Objects for Natural Application Management

This document describes the objects available to build, maintain and control applications with Natural.

The following table is an overview of Natural and non-Natural objects, their use, and the Natural editors or utilities provided to create and maintain them.

Note:
The Natural program, data area and map editor have been disabled in your environment by default. For more information, see Disabled Natural Editors in the Editors documentation.

Object Type Use Editor or Utility
Data Areas:

Local Data Area
Global Data Area
Parameter Data Area

Variable and parameter definitions for other Natural objects

Data Area Editor
Data Definition Module Natural data definitions for database file access

DDM Editor
Programs and Subordinate Routines:

Program
Subroutine
Subprogram
Function

Main programs, invoked routines and functions

Program Editor
Helproutine Help requests for applications
Copycode Source code for repeated use in other Natural objects
Text Documentation for Natural objects
Class Component-based applications

Program Editor
Map Character-based screen layouts

Map Editor
Adapter and GUI Layout Complex graphical user interfaces and rich GUI pages generated from external page layout Natural for Ajax Developer (see the Natural for Ajax documentation)
Dialog Event-driven applications

n/a

(storage and display only)
Resource Non-Natural objects such as HTML files or bitmaps n/a

(storage and display only)
Error Message Natural system and user-defined messages SYSERR Utility
Command Processor Command-driven navigation SYSNCP Utility

Related Topic:

For information about the naming conventions that apply to Natural objects, see Object Naming Conventions.