• The new Connect* IVPs
• Upgrading to System 1032 V9.70-0

The new Connect* IVPs

 

by Agnes O'Donnell and William Laub

 

CCA looks forward to releasing Connect* V2.0 with Model 204 V4R1 at the end of June. This latest release of Connect* offers a significant new feature, the Installation Verification Programs (IVPs).

Two IVPs are installed with Connect*. Both applications, CLIIVP and ODBCIVP, enable you to:

• Verify that you have installed Connect* successfully, because you can query a Model 204 Online from your PC.
• Access the Model 204 database from your PC interactively, using Remote Command Line (RCL) calls (Model 204 commands or User Language commands and programs) or Standard Query Language (SQL) queries.
• Copy the IVP sample source code and then modify your copy to develop your own application, or examine the code for tips.

Each IVP offers advantages. As a CCA specific Call Level Interface to a Model 204 Online, the CLIIVP provides top speed, while the ODBCIVP offers you the flexibility to use generic code with multiple ODBC compliant database interfaces. You can also use ODBCIVP to verify that you have set up an ODBC data source correctly for use with an application such as Visual Basic or ReportSmith.

RCL threads now available

With the availability of single line returns in an RCL thread, you can access Model 204 from a Client or Web application with the power of your user applications and APSY subsystems. The only functions that are not available with an RCL thread are full-screen I/O and the EOJ command, which allows you to shut down Model 204.

Defining an RCL or SQL process group

You can define a link for process groups to enable client and Web applications to connect to your Online through SQL and RCL threads. See Example 1, which defines two process groups.

Example 1. Defining two process groups.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
* DEFINE CONNECT* LINK supporting SQL and RCL threads *
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
DEFINE LINK TCPSQL WITH SCOPE=SYSTEM TRANSPORT=TCP PROTOCOL=PRX1 -
LOCALID=ANY INBUFSIZE=4096 CONNECTIONS=4 SERVPORT=nnnn
DEFINE PROCESSGROUP ANY192 WITH SCOPE=SYSTEM LINK=TCPSQL -
INLIMIT=9 OUTLIMIT=9 REMOTEID=192.0.0.0 LOGIN=NOTRUST -
GUESTUSER=REJECT MASK=255.0.0.0
DEFINE PROCESSGROUP ANY204 WITH SCOPE=SYSTEM LINK=TCPSQL -
INLIMIT=9 OUTLIMIT=9 REMOTEID=204.0.0.0 LOGIN=NOTRUST -
GUESTUSER=REJECT MASK=255.0.0.0
DEFINE PROCESS CCARSQL WITH SCOPE=SYSTEM DATALEN=32763 -
FROM=(ANY192,ANY204)
OPEN LINK TCPSQL

Using the interactive interface to Model 204

When you establish a connection through the IVP, either an Interactive RCL or Interactive SQL dialog box appears, depending on your choice of thread. Use the input area in the Interactive RCL (or SQL) dialog box to create a new procedure (you can just copy and modify the sample code provided with Connect*) or open a procedure that is on the mainframe. Then run the procedure and save the output as a PC file. If you also save the input as a PC file, you can open it later.

Suppose that you want your GUI application to run "canned" requests that generate output from Model 204, and then return the output to a PC file, all without user intervention. Using the interactive interface in the CLIIVP or the ODBCIVP, you can do exactly that.

Using the Batch Job command, you can open the input file and create an output file directly from the input area of the Interactive RCL (or SQL) dialog box. This is recommended if you know that the input file exceeds 32 Kbytes or that the output from Model 204 is going to be equally large; it can be done for any input.

Creating and running a Model 204 procedure

With the Interactive RCL dialog box open and your cursor in the input area:

1. Open a Model 204 file containing procedures.

2. Enter d list to display a list of procedures.

3. Display one of the procedures by entering:

d (label) Procname

4. Run all or part of the procedure:

• To input a command in the procedure to the Model 204 compiler, highlight the command in the input area and click on the Exec Marked button in the Interactive RCL dialog box.
  
