This document covers the following topics:
| Format/length: | A8 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the ID of the library to which the user is currently logged on.
| Format/length: | A32 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
If Natural Security is installed, this system variable contains the name
of the library to which the user is logged on. If the user is logged on via a
special link, it contains the link name instead. If Natural Security is not
installed, this system variable contains the name SYSTEM.
The general option Set *APPLIC-NAME always to library name
can be set so that *APPLIC-NAME always contains
the library name, regardless of whether the user is logged on via a special
link or not. See
Set *APPLIC-NAME always to library
name in the Natural Security
documentation.
| Format/length: | A128 |
| Content modifiable: | Yes |
This system variable designates a communication area which can be used to process data from outside a screen window.
Normally when a window is active, no data can be entered on the screen
outside the window. However, if a map contains
*COM as a modifiable field, that field will still
be available for the user to enter data when a window is currently on the
screen. Further processing can then be made dependent on the content of
*COM. This allows you to implement user interfaces
where a user can always enter data in the command line, even when a window with
its own input fields is active.
Note:
Although *COM can be used as a
modifiable field in an INPUT statement, it is
not treated as an input field, but as a system variable; that is, any
input entered into the *COM field will be taken as
it is, without any input processing (e.g. conversion to upper case) being
performed on it. Once *COM has been displayed on
the screen via an INPUT statement, every subsequent
INPUT or REINPUT statement will cause
the current content of *COM to be
displayed.
See also:
Dialog Design in the Programming Guide
| Format/length: | I4 |
| Content modifiable: | Yes |
This system variable contains the conversation ID of the current
conversational remote procedure call (RPC). This ID is set by an
OPEN CONVERSATION
statement.
Via an OPEN CONVERSATION statement, a client can get a
server for exclusive use to execute a number of services (subprograms) within
one server process. This exclusive use is called conversation. The OPEN
CONVERSATION statement is used to open a conversation and specify the
subprograms to be involved in this conversation. When an OPEN
CONVERSATION statement is executed, it assigns a unique ID which
identifies the conversation to the system variable
*CONVID.
Several conversations can be open at the same time. To switch from one
open conversation to another, you assign the corresponding conversation ID to
*CONVID.
For further information on Natural RPC, see the Natural RPC (Remote Procedure Call) documentation.
| Format/length: | P10 |
| Content modifiable: | Yes |
This system variable contains the number of times a processing loop
initiated by a FIND,
READ,
HISTOGRAM or
PARSE statement has
been entered.
(r)
notation after *COUNTER is used to
indicate the statement label or source-code line number of the
FIND, READ, HISTOGRAM or
PARSE statement. If (r) is
not specified, *COUNTER represents the number of
times the currently active processing loop has been entered.
*COUNTER is not incremented if a record is
rejected as a result of the criteria specified in a WHERE clause.
*COUNTER is incremented if a record is rejected as
a result of an ACCEPT/REJECT statement.
| Format/length: | I4 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
*CPU-TIME contains the CPU time currently
used by the Natural process in units of 10 ms.
This system variable always contains the value zero for the following operating or TP monitor systems on mainframe computers:
z/VSE
CICS
IMS TM
openUTM
| Format/length: | A32 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the name of the currently executed unit. This is
the function name in case of the object type "function",
the inline subroutine name if an inline subroutine is performed,
the external subroutine name in case of the object type
"subroutine", see also *SUBROUTINE,
the object name in case of all other object types (program,
subprogram, map, dialog, etc.); see also *PROGRAM.
The contents of *CURRENT-UNIT will always
be in upper case.
| Format/length: | N3 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the number of data elements in the Natural
stack which are available to the next INPUT statement as input data.
*DATA will contain 0 when the stack
is empty. A value of -1 indicates the next element in the stack is
a command or the name of a Natural transaction.
The settings of the Natural profile/session parameters
IA (Input
Assign Character) and ID (Input Delimiter
Character) at the time of execution of the STACK statement are used to
determine the *DATA value.
| Format/length: | N4 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the source-code line number of the statement that caused an error.
*ERROR-LINE is reset to 0 when
a Level 1 program starts executing.
Alternatively, you may specify *ERROR.
| Format/length: | N7 |
| Content modifiable: | Yes |
This system variable contains the error number of the error which caused
an ON ERROR condition to be entered.
Only error numbers in the range from 0 to 9999 are supported.
Normally, *ERROR-NR contains the Natural
system error number which caused an error condition to be entered;
however, when a REINPUT WITH TEXT
*nnnn statement is executed, the
application-specific message number nnnn is
placed into *ERROR-NR.
