Programming Guide

This document is complementary to the Natural documentation listed in the Language section (main documentation overview) and provides basic information essential for writing applications in Natural.

Other Related Documentation:

  • First Steps - Tutorial with a series of sessions which introduce you to some of the basics of Natural programming.

  • Using Natural - Tools, commands and customization options for managing Natural objects and applications.

  • For information on Natural application programming interfaces (APIs), see: SYSEXT - Natural Application Programming Interfaces in the Utilities documentation.

Natural Programming Modes Reporting mode and structured mode
Objects for Natural Application Management Objects (for example, programs and data areas) used for Natural application management
Function Call Definition of function calls
Field Definitions Variable, constant and array definitions
Database Access Natural access in an Adabas or non-Adabas database
Report Format and Control Format and control of output report data
Further Programming Aspects Other programming aspects:

Text notation
User comments
Data computation
Rules for arithmetic assignment
Conditional processing - IF statement
Logical condition criteria
Loop processing
Control breaks
Stack processing
System variables and system functions
Processing of date information
Processing of store clock values
End of statement, program or application
Processing of application errors
Invoking Natural subprograms from 3GL programs
Issuing operating system commands from within a Natural program

Statements for Internet Access and Parsing Natural statements for internet, JSON, and XML access
Portable Natural Generated Programs Programs portable across UNIX, OpenVMS and Windows
Application User Interfaces Natural character-based application user interfaces for dialog and screen design
Natural Native Interface Non-Natural applications executing Natural code with C function calls.
NaturalX Object-based programming with NaturalX components and dedicated Natural statements
Natural Reserved Keywords List of all keywords reserved for the Natural language
Referenced Example Programs Natural program examples referenced in the Programming Guide

Notation vrs or vr

When used in this documentation, the notation vrs or vr represents the relevant product version (see also Version in the Glossary).