• To input the entire procedure, place the cursor at the beginning and click on the Go button.

Overlaying a procedure

If you modify the procedure before running it, you can create a new procedure by overwriting the procedure name at the top of the file:

1. In the Interactive RCL dialog box, put the cursor in the input area.

2. Click on the Open button and select the file that you modified:

Procname.rcl

3. Modify the procedure, as needed.

4. Click on the Go button or press Alt/G to run the procedure. Because you modified the procedure, the Results dialog box displays:

Do you really want to replace procedure_name?

5. In the input area of the Interactive RCL dialog box, replace the input procedure text with Y to overlay the old procedure with the new one.

Shortcut for replacing text: Place the cursor anywhere in the input area, press Alt/E, and choose Edit > Select All.

Viewing the output and saving it to a PC file

Output is displayed as it is generated in the Results dialog box of the IVP. You can save this output to a PC file:

1. With the Results dialog box active, select File > Save As from the application's main dialog box.

2. Enter a file name in the Save As dialog box (the default file name extension is .out).

The new file name is stored by default on your PC in the Windows directory where Connect* is installed. You can change the location.

Saving the input procedure to a PC file

With the cursor in the input area, click on the Save As button in the RCL Interactive dialog box and enter a file name. Use the default .rcl file name extension (for example, Procname.rcl), because the system looks for this when you use the IVP to open the procedure later as input.

Using the Batch Job command

To open an input file from the Interactive RCL (or SQL) dialog box and save the output directly to a Results file:

1. Put the cursor in the input area.

2. Select Command > Batch Job command.

3. Specify the input file name in the Open RCL file name or the Open SQL file name dialog box.

4. Specify the output file name in the Save As file name dialog box.

When you click on OK, the IVP sends the input request to the Model 204 database. The IVP receives the data sent from the Model 204 Online, displays the last 32K, and saves the data to the output file you specified.

Automating a procedure

You can write an application to automate a series of procedures. For example, you might have a Model 204 procedure named numproc, which generates some numbers. Using the Connect* API, you can create an application that opens numproc, generates the data as comma-delimited numbers, and outputs the data to a PC file, numproc.out. The application can then automatically open a spreadsheet, open numproc.out, and import the data into the spreadsheet.

Upgrading to System 1032 V9.70-0

by Tym Stegner

Do you have concerns about upgrading to V9.70 from a previous version of System 1032? This article addresses those concerns so that you can upgrade to the newly released V9.70 version with confidence.

For various reasons owing to site circumstances, you might be running a less-than-current version, anything from V9.40 to V9.00 or even V8.00. Perhaps your site has hesitated to upgrade, because of the inevitable questions that arise, such as:

• Can I skip intervening versions and just install V9.70-0?
• What's new in previous versions?
• Must I relink my programs?
• Rebuild my libraries?
• Reload my datasets?

For the most part, upgrading to V9.70 is painless; just install the software and keep on running as usual. The few changes to watch out for are described in this article. These changes affect the default environment of System 1032. The extent to which they affect your site depends on how you use System 1032. (These changes are also described in the System 1032 V9.70 Release Notes.)

From V8.00 through V9.70, five versions of System 1032 have been released: V9.00, V9.20, V9.40, V9.60, and V9.61 (omitting the maintenance versions for V9.40 and V9.60). Only the changes to the default System 1032 environment are listed here. For a description of all the changes, see the appropriate versions of System 1032 Release Notes and System 1032 Features and Enhancements.

Changes in V9.00

• The Command Window Interface changed the default look and feel of the user interface to a split-window display. To restore the line mode style interface in V9.70, assign one of the line modes to the new system variable, $cmd_mode:
  
  LET $CMD_MODE = "LINE_EDIT" ! or "LINE"
• To enable passing of missing values, logical input parameters passed to external procedures now send real System 1032 logical values (true=1, false=0, missing has bit 1 set). (V8.00 sent a byte with all bits set for true and all bits off for false.) Modify your external procedures to handle the missing incoming values.