You may modify the content of this system variable via a Natural
program; however, not within an ON
ERROR statement block.
*ERROR-NR is reset to 0 when a
Level 1 program starts executing.
| Format/length: | A8 |
| Content modifiable: | Yes |
This system variable contains the name of the error transaction program which is to receive control in the event of an error condition.
For further information, see Using an Error Transaction Program in the Programming Guide.
| Format/length: | A8 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the current identifier of transaction data for Adabas. The default value is one of the following:
the value of the Natural profile parameter
ETID,
the user ID as passed from the TP monitor,
the value provided in the user exit during Natural initialization,
the value from the security profile of the currently active user (applies only under Natural Security).
| Format/length: | P10 |
| Content modifiable: | Yes |
This system variable contains the Adabas internal sequence number (ISN)
of the record currently being processed within a processing loop initiated by a
FIND or
READ statement.
(r)
notation after *ISN is used to indicate
the label or statement number of the statement in which the FIND
or READ was issued. If (r)
is not specified, *ISN represents the ISN of the
record currently being processed in the currently active processing loop.
For the HISTOGRAM statement,
*ISN contains the number of the occurrence in
which the descriptor value last read is contained
(*ISN = 0 if the descriptor is not contained
within a periodic group).
| Format/length: | I4 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
*LBOUND contains the current lower boundary
(index value) of an array for the specified dimension(s) (1, 2 or 3) or for all
dimensions (asterisk (*) notation).
Syntax:
*LBOUND
(operand1 [,dim])
|
Operand Definition Table:
| Operand | Possible Structure | Possible Formats | Referencing Permitted | Dynamic Definition | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| operand1 | A | A | U | N | P | I | F | B | D | T | L | C | G | O | yes | no | ||||
operand1 is the array for which the lower boundary is specified. The index notation of the array is optional. As index notation only the complete range notation * is allowed for each dimension.
dim is the dimension number for which the current lower boundary is returned:
| dim = |
|
1 |
|
If no dimension is specified, the lower bound of the first dimension is returned.
If 1, 2 or 3 is specified, the lower bound of the first, second or third dimension is returned.
If * is specified, the lower bound of all the defined dimensions are returned, that is
1 in case of an one dimensional array,
2 in case of a two dimensional array,
3 in case of three dimensional array.
If an X-array is not allocated and the lower bound of the specified
dimension of this X-array is the variable index bound, that is, it is
represented by an asterisk (*) character in the index definition, the lower
bound of the specified dimension is undefined, and access to
*LBOUND leads to a runtime error. In order to
avoid the runtime error, *OCCURRENCE may
be used to check against zero occurrences:
DEFINE DATA LOCAL 1 #XA(A5/1:*) END-DEFINE IF *OCCURRENCE (#XA) NE 0 AND *LBOUND(#XA) > 10 THEN ...
Examples:
DEFINE DATA LOCAL
1 #I (I4)
1 #J (I4/1:3)
1 #XA (A5/10:*,20:*)
END-DEFINE
#I := *LBOUND(#XA) /* lower bound of 1st dimension is 10
#I := *LBOUND(#XA,1) /* lower bound of 1st dimension is 10
#I := *LBOUND(#XA,2) /* lower bound of 2nd dimension is 20
#J(1:2):= *LBOUND(#XA,*) /* lower bound of all dimensions
/* #J(1) is 10 and #J(2) is 20
END
See also *UBOUND and
*OCCURRENCE.
| Format/length: | I4 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable returns the currently used length of a field
defined as dynamic variable in terms of code units; for A and B format the size
of one code unit is 1 byte and for U format the size of one code unit is 2
bytes (UTF-16).
*LENGTH(field) applies
to dynamic variables only.
See also Value Space Currently Used for a Dynamic Variable in the Programming Guide.
| Format/length: | N2 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the level number of the program,
subprogram, external subroutine, map, helproutine or dialog which is currently
active. Level 1 is a main program. If higher levels occur during runtime
(maximum = 1024), then the content of
*LEVEL will be 99.
*LEVEL does not apply to inline
subroutines.
See also Using an Error Transaction Program in the Programming Guide.
| Format/length: | A8 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the current library ID (as specified by the user at logon).
This variable is the equivalent of the variable
*APPLIC-ID.
| Format/length: | I4 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
It contains the number of the line currently executed in a Natural object.
If a Natural object has been compiled with the
Natural Optimizer
Compiler, the value of *LINE may not
reflect the correct line number if the source line where the system variable is
used is part of a sequence of statements that have been optimized by the
Natural Optimizer Compiler.
| Format/length: | A100 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
Returns the line number of the statement currently executing, with all
line numbers of used INCLUDE levels.
