is the ENTER key. You can also use this option to disable the double-click behavior. See Overview of Session Options in the Natural Web I/O Interface documentation.

Natural RPC (Remote Procedure Call)

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 8.3.3, Natural RPC Version 6.3.4.9 is still delivered. This version only contains error corrections. New functionality is not provided.

Natural Security

The following enhancements are provided with Natural Security Version 8.3.3.

Utility Profiles

PROFILER

The use of the Natural PROFILER utility can now be controlled by Natural Security, as described under Protecting Utilities in the Natural Security documentation.

Documentation

SYSPCI Utility

The documentation for the SYSPCI utility has been moved from the Installation documentation to the Tools and Utilities documentation.

Removed Features

Natural Web I/O Interface Client

JBoss Application Server and Oracle Glassfish are no longer supported. As of this version, Apache Tomcat is the only supported application server.

If you are currently using JBoss Application Server or Oracle Glassfish, you have to move to Apache Tomcat. You can reuse your previous settings (that is, the URL for logon page and the configuration file sessions.xml).

Natural Installer (SYSINST)

Natural is now installed with the Software AG Installer. Therefore, the Natural Installer utility and the corresponding system command SYSINST are no longer required and have been removed.

Notice of Future Changes

Discontinued Support for EntireX Location Transparency

EntireX no longer supports Location Transparency. Effective with the next Natural version, Natural will no longer support Location Transparency as well.