Creating a business object from a source file

Using the external data wizard, you can create a business object from a C, COBOL or PL/I source file. You can also create a wrapper business object from an existing business object to be used with the EMail, Flat File and FTP adapters. A wrapper business object provides more fields for information related to the particular adapter you selected.

1. Right-click your module and from the menu, select New > External Data. The External Data window opens. For the EMail, FTP or Flat File adapters, you can create a wrapper business object from a business object. For the purpose of this example, under Languages, select COBOL (CICS Channel). At the end or this set of steps, the other choice, creating a wrapper business object, is discussed.

   Note that each language (C, COBOL or PL/I) has three choices:

   • A language which will have one output value at run time
   • A language with CICS® channel support. Traditionally, CICS programs have used communication areas (COMMAREAs) to exchange data. Channels and containers provide an improved method for transferring data between programs, in amounts that exceed the 32KB limit that applies to COMMAREAs. A container is a named block of data that is used to pass information between programs (it can be thought of as a named COMMAREA). Any number of containers can be passed between programs through the use of a channel.
   • A language with multiple outputs, which means at run time one of the outputs will be selected to return a value.

   Click Next.

2. The Business Object Mapping Details page opens. Select New beside the Containers pane. In the following page, browse to a COBOL file on your computer. Click Next.
3. The Select Data Structures page opens. Platform and code page are already completed for you, but you can change them. The platform and properties specified here must be those of the target platform where the CICS transaction is running (z/OS®, Windows, and so on). The defaults shown are taken from the preferences set for the COBOL importer in the preferences page. To see these preferences, from the menu select Window > Preferences > Importer > COBOL.

   Clicking Advanced reveals other fields you can change such as the floating-point format. Click Find beside the Data structures pane. The wizard returns the data structures in the COBOL file. Select the one you want. Click Finish.

4. You are returned to the Business Object Mapping Details page. Your selection is in the Containers pane. You could continue adding more containers. Click Next.
5. The Generate Business Objects page opens. You can choose to change or create a new module at this point. The name of the generated business object will be the data structure name if you do not change it. Specifying a folder is recommended since otherwise all generated files will be in the root module folder, which will make them difficult to manage. Generation style, which in this case you will see if you select the container name, lets you choose several options that can shorten the length of the generated file names. A CICS channel name and container name must be specified. Click Finish to complete the generation of your business objects.