When used in the main source of a program (not inside a copycode), it
returns only the number of the line in which it is referenced. In this case,
the data is the same as what is returned by *LINE, except the
format is (A100).
If *LINEX is used in a (nested)
INCLUDE structure, all the line numbers starting from the first
INCLUDE up to the last INCLUDE and the line number of
the statement are returned in this field, separated from each other by a
slash.
Example:
....
3200
3210 INCLUDE COPY01
0010 ...
0020 ...
....
0200 INCLUDE COPY02
0010 ...
0020 ...
....
0050 PRINT *LINEX
The output produced by the PRINT statement is
3210/0200/0050 and represents the complete line number path needed
to exactly locate the position where *LINEX was
referenced initially.
| Format/length: | A8 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the library ID from where the current executed object was loaded.
| Format/length: | P10 |
| Content modifiable: | Yes |
This system variable contains either of the following:
the number of records which were selected as a result of a
FIND statement (as a
result of the WITH clause);
the number of values selected as a result of a
HISTOGRAM
statement;
the end offset of the fetched segment as a result of a
READLOB
statement;
the end offset of the inserted segment as a result of an
UPDATELOB
statement.
(r)
notation after *NUMBER is used to
indicate the statement label or source-code line number of the associated
statement. If (r) is not specified,
*NUMBER automatically refers to the innermost
active FIND,
HISTOGRAM or READLOB processing loop by
default. The (r) notation is always required, if
*NUMBER refers to an UPDATELOB
statement.
Note:
When *NUMBER is used in conjunction
with a FIND statement and the Adabas file accessed is protected by
the Adabas facility Security By Value, *NUMBER
will contain 9999999999, if more than 1 record was found. If 1
record was found, *NUMBER will contain 1. If no
record was found, *NUMBER will contain 0.
| VSAM | For VSAM databases, *NUMBER only
contains the number of records found when used with a
HISTOGRAM statement,
or with a FIND statement which uses the operator EQUAL
TO in the search criterion. With any other operator,
*NUMBER will not contain the number of records
found: *NUMBER will be 0 if no
records have been found; any other value indicates that records have been
found, but the value will have no relation to the number of records actually
found.
|
|---|---|
| SQL Databases | For SQL databases, *NUMBER only
contains the number of rows found, when used with a
FIND NUMBER
or with a HISTOGRAM
statement without a WHERE clause. In all other cases,
*NUMBER will not contain the number of rows found:
*NUMBER will be 0 if no rows have
been found; any value other than 0 indicates that rows have been
found, but the value will have no relation to the number of rows actually
found.
|
| DL/I | For DL/I databases, *NUMBER does
not contain the number of segment occurrences found. It contains 0
if no segment occurrence satisfies the search criterion, and it contains a
value of 8,388,607=X'7FFFFF' if at least one segment occurrence
satisfies the search criterion.
|
| Format/length: | I4 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable provides the current number of occurrences of an array. It can be applied to all kinds of array fields, with a fixed or variable number of occurrences.
This covers:
static arrays with a constant number of occurrences
Example: (1:5)
X-Arrays with an alterable number of occurrences
Example: (1:*)
parameter arrays, defined as (1:V)
Syntax:
*OCCURRENCE
(operand1 [,dim])
|
Operand Definition Table:
| Operand | Possible Structure | Possible Formats | Referencing Permitted | Dynamic Definition | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| operand1 | A | A | U | N | P | I | F | B | D | T | L | C | G | O | yes | no | ||||
operand1 is the array for which the number
of occurrences is returned. The index notation of the array is optional. If
supplied, only the complete range notation * is allowed for each dimension,
such as *OCC(#X(*)) or *OCC(#Y(*,*)).
dim is the dimension number for which the current number of occurrences is returned:
| dim = |
|
1 |
|
Explanation:
1 |
One-dimensional array. This is the default, if dim is not specified. |
2 |
Two-dimensional array. |
3 |
Three-dimensional array. |
* |
All dimensions defined for the corresponding array apply. |
In a parameter data area, you can use the index notation
(1:V) to define an array with a variable number of occurrences
(see the DEFINE DATA
statement). The current number of occurrences of such an array is determined at
runtime. With *OCCURRENCE, you can ascertain the
current number of array occurrences.
