This document describes purpose and use of the Natural Development Server file, a central
dictionary file that is structurally identical to the Natural system file
FDIC.
The following topics are covered:
As Natural stores its data in system files, Natural Development Server stores its data in
the system file that is assigned to the Natural parameter FDIC, a
logical system file which is called the "development server file".
The development server file is used as a central dictionary file for storing Natural applications and the links to objects making up an application. It also holds object locking information. This information is not bound to certain groups of application developers, but has an impact on the entire application development of an enterprise. Therefore, this file should be available only once, to ensure that the application definitions and locking states are kept consistent.
Note
The documentation of a Predict Program object, with the object's implementation
pointer completely filled (i.e. Natural member name, library name, user system file
number, and user system file database id), is deleted when the Natural member is deleted
in an NDV environment. By default, the switch "Delete documentation with
deletion of Natural member" is initialized with "Y",
i.e. deleting the existing documentation. If you wish to keep the documentation set this
new switch to "N".
The development server file layout corresponds to the file layout of the Natural system
file FDIC used by Predict. This means that the central dictionary file can
also be used to hold Predict data, but Predict is not a prerequisite for using the
development server file. This enables you to use your existing application documentation
in the application definitions of the remote development environment.
It is of vital importance that the various remote development environments that can be mapped use a common and unique development server file.
Non-compliance with this requirement may give rise to inconsistencies in object locking and in the applications existing in the application workspace.
In a Natural Development Server that is protected by Natural Security, the use of another
FDIC file in the application workspace is prevented if the application
security profiles are activated. See also Application Protection in the
Natural Security documentation.
