Writing ACI Servers for the RPC-ACI Bridge in Natural

The RPC-ACI Bridge is prepared for ACI servers written in Natural.

Tasks

Writing an ACI server consists of two tasks:
  • implement the Broker calls
  • implement the processing of the received buffer and the response for the send buffer

Using arrays of groups

If your programs use arrays of groups, you have to adjust the marshalling.

To adjust the marshalling for arrays of groups:
  1. Use the property entirex.rpcacibridge.marshalling for the configuration.
  2. Set the property to natural.

If your programs do not use arrays of groups, you do not need to set entirex.rpcacibridge.marshalling.

Data types

Table 1. Data types
Data Type Description Format Note
Anumber Alphanumeric number bytes, encoding the characters.  
AV Alphanumeric variable length Bytes up to the end of the buffer. 1
AV[number] Alphanumeric variable length with maximum length Bytes up to the end of the buffer, maximum length number. 1
Knumber Kanji Same as data type A.  
KV Kanji variable length Same as data type AV. 1
KV[number] Kanji variable length with maximum length Same as data type AV[number]. 1
I1 Integer (small) sign (+, -) and 3 bytes (digits).  
I2 Integer (medium) sign (+, -) and 5 bytes (digits).  
I4 Integer (large) sign (+, -) and 10 bytes (digits).  
Nnumber1[.number2] Unpacked decimal sign (+, -), number1 bytes (digits) [number2] bytes (digits), no decimal point.  
Pnumber1[.number2] Packed decimal sign (+, -), number1 bytes (digits) [number2] bytes (digits), no decimal point.  
L Logical 1 byte: X for true, all other false.  
D Date YYYYMMDD. 2
T Time YYYYMMDDhhmmssS. 3
Notes: 
  • 1 Only as last value.
  • 2 YYYY year, MM month, DD day.
  • 3 YYYY year, MM month, DD day, hh hour, mm minute, ss second, S tenth of a second.
Data Types not supported:
  • Binary (B[n],BV, BV[n])
  • Floating point (F4, F8)

Declaring the variables for the data types

Learn how to declare the variables for the data types. Use these declarations to map the receive buffer and the send buffer to variables. For some data types, the values have to be moved to a local variable before computation.

Example:
* Declaration
DEFINE DATA LOCAL
1 PNUMERIC (A012)
1 #NUMERIC (N8.3)
1 REDEFINE #NUMERIC
2 #NUMERIC1 (N11)
* Computation
    MOVE EDITED RCVE-DATA.PNUMERIC TO #NUMERIC1 (EM=S9(11))
    #NUMERIC := #NUMERIC + 1
    MOVE EDITED #NUMERIC1 (EM=S9(11)) to SEND-DATA.PNUMERIC
Table 2. Variables for the data types
Data Type Description Declaration and Marshalling
Anumber Alphanumeric Declaration for receive and send buffer: (An)
AV Alphanumeric variable length Declaration for receive and send buffer: (A) DYNAMIC
AV[number] Alphanumeric variable length with maximum length Declaration for receive and send buffer: (A) DYNAMIC
Knumber Kanji Declaration for receive and send buffer: (An)
KV Kanji variable length Declaration for receive and send buffer: (A) DYNAMIC
KV[number] Kanji variable length with maximum length Declaration for receive and send buffer: (A) DYNAMIC
I1 Integer (small) Declaration for receive and send buffer: (A4)MOVE EDITED to I1 variable with (EM=S9(3))
I2 Integer (medium) Declaration for receive and send buffer: (A6)MOVE EDITED to I2 variable with (EM=S9(5))
I4 Integer (large) Declaration for receive and send buffer: (A11)MOVE EDITED to I4 variable with (EM=S9(10))
Nnumber1[.number2] Unpacked decimal Declaration for receive and send buffer: (An), where n = number1 + number2 + 1 (one byte for the sign).

Redefine Nnumber1+number2 variable as Nnumber1.number2 variable.

MOVE EDITED to Nnumber1+number2 variable with (EM=S9(number1 + number2))
Pnumber1[.number2] Packed decimal Declaration for receive and send buffer: (An), where n = number1 + number2 + 1 (one byte for the sign).

Redefine Pnumber1+number2 variable as Pnumber1.number2 variable.

MOVE EDITED to Pnumber1+number2

variable with (EM=S9(number1 + number2))
L Logical Declaration for receive and send buffer: (A1)
D Date Declaration for receive and send buffer: (A8)MOVE EDITED to Date variable with (EM=YYYYMMDD)
T Time Declaration for receive and send buffer: (A15)MOVE EDITED to Time variable with (EM=YYYYMMDDHHIISST)