NATURAL Essentials (tm)

1 NATURALE ssentialsa self-study programming course bya self-study programming course byStephen Paul SimpsonStephen Paul SimpsonVersion Essentials Course 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson. All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for (page intentionally blank)Version Essentials Course 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson. All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for material is not intended as a master reference for NATURAL and should not be used as such. Althoughthe author has made every effort to be accurate, the accuracy and completeness of the informationpresented is not guaranteed. The author accepts no responsibility for loss of any kind resulting in any wayfrom use of this material.

2 Except as a former employee, the author is not connected with Software & License InformationThis original work is the intellectual property of Stephen Paul Simpson. Registered Users are welcome todownload and print this material for personal, non-profit use. To become a Registered User, please Although originally conceived as tool for individuals, someSoftware AG clients have chosen this course as a primer for new employees and contractors. Yourorganization can do the same by purchasing a modestly priced license to make and distribute an unlimitednumber of printed copies. The same license also allows you to install the course on a local area network. Formore information about this option, please visit or installing on a network without a license, altering the text, distributing/publishing individual parts ofthe course, distributing/publishing outside your organization and commercial/for-profit use all constituteinfringements of copyright and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the HistoryVersion published January 9, published August 24, published January 22, I actively refine and improve NATURAL Essentials , what you re reading may not be the currentversion.

3 Please visit for the latest NATURAL , ADABAS and CONSTRUCT are trademarks of Software AG. Acrobat and Acrobat Reader are trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. NATURAL Essentials , Only NATURAL ! , NATURAL Instructor Kit and NAT-U are trademarks of Stephen Paul Simpson. Any other trademarks used are the property of theirrespective Essentials Course 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson. All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for 1 - essential is NATURAL ?.. Data Areas (LDAs)..16 Parameter Data Areas (PDAs)..16 Global Data Areas (GDAs)..17 Data Area Mode vs Reporting Sequence Number (ISN)..21 Repeating 2 - essential of executable , subprogram and helproutine logic and in-line SUBROUTINE Essentials Course 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson.

4 All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for DATA := (becomes equal to) BY ALL GIVING GIVING GIVING TRANSLATE and statement INPUT USING function POS (position)..69 REINPUT WINDOW WINDOW statement INPUT WINDOW USING KEY USING FORM TOP OF PAGE variable * Essentials Course 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson. All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for ON FOR variable * BY variable * TRANSACTION TRANSACTION TRANSACTION DATA statement FIND variable * WORK FILE WORK FILE a routine or variables and Essentials Course 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson.

5 All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for variable * variable * variable * variable * variable * variable * function VAL (value)..135 System function SUBSTR (substring).. of 3 - essential of source source A - essential TOOLS & facilities Essentials Course 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson. All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for (generate) (scan/replace) (help) Area (view) field a map (edit field definition) field attribute field zero print field sign field field alphanumeric field color field edit (edit array definition) Editor main C NAMING D NATURAL Essentials Course 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson.

6 All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for the courseThis course includes all the information a technical person competent in another programming languageneeds to begin using NATURAL effectively and efficiently. For those students who need the interaction offormal classroom training, this material is intended to be a useful complement - included are many techniquesand personal insights they don t always teach you in is presented in 3 parts. Part 1 covers concepts, part 2 covers syntax, and part 3 contains complete sourcelistings and narratives for a simple application to demonstrate how things fit together. There are 3appendices. Appendix A covers the essential tools and commands to build NATURAL applications.

7 AppendixB contains naming convention guidelines. Appendix C contains a quiz to test your knowledge of the end, please take a few minutes to give me your feedback - your input will make this course I actively refine and improve NATURAL Essentials , what you re reading may not be the currentversion. The latest version of the course is available for free download at It can beviewed and/or printed using Acrobat Reader, which can also be downloaded. Please compare the versionnumber at the website with the one printed at the top of this page, ignoring the last (least significant) offeringsConsulting Services (Project Management, Systems Analysis & Design, Programming, Mentoring).. Discussion Group .. Essentials Course 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson.

8 All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for (page intentionally blank)Version Essentials CourseEssential Concepts 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson. All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for 1 essential ConceptsVersion Essentials CourseEssential Concepts 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson. All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for 1 - essential ConceptsThis part of the course introduces the essential concepts, primarily focusing on the different types of modulesthat make up a NATURAL application. Let s start by answering the obvious question.

9 What is NATURAL ? NATURAL is a proprietary programming language developed and marketed by Software AG. Since it is aproprietary language, this course is primarily intended for technical people already part of the Software AGworld and those who wish they were. Here s what they say about their product: NATURAL , the Company s 4GL programming language for the enterprise environment, is designed toincrease productivity in application software design, development and deployment. NATURAL supports Rapid Application Development to RDBMS environments with applications that are portable,scaleable and interoperable across multiple computing markets its products and services throughout North America, South America, Japan and Israel,and has global reach through access to Software AG s distribution channels in 50 countries.

10 [source: SAGA 1997 Annual Report]Applications developed using NATURAL are modular, which contributes to its success as a tool for RapidApplication Development. In general, each module is created, maintained and stored independently of anyothers. While NATURAL lends itself to an object-oriented approach to systems development, this coursedoes not attempt to teach object-oriented design - that s another subject in its own course was developed for version of Essentials CourseEssential Concepts 1999-2000, Stephen Paul Simpson. All rights reserved. Published at and distribution permitted only with a license; please see page 3 for concepts introduced in this part of the course are as follows: programs subprograms subroutines in-line subroutines external subroutines copycode Program Editor data definitions local data Local Data Areas (LDAs) parameter data Parameter Data Areas (PDAs) global data Global Data Areas (GDAs) Data Area Editor maps windows Map Editor PF keys helproutines libraries Structured Mode vs.