How to use this documentation

Language reference

The EGL Language Reference focuses exclusively on the concepts, syntax, and usage of EGL itself. That is, this documentation does not cover the user interface or generation process. You are not expected to read straight through, but to use the index, the table of contents, and the cross references to find specific answers to your programming questions.

Generation Guide

The EGL Generation Guide focuses on the generation process, and in the case of generation of Java, it also covers the deployment process. This volume is designed for the user who will generate Java or COBOL output from EGL source files. It covers generatable parts, types of input to the generation process, output of the generation process, and the various methods of deployment.

Programmer's Guide

The EGL Programmer's Guide covers using EGL within the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and the EGL user interface, including tools that help you write code faster and edit the various EGL source files. This guide also summarizes the main types of projects you can create with EGL and explains common tasks you may need to perform.

Tutorials and samples

The EGL tutorials and samples in the product provide a hands-on way to get familiar with EGL programming.

EGL Java error codes

The EGL Java error codes focuses on troubleshooting information. Error messages and codes produced by EGL are describe within this topic. Included in the message description is an explanation and responses for resolving the issue documented by the message. Messages are listed in consecutive order.

Rational® delivers EGL in components, allowing you to choose the features appropriate to your programming needs. There is a core EGL that consists of the basic program parts and keywords, and there are extensions to that core that allow you to perform various specialized tasks or to work with other technologies like SQL.

Thus many of the subjects in this documentation have a topic that deals with the core meaning of the term, plus additional topics that explore the way the core meaning changes in other contexts. For example, the get statement provides the fundamental "read" capability for the language. If you use SQL for your database management, you would need to read the core "get" topic as well as "get considerations for SQL."

In addition, some topics have compatibility considerations for specific platforms, such as IMS/VS or CICS®. Look for such considerations, when appropriate, in a table at the end of the topic.

When the manual refers simply to IMS™, it means both IMS/VS and IMS BMP.