The Natural nucleus is a collection of service programs such as memory administration, string handling, operating system interfaces, the compiler and the runtime environment which comprise the kernel of Natural. It is independent of the operating-system and the TP system.
The Natural nucleus consists of the environment-independent and the environment-dependent nucleus. The environment-independent nucleus can be used by several mainframe operating and TP systems. The environment-dependent nucleus contains components that depend on the operating and TP systems. For further information, see Natural Nucleus Components in the Installation for z/OS, Installation for z/VSE and Installation for BS2000 documentation.
This document describes the advantages of linking Natural objects to the Natural nucleus and provides information on how to proceed.
This section covers the following topics:
Linking Natural objects to the Natural nucleus provides the following benefits:
Better Performance
The objects are executed from the nucleus and not from the Natural
buffer pool. This saves space in the buffer pool and also results in fewer
database calls. (If Natural cataloged objects are not linked to the Natural
nucleus, they are stored in a database file, for example Adabas, and the actual
code must be loaded from this file into the buffer pool before it can be
executed.)
Consistency
As an object which is linked to the Natural nucleus is always
executed from the nucleus, there is no effect if the cataloged object from
which it was derived is deleted or changed in the Natural system file. Thus,
during each TP-monitor session, the status of the object remains unchanged. A
new version of an object which is linked to the nucleus can be obtained by
unloading it with ULDOBJ (see below), relinking the new version to
the Natural nucleus and refreshing the Natural module. (Refreshing implies that
a new copy of a module is loaded into the TP monitor region.)
Global Error Handling
If a cataloged object fetches another program to handle errors (for
example, by using the Natural system variable
*ERROR-TA), and the error-handling program cannot
be loaded into the buffer pool, the original error might be missed and any
subsequent error may mask the first error and lead to confusion. To prevent
this situation, you can link a user-written global error-handling program to
the nucleus.
You can use the ULDOBJ utility to link Natural cataloged
objects to the Natural nucleus. With the ULDOBJ utility, you
generate an object module from a Natural cataloged object and write it to a
Natural work file. The generated object module is then processed by the linkage
editor and linked to the Natural nucleus.
Under z/OS and z/VSE: When an environment-independent Natural nucleus is used, the generated object module has to be linked to the environment-independent part of the nucleus.
To invoke the ULDOBJ utility
Log on to the library SYSMISC and issue the command
ULDOBJ.
15:49:39 ***** NATURAL OBJECT MAINTENANCE ***** 2012-02-13
User: XYZ - NATURAL ULDOBJ UTILITY - Library: SYSMISC
Opsys .. z/OS
Specify parameters below ....
Object ...... ________ (Enter '.' to exit)
Library ..... SYSMISC_
OP System ... z/OS____
|
Specify and confirm the following parameters:
Object |
The name of the cataloged object to be processed. The object can be a program, subprogram, subroutine, helproutine or map. | ||||||
Library |
The name of the library containing the cataloged object. | ||||||
OP System |
The name of the operating system for which the object module
is to be generated. (Different operating systems have different rules to which
the object module must conform.) The name of the operating system must be one
of the following:
|
For each object processed, the ULDOBJ utility displays a
report containing the following information:
the object type (Program, Subprogram, Subroutine, Helproutine, Map, Adapter); see Objects for Natural Application Management in the Programming Guide.
the name of the cataloged object processed;
the programming mode (S = structured mode, R = reporting mode);
the name of the library containing the cataloged object;
the name of the operating system for which the object deck was generated;
the size of the cataloged object and optimized code (if applicable);
the Natural version of the cataloged object (see Version in the Glossary);
statistics about the last cataloging of the object, including user and terminal IDs.
ULDOBJ prompts for another object and library after the
data from the initial input have been processed. The operating system is not
requested, because it does not make sense to generate object modules for more
than one operating system for the same Natural work file.
To terminate the ULDOBJ utility
After the last cataloged object has been processed, enter a "." in the first input field (Object) and press ENTER.
The generated object module conforms to the format of the specified operating system. It is in relocatable format with non-executable code and consists of:
an external symbol directory (ESD),
a relocation dictionary (RLD),
text with the instructions and data corresponding to the program,
an END
statement (end-of-module indicator for the load module).
The generated object module is written to a Natural work file, which
is used as input to a linkage editor. (Depending on the operating system, it
may be better to use ULDOBJ in batch mode.)
The generated object module must be processed by the linkage editor
of the corresponding operating system before the code is executable as a load
module (see the
example
given below). Each load module is valid once it is linked to the Natural
nucleus and defined by an NTSTAT entry definition in the
Natural configuration module NATCONFG (see
Natural Configuration
Tables).
Once a cataloged object has been unloaded by the ULDOBJ
utility and linked to the Natural nucleus, the cataloged object can be deleted
from the Natural system file.
