General information about importing PL/I language structures

This topic provides general information about importing PL/I language structures.

General information

The Import PL/I Files wizard has two main functions:
  • It converts existing PL/I structures to service flow project messages that you can subsequently reference to pass data into or out of an invoked flow or an invoked nonterminal application; and
  • It allows you to immediately create new operations (program definitions) that reference the new messages.

The main situation in which you can use this wizard is where you have one or more existing PL/I data structures that you want to use as patterns for passing data into or for receiving data back from an invoked flow or an invoked nonterminal application. Rather than having to use the flow message editor to manually create a service flow project message for each PL/I data structure, you can use the Import PL/I Files wizard to automatically convert the PL/I structures to messages.

Note: To be imported, the PL/I file must have an extension of .pli, .inc, or .mac.

Also, you can optionally use the wizard to create one or more operations (program definitions), each of which can reference any of the new messages as an input message or output message.

Using the Import PL/I Files wizard

To start the Import PL/I Files wizard, do the following:
  1. Right-click any entry in the EST Project Explorer.
  2. Click Import > PL/I.

You can also start the Import PL/I Files wizard as follows:
  1. On the workbench main menu, select File > Import. The Import window appears.
  2. In the Import window:
    1. Expand Enterprise Service Tools.
    2. Select PL/I into Service Flow Project.

The following help topics describe the import options.