Manual Natural - Sf Ag

Natural
Programming Guide

Version 6.3.10 for UNIX

February 2011

This document applies to Natural Version 6.3.10 for UNIX. Specifications contained herein are subject to change and these changes will be reported in subsequent release notes or new editions. Copyright © 1992-2011 Software AG, Darmstadt, Germany and/or Software AG USA, Inc., Reston, VA, United States of America, and/ortheir licensors. Detailed information on trademarks and patents owned by Software AG and/or its subsidiaries is located at http://documentation.softwareag.com/legal/. Use of this software is subject to adherence to Software AG's licensing conditions and terms. These terms are part of the product documentation, located at http://documentation.softwareag.com/legal/ and/or in the root installationdirectory of the licensed product(s). This software may include portions of third-party products. For third-party copyright notices and license terms, please refer to "License Texts, Copyright Notices and Disclaimers of Third-Party Products". This document is part of the product documentation, located at http://documentation.softwareag.com/legal/ and/or in the root installation directory of thelicensed product(s).

Table of Contents
1 Programming Guide ....................................................................................................... 1 2 Natural Programming Modes ......................................................................................... 3 Purpose of Programming Modes ...............................................................................4 Setting/Changing the Programming Mode ............................................................... 5 Functional Differences ............................................................................................... 5 3 Object Types .................................................................................................................. 11 4 Using Natural Programming Objects............................................................................ 13 Types of Programming Objects ................................................................................ 14 Creating and Maintaining Programming Objects .................................................... 14 5 Data Areas..................................................................................................................... 15 Use of Data Areas ..................................................................................................... 16 Local Data Area ........................................................................................................ 16 Global Data Area ...................................................................................................... 17Parameter Data Area ................................................................................................ 26 6 Programs, Functions, Subprograms and Subroutines .................................................. 31 A Modular Application Structure ............................................................................ 32 Multiple Levels of Invoked Objects......................................................................... 32 Program .................................................................................................................... 34 Function .................................................................................................................... 37 Subroutine................................................................................................................ 39 Subprogram .............................................................................................................. 44 Processing Flow when Invoking a Routine .............................................................. 46 7 Processing a Rich GUI Page - Adapter .......................................................................... 49 8 Maps...