In order to launch a Natural Application (for executing, debugging or profiling), the Eclipse Launch configuration framework is used with the standard Eclipse commands Run As, Debug As and Profile As.
Within these commands NaturalONE is exposing a launch shortcut named Natural Application which maintains a configuration named Default Launch. Depending on the context where the shortcut is used, this launch will be updated accordingly.
Note
The Default Launch configuration is created the first time the
Natural Application shortcut is used.
The following picture shows the information filled into the Natural Application tab of the Default Launch configuration for launching a Natural application:
When one of the following commands
Run As - Natural Application
Debug As - Natural Application
Profile As - Natural Application
is applied inside the Project MyFirstProject on the program
HELLO.NSP in library TUTORIAL, then the
Program field is populated with the corresponding path. In
addition, the I/O relevant information is taken from the Natural I/O Runtime Preferences.
The following picture shows the information how the Natural Server tab of the Default Launch configuration is populated when launching a Natural application:
The Natural Server tab is addressing the runtime environment of the
application. This information is retrieved from the Natural project properties (except the
field), in this example from
MyFirstProject which is using the local runtime.
Note
Keep in mind: This Default Launch configuration is being modified
whenever the Natural Application shortcut is applied on different objects, for example
when an object of MySecondProject running on a Linux runtime is selected then
the Default Launch is populated with the corresponding path and
server information.
When designing an application, the startup program is sometimes located in a steplib,
and the main program which is invoked by the startup program is located in a different
library. In order to run the startup program directly from the steplib, you have to
define a different start library in the launch configuration of the startup program,
using the option Start in library. This option corresponds to the
Natural system command LOGON which is available with Natural for
Mainframes, Linux and Windows.
Note
As already mentioned above, the field is
not filled automatically (similar to the other Natural server parameters), but must be
added by the user when required. Therefore, a custom Natural launch should be created
instead of adding this field to the Default Launch. This can be
achieved by copying the Default Launch to Custom
Launch using the Run Configurations dialog and then
manually modifying the appropriate field(s).
Suppose your application has the following structure: The project properties define the
library STEP as the steplib for all libraries within your project. The
library MYLIB contains the main program named MYPROG, and the
library STEP contains the startup program named MENU. The
program MENU calls the program MYPROG which is located in a
different library.
When you try to run the application by executing the program MENU, an
error will occur because the program MYPROG cannot be found in the current
library STEP. To avoid this error, you have to define a different start
library as described below.
Note
When working with Natural itself (for example, with Natural for Mainframes), this
would not be a problem: You would define STEP as a steplib of
MYLIB so that the program MENU can be found in the steplib.
Then you would simply LOGON to the library MYLIB
and EXECUTE the program MENU.
Depending on the application to be executed or debugged, it is also possible to specify the corresponding application parameter values in the Parameter field of the tab. The individual parameters must be separated by one or more blank characters.
Note
As with the field, these parameters are
application-specific. Therefore, a custom Natural launch should be created instead of
adding the parameters to the Default Launch to avoid that selecting
a different application in the workspace would then get the parameters of the previously
used application.
It is also possible to launch an application with the F11 (Debug) or CTRL+F11 (Execute) key binding. This is not specific to NaturalONE but standard Eclipse functionality. These key bindings always process the launch which was last executed.
Instead of using the Natural Application shortcut (which always uses the Default Launch), you can also create multiple launch configurations for different application launches (e.g. "Appl_LinuxLaunch_with_Parameters", "Appl_WinLaunch_with_StartLibray" etc.) and execute these launches using the appropriate commands in the Eclipse menu.