Changes in V9.20

• The System 1032 detached process for interprocess communications was replaced with the OpenVMS Distributed Lock Manager and the CDTUSS User System Service. Unlike previous versions allowing a parallel version environment, you cannot have a catalog open in both a SIMUL (Pre-V9.20) and non-SIMUL (Post-V9.20) environment. A catalog lockout prevents updates from both modes at the same time.

Changes in V9.40

• The initial form-feed on paged channel [reports] is now suppressed. To restore previous formatting, assign the new system variable $INIT_FEED to true:
  
  LET $INIT_FEED = TRUE;
  

Note: $INIT_FEED is omitted from the System 1032 Reference Booklet.

• License Activation Forms (LAFs) were changed so that LAFs issued prior to the V9.40-1 activator no longer work.
• Alpha platform support:
  • Recompile or VEST any System 1032 programs or external procedures to operate on the Alpha platform.
    
  • Reformat option files for linking System 1032 API programs for Alpha.
    
  • The Date_Time, Time, and Time_Span attributes reflect the micro/-millisecond precision of the Alpha clock.
    
  • DM_COMMON on Alpha interprets an unsigned integer as logical.
    
  • DM_COMMON'd variables must be marked so that the language compiler does not optimize them.
    
  • Changes to floating point storage on the Alpha might cause precision difference in both single- and double-precision Real attributes and variables.
    
  • Alignment of program data structures might cause a data mismatch with the program's RD.
    
  • System 1032 does not accept DEC FORTRAN noncontiguous array descriptors.

Changes in V9.60

• On Alpha machines, the DM_FLG_CMD procedure loses the compilation options; it performs as a DM_CMD instead.
• You can no longer enter LAF codes manually. You must supply LAF codes as a data file, usually named S1032_DEFAULTS.DAT.
• Embedded spaces in text items that are output using SV formats display differently, usually by providing more lines of output than before.

In most cases, you can restore previous environment settings for System 1032 by including the following lines in the systemwide System 1032 initialization file (S1032_SYSINI:):

LET $CMD_MODE = "LINE_EDIT", !line interface mode

$INIT_FEED = TRUE, !leading form-feed in reports

$CREATE_IGNERR = TRUE, !see all create errors

$DAMAGE_ERROR = TRUE; !ds damage always an error

Version	System 1032 Features and Enhancements
V9.00	Command Window Interface System 1032/Request COLLECT JOIN and related commands for joined collections National Character Set support Memory buffer support via INIT/GET_OUTPUT tool procedures Windows Toolkit programmers' toolkit for developing X Windows display application
V9.20	MAIL tools, DB/MATE, SAS interface Greatly expanded set of system functions, including many of the common Date, Math, and String system functions, formerly available only as called procedures Enhancement of DM_COMMON to link to an existing variable, and for additional date/time support New system variable $CREATE_IGNERR New procedure header option NO_DEBUG
V9.40	Support for the Alpha platform OPEN command trigger support New and updated tools procedures, including EDIT, TPU, PRINT_FILE, SUBMIT, and TYPE_FILE New system variable $OPEN_ACC that tells you if a catalog was opened READ or READ/WRITE New system variable $INIT_FEED that controls the leading form-feed on paged channels Multinational character set support
V9.60	BINARY VARYING data type support SHOW FILE command for examining dataset header information $OPEN_READONLY system variable to force read-only opens $SORTWORK_COUNT system variable to enable more then two sortwork temporary files for large sort operations (requires definitions of the SORTWORKn logical names) New tools procedures, including GETDVI, GETQUI, and GETSYI
V9.70	Update trigger procedures $ID retrieval added to record descriptors Year 2000 enhancements

Copyright © 2008 Computer Corporation of America.
All right reserved. Published in the United States of America.

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