There are certain procedures that have to be performed in a linear fashion to complete the conversion process. These are described below.
Extract and Load Application
This is a mandatory option. The chosen Natural objects need to be extracted and loaded into the Natural Engineer repository.
This is performed with the Natural Engineer product on the server.
For more information on the extract and load processes, refer to the relevant Natural Engineer Application Management manual for your environment.
Separate Processing Rules from Maps
This is a mandatory option. Any processing rules that are present within map objects, for the selected application, will need
to be removed first.
This is done by using the process (part of the application refactoring processes) which has to be performed with the Natural Engineer product on the
server. This will identify any inline processing rules, separate them from their respective maps and generate new subprograms
containing the processing rules. Existing calling objects for each map are then modified to reference the new processing rules
subprograms.
For more information on the process, refer to the Natural Engineer Advanced Services manual.
Create Map Extract Files
This is a mandatory option. In order to create a Natural adapter for use with Natural for Ajax, one or more map extract files
must be created. This can be either from a Natural map or from an INPUT statement. The Natural Engineer component of NaturalONE offers the following commands for this purpose:
and
These commands allow you to select existing maps within an application, and to convert them to map extract files. For detailed information, see Map Extraction.
and
These commands allow you to select Natural objects (such as programs) that contain INPUT statements, and to convert them to map extract files. For detailed information, see INPUT Statement Extraction.
The map extract files can then be converted to Natural for Ajax pages, using the Convert Map function which belongs to the core functionality of NaturalONE (see also Map Conversion in the Natural for Ajax documentation). This function allows you to specify a user component interface into which the Natural for Ajax pages are to be generated.
The Ajax Developer function creates Natural adapter objects from the Natural for Ajax pages contained in a user interface component (see also Building User Interface Components in the Ajax Developer documentation). These Natural adapters form the interface of the converted application to the new user interface.
Convert Application Code
This is a mandatory option. The Natural Engineer component of NaturalONE offers the Convert to Process Page command. This command allows you to create new Natural objects which use the PROCESS PAGE statement for any existing objects that use maps and INPUT statements. The PROCESS PAGE statement links the objects to adapters that have been generated by Ajax Developer (based on the map extract files generated
earlier). For detailed information, see Code Conversion.
The names of the adapters depend on the code within the User Exit 4 (NEEUEX4) which is supplied in the SYSNEE library of Natural Engineer. For INPUT USING MAP statements, you may use the supplied User Exit 4 to generate the adapter name. Typically, the user exit would contain similar
rules to that used to generate the adapter name in Ajax Developer.