Examples:
DEFINE DATA
PARAMETER
1 #PARR (I2/1:V)
LOCAL
1 #FARR (I2/1:5)
1 #XARR1 (I2/1:*)
1 #XARR2 (I2/1:*,1:*)
1 #I (I2)
1 #J (I2)
END-DEFINE
FOR #I = 1 TO *OCC(#PARR) /* Parameter array
WRITE 2X #I
END-FOR
FOR #I = 1 TO *OCC(#FARR) /* Fixed array
WRITE 4X #I
END-FOR
EXPAND ARRAY #XARR1 TO (1:4)
FOR #I = 1 TO *OCC(#XARR1) /* X-Array
WRITE 6X #I
END-FOR
EXPAND ARRAY #XARR2 TO (1:3,1:4)
FOR #I = 1 TO *OCC(#XARR2,1) /* X-Array
FOR #J = 1 TO *OCC(#XARR2,2)
WRITE 8X #I #J
END-FOR
END-FOR
END
See also the example programs OCC1P and
OCC2P.
Concerning X-arrays, *OCCURRENCE contains
the current number of occurrences:
DEFINE DATA LOCAL 1 #I (I4) 1 #J (I4/1:3) 1 #XA (A5/1:*,1:*) END-DEFINE EXPAND ARRAY #XA TO (1:10,1:20) #I := *OCC(#XA) /* #I=10 #I := *OCC(#XA,1) /* #I=10 #I := *OCC(#XA,2) /* #I=20 #J(1:2) := *OCC(#XA,*) /* #J(1)=10 #J(2)=20 END
| Format/length: | U(dynamic) |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the name of the current event delivered from Natural for Ajax.
It is used for rich GUI programming with the
PROCESS
PAGE statement. For further information, see the
Natural for Ajax documentation.
| Format/length: | I4 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the level of the active
PROCESS PAGE
MODAL statement blocks.
If no
PROCESS PAGE
MODAL is active, the value of
*PAGE-LEVEL is 0.
Note:
If the value of *PAGE-LEVEL is greater
than 0, no output to Report 0 via an INPUT,
PRINT, WRITE or DISPLAY statement is
possible.
| Format/length: | A8 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the name of the Natural object that is currently being executed.
| Format/length: | A16 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable indicates if the application is in a state allowing
to execute a REINPUT
or PROCESS PAGE
UPDATE statement.
An application can use an INPUT and (if running with
Natural for Ajax) a
PROCESS PAGE
USING statement to perform an input/output processing. Under
certain conditions, an application may return and re-execute these I/O
statements with a REINPUT or PROCESS PAGE UPDATE
statement.
The value returned by this system variable indicates whether or not such a re-executing statement is possible at this position. It returns one of the following values:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| (blanks) | The application can neither perform a
REINPUT nor a PROCESS PAGE UPDATE statement.
|
REINPUT |
The application can perform a
REINPUT, but no PROCESS PAGE UPDATE
statement.
|
UPDATE |
The application can perform a PROCESS PAGE
UPDATE, but no REINPUT statement.
|
| Format/length: | I4 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the number of rows that were deleted,
updated or inserted by one of the Natural SQL statements
"searched"
DELETE,
"searched"
UPDATE or INSERT (with
select-expression),
respectively. *ROWCOUNT always refers to the last
executed one of these statements.
| Format/length: | A8 |
| Content modifiable: | Yes |
The program whose name is contained in this system variable will be
executed whenever Natural would otherwise display the command input prompt
(NEXT prompt or direct command line/window).
*STARTUP contains the name of the program
which has been entered in Natural Security as startup transaction in the
security profile of the respective library (except in batch mode; see also the
Natural
Security documentation).
If no startup transaction is specified or if Natural Security is not
used, the value of *STARTUP depends on the setting
of the profile parameter MENU:
If MENU=OFF is set,
*STARTUP is blank.
If MENU=ON is set,
*STARTUP contains MAINMENU; that is,
the Natural main menu will be displayed.
Via a Natural program, you can assign to
*STARTUP a program name which will always
overwrite its previous content.
Perform the following steps to deactivate the program contained in
*STARTUP:
Set the *STARTUP system variable to a
blank value, for example, by using the RESET *STARTUP
statement.
Terminate the startup program contained in *STARTUP.
Depending on the context in which *STARTUP is
used, there are several ways to properly terminate a startup program without
causing a program loop or Natural error NAT9969, respectively.
When you define a startup program, consider that values returned for
the system variables *DEVICE,
*SERVER-TYPE and
*SCREEN-IO can
affect the program result. For example, perform the following steps to avoid
undesired results:
In batch mode, include a FETCH or
STACK COMMAND statement
in the startup program; otherwise, a program loop or Natural error NAT9969 can
occur.
If you map a Natural Development Server environment from NaturalONE
and select a library with an active *STARTUP,
deactivate *STARTUP and make sure that the startup
program does not perform an I/O and terminates properly. You can use the
application programming interface USR4218N to find out whether NaturalONE is
your current system environment.