However, this is not true for an object of type "subroutine". A subroutine has two names:
the name specified in the statements PERFORM and
DEFINE SUBROUTINE
and
the name of the object that contains the DEFINE
SUBROUTINE statement.
Natural internally associates these two names, but this is possible only if the cataloged object still exists on the Natural system file. If the cataloged object were deleted, this association would be lost and the subroutine linked to the nucleus would not be executable.
The object module is generated in different ways, according to the operating system. These differences are listed below.
| Platform | Requirement |
|---|---|
| z/OS | A NAME control statement is generated as the last
card of the object module. It specifies the replace function. For example:
NAME TEST (R)
|
| z/VSE | The object module(s) will be in LIBR format. A
CATALOG control statement is generated as the first card and a
"/*" as the last card of the object module. For example:
CATALOG TEST.OBJ REPLACE-YES ... ... object module ... /+ When the |
| BS2000 | The object module(s) will be in LMS format. An
ADD control statement is generated as the first card and an
END statement as the last
card of the object module. For example:
ADDR >TEST ... ... object module ... END When the If multiple cataloged objects are unloaded during execution of the utility, the object decks are appended to each other. |
If, for example, the objects LOGPROG and
EDITPROG in the library SYSLIB are to be linked to
the Natural nucleus, the following steps could be taken:
Identify the cataloged objects to be linked.
Object Library -------------- -------------- LOGPROG SYSLIB EDITPROG SYSLIB
Set up the batch Natural job stream. Assuming a z/OS environment, include the following cards:
//CMWKF01 DD DSN=ULD.NAT.PGMS,UNIT=SYSDA,DISP=(,KEEP), // SPACE=(CYL,(3,1),,RLSE),VOL=SER=VVVVVV, // DCB=(RECFM=FB,BLKSIZE=800,LRECL=80) //CMSYNIN DD * LOGON SYSMISC ULDOBJ LOGPROG,SYSLIB,OS EDITPROG,SYSLIB . FIN /*
Set up the linkage editor job stream.
//JOBCARD JOB (ACCTING),CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=X //* //* GENERATE OS LOAD MODULE FROM ULDOBJ UTILITY //* //LINK1 EXEC PGM=IEWL,PARM='LIST,LET,XREF,NCAL,RENT,REUS' //SYSLMOD DD DSN=NATURAL.USER.LOAD,DISP=SHR //SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(1024,(200,20)) //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=X //SYSLIN DD DSN=NAT.ULD.PGMS,DISP=OLD,UNIT=SYSDA,VOL=SER=VVVVVV /*
This step places the load modules LOGPROG and
EDITPROG in the NATURAL.USER.LOAD data set.
With an additional link-edit job, these modules can be linked together as a single load module before being linked to the nucleus in Step 5.
//JOBCARD JOB (ACCTING),CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=X //* //* OPTIONAL JOB TO LINK CATALOGED OBJECTS TOGETHER //* //LINK2 EXEC PGM=IEWL,PARM='LIST,LET,XREF,NCAL,RENT,REUS' //SYSLMOD DD DSN=NATURAL.USER.LOAD,DISP=SHR //SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(1024,(200,20)) //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=X //SYSLIN DD * INCLUDE SYSLMOD(LOGPROG) LOGON NATURAL PGM INCLUDE SYSLMOD(EDITPROG) EDITOR NATURAL PGM NAME XXXXXX(R) /*
Define the statically linked Natural programs in source module
NATCONFG in the NSTATIC table for linked Natural
programs:
NTSTAT INPL,TYPE=W NTSTAT INPLLIB,TYPE=W NTSTAT AERROR,TYPE=W NTSTAT LOGPROG <==== your entries NTSTAT EDITPROG <====
TYPE=W means that a "weak" external
reference to the specified program is generated rather than a normal one.
Review the linkage editor job stream for the Natural nucleus and include the following:
//* //* INCLUDE DDNAME AND DSN OF DATASET WHERE OBJECTS RESIDE //* //SYSLMOD DD DSN=NATURAL.USER.LOAD,DISP=SHR //NATLIB DD DSN=NATURAL.USER.LOAD,DISP=SHR//* //SYSLIN DD* ... ... INCLUDE MODULES FOR NUCLEUS ... INCLUDE NATLIB(nat-parm-module) NATURAL PARAMETER MODULE INCLUDE SYSLMOD(LOGPROG) LOGON NATURAL PGM INCLUDE SYSLMOD(EDITPROG) EDITOR NATURAL PGM ... ... INCLUDE ENTRY AND NAME CARDS ... /*
nat-parm-module represents the
name of the Natural parameter
module.
If the cataloged objects were linked together (as done optionally in Step 3), include this load module instead of the individual load modules in the link of the nucleus.