Introduction to the Natural Wrapper

The Natural Wrapper is part of the EntireX Workbench in Software AG Designer. It supports users to develop Natural client applications that access RPC-based server components and to create Natural RPC server skeletons, which you can use as a basis for writing Natural RPC servers that can be accessed by RPC clients.

The Natural Wrapper starts with a Software AG IDL file that describes the interfaces of the RPC server or RPC client components. During wrapping the IDL program names are mapped to suitable Natural names, which you can customize. This means that IDL program and IDL library names can be longer than eight characters and can even contain characters not allowed in Natural names.

For Natural client applications it generates the following:

  • Natural client interface objects (which are Natural subprograms; file extension .NSN) that can be used in Natural client applications to access a remote RPC component. If there is a related client-side mapping file (Natural | COBOL), this is also used (internally).

  • Parameter data areas (PDA; one for each client interface object; file extension .NSA) defining the interface to the Natural client interface objects. It is recommended to use the PDA in your Natural client application.

  • Sample Natural program (one for each interface object; file extension .NSP) that demonstrate how to call the client interface object. See Sample Generation Result for the Client Side for more information.

  • In addition, a helper local data area (LDA), NATRPCL, can be generated to support correct local compilation in a NaturalONE project in Software AG Designer. See Step 1: Specify the RPC Environment.

For Natural server applications it generates the following:

  • Natural RPC server skeletons (which are Natural subprograms; file extension .NSN).

  • Parameter data areas (PDA; one for each server skeleton; file extension .NSA) defining the interface to the RPC server.

  • If the server names (automatically generated or customized) differ from the IDL program names, a client-side mapping file is required. See Server Mapping Files for Natural. It is generated during generation of the RPC Server and has to be used in subsequent steps (wrapped into RPC client components).

To generate these objects from the IDL file you need a Natural RPC environment, that is, a Natural RPC server attached to an EntireX broker.