The startup mechanism is deactivated if you invoke the command input
prompt by entering the Natural terminal command
%% (or any equivalent
command) - either in a non-security environment or in a security environment in
which command mode is not prohibited for the current library. To subsequently
reactivate it, log on to the library again or execute a program which reassigns
the name of a program to *STARTUP.
In a Natural Security environment in which command mode is prohibited
for the current library, %% will cause the program whose
name is contained in *STARTUP to be invoked.
The startup program must contain a FETCH or
STACK COMMAND statement
if the NEXT/MORE line is not allowed in the security profile of the library
where the program resides. See also the corresponding option setting described
in Security Options in the section
Library Maintenance in the Natural
Security documentation.
When a Natural runtime error occurs which is caused by a startup
transaction (*STARTUP), Natural's error processing
might lead to the startup transaction being executed again. This would cause an
error-loop situation. To prevent such a loop, the general option Logoff
in error case if *STARTUP is active is available. See
Logoff in Error Case if *STARTUP is
Active in the Natural Security
documentation.
| Format/length: | A8 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the name of the steplib library which has been concatenated to the Natural library to which the user is currently logged on.
If Natural Security is not active, *STEPLIB
contains the name specified with the
profile parameter STEPLIB.
If Natural Security is active, the value may be defined in the security profile of a given library.
Note:
The database ID and file number of the
*STEPLIB library are derived from its name. Apart
from the library SYSTEM, libraries with the name
SYSxxx are assumed to be in
FNAT and other libraries are assumed to be in
FUSER.
| Format/length: | A32 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the name of the external subroutine that
is currently being executed. The contents of
*SUBROUTINE will always be in upper case.
| Format/length: | HANDLE OF OBJECT |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains a handle to the currently active object.
The currently active object uses *THIS-OBJECT to
either execute its own methods or pass a reference to itself to another
object.
*THIS-OBJECT only contains an actual value
when a method is being executed. Otherwise it contains
NULL-HANDLE.
| Format/length: | A32 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
This system variable contains the type of the Natural object which is currently executed.
Valid values of *TYPE:
| Value | Object Type |
|---|---|
PROGRAM |
Program |
FUNCTION |
Function |
SUBPROGRAM |
Subprogram |
SUBROUTINE |
Subroutine |
HELPROUTINE |
Helproutine |
MAP |
Map |
ADAPTER |
Adapter |
| Format/length: | I4 |
| Content modifiable: | No |
*UBOUND contains the current upper boundary
(index value) of an array for the specified dimension(s) (1, 2 or 3) or for all
dimensions (* notation).
Syntax:
*UBOUND
(operand1 [,dim])
|
Operand Definition Table:
| Operand | Possible Structure | Possible Formats | Referencing Permitted | Dynamic Definition | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| operand1 | A | A | U | N | P | I | F | B | D | T | L | C | G | O | yes | no | ||||
operand1 is the array for which the upper boundary is specified. The index notation of the array is optional. As index notation only the complete range notation * is allowed for each dimension.
dim is the dimension number for which the current upper boundary is returned:
| dim = |
|
1 |
|
If no dimension is specified, the upper bound of the first dimension is returned.
If 1, 2 or 3 is specified, the upper bound of the first, second or third dimension is returned.
If * is specified, the upper bound of all the defined dimensions are returned, that is
1 in case of an one dimensional array,
2 in case of a two dimensional array,
3 in case of three dimensional array.
If an X-array is not allocated and the upper bound of the specified
dimension of this X-array is the variable index bound, that is, it is
represented by an asterisk (*) character in the index definition, the upper
bound of the specified dimension is undefined, and access to
*UBOUND leads to a runtime error. In order to
avoid the runtime error, *OCCURRENCE may
be used to check against zero occurrences:
DEFINE DATA LOCAL 1 #XA(A5/1:*) END-DEFINE IF *OCCURRENCE (#XA) NE 0 AND *UBOUND(#XA) > 10 THEN ...
Examples:
DEFINE DATA LOCAL
1 #I (I4)
1 #J (I4/1:3)
1 #XA (A5/*:10,*:20)
END-DEFINE
#i := *UBOUND(#XA) /* upper bound of 1st dimension is 10
#i := *UBOUND(#XA,1) /* upper bound of 1st dimension is 10
#i := *UBOUND(#XA,2) /* upper bound of 2nd dimension is 20
#j(1:2):= *UBOUND(#XA,*) /* upper bound of all dimensions
/* (1st and 2nd)
/* #J(1) is 10 and #J(2) is 20
See also *LBOUND and
*OCCURRENCE.