MCTool Version 1.2.
MANTIS TO COBOL (AND SUPRA TO DB2*)
CONVERSION TOOL (Mainframes)
Objectives.
The purpose of MCTool is to provide an automatic conversion from Mantis to Cobol (with or without Supra to DB2).
Is a set of facilities for conversion of Mantis code directly to Cobol for execution in mainframes /390 in Cics Transaction Server environment.
Main aims in design are:
A.- Maximum possible automatic conversion.
B.- Fast and straightforward Tool execution.
C.- Full log of conversion process.
Addressed requirements/needs.
- Installations pursuing Cobol standardization.
- Accessing all CICS facilities, multisystem support among others.
- Migration to standard DB , for a subset of SUPRA.
- Performance improvements.
- Cost issues.
Execution environment.
OS/390, Cics Transaction Server, Cobol for OS/390, Language Environment, 31 bit addressing.
Compatibility.
While every effort was made to get a 100% compatible output there are language differences that call for emulation techniques. Map processing, among others, are some of these. For a few items the tool has no implementation. See the appropiate chapter for detailed explanations.
Tool execution.
At present the Tool System executes on a PC Rexx environment. Print data from Mantis utilities is fed in any available media and generated Cobol source output can be transferred back to /390 . Tool output includes BMS jobstreams to catalog related screens (hereon named maps). Also Tool runs produce a) a log containing all items of interest, b) an special, non executable, Cobol source with interspersed Mantis code as comments if Mantis/Cobol correspondence is of interest.
Conversion process.
At project start the user must supply some general parameters to be used throughout the conversion process like date installation default, some labels for files and the like.
CONVERSION TOOL (Mainframes)
Objectives.
The purpose of MCTool is to provide an automatic conversion from Mantis to Cobol (with or without Supra to DB2).
Is a set of facilities for conversion of Mantis code directly to Cobol for execution in mainframes /390 in Cics Transaction Server environment.
Main aims in design are:
A.- Maximum possible automatic conversion.
B.- Fast and straightforward Tool execution.
C.- Full log of conversion process.
Addressed requirements/needs.
- Installations pursuing Cobol standardization.
- Accessing all CICS facilities, multisystem support among others.
- Migration to standard DB , for a subset of SUPRA.
- Performance improvements.
- Cost issues.
Execution environment.
OS/390, Cics Transaction Server, Cobol for OS/390, Language Environment, 31 bit addressing.
Compatibility.
While every effort was made to get a 100% compatible output there are language differences that call for emulation techniques. Map processing, among others, are some of these. For a few items the tool has no implementation. See the appropiate chapter for detailed explanations.
Tool execution.
At present the Tool System executes on a PC Rexx environment. Print data from Mantis utilities is fed in any available media and generated Cobol source output can be transferred back to /390 . Tool output includes BMS jobstreams to catalog related screens (hereon named maps). Also Tool runs produce a) a log containing all items of interest, b) an special, non executable, Cobol source with interspersed Mantis code as comments if Mantis/Cobol correspondence is of interest.
Conversion process.
At project start the user must supply some general parameters to be used throughout the conversion process like date installation default, some labels for files and the like.
Map processing.
Mantis screen definitions are converted to BMS code and Cics handling of maps is native CICS/BMS/COBOL, except where noted otherwise.
CICS/BMS does not support:
- Input fields translation to upper/lowercase
- Field structures (indexing)
For upper/lowercase translation the Tool System does it adding code after map input.
Field indexing is handled generating the structure copys directly into the generated Cobol Source.
Therefore map support is fully compatible if:
- There is no case translation
- There is no indexing and as such maps may be altered or modified by known BMS standards.
Map prefix is fully supported.
Naming conventions.
Since OS/390 does not support program names longer than 8, the user must select an algorithm for naming programs based on present Mantis name, establishing rules a) fixed data, (b)number of characters to be included from high order characters of Mantis name, and (c) number of characters to be included from low order characters.
The log records Mantis name and asigned new name and calls for inclusion in CICS tables.
Called programs, as long as their names are known at conversion time, will be changed accordingly. If and when the called program name is loaded into a variable before the call is made, a warning is written to log calling for action.Also CICS does not support map names longer than 7 characters. The Tool System builds a valid name selecting some characters from left and right hand of the string by itself. A note for mapname inclusion in Cics tables is recorded in the log.
For Mantis Access, the Tool System will use the file name used by CICS (instead of the Mantis programmer name) and therefore it is transparent to the user.
Mantis files.
Mantis local Files are, of course, not supported by CICS. Where these exist, a conversion to VSAM must be done. The data must be unloaded, an appropiate VSAM define cluster must be run, the data loaded and file definitions in CICS must be included. The Tool System will generate full support for these as normal VSAM files.
Background.
The Cobol execution will be an Cobol interpretation of Mantis code, obviously with the pathlength of Mantis structure and would surely not execute as well as a Cobol natively designed and written program.
Cobol generated code will execute in conversational mode.
Mantis screen definitions are converted to BMS code and Cics handling of maps is native CICS/BMS/COBOL, except where noted otherwise.
CICS/BMS does not support:
- Input fields translation to upper/lowercase
- Field structures (indexing)
For upper/lowercase translation the Tool System does it adding code after map input.
Field indexing is handled generating the structure copys directly into the generated Cobol Source.
Therefore map support is fully compatible if:
- There is no case translation
- There is no indexing and as such maps may be altered or modified by known BMS standards.
Map prefix is fully supported.
Naming conventions.
Since OS/390 does not support program names longer than 8, the user must select an algorithm for naming programs based on present Mantis name, establishing rules a) fixed data, (b)number of characters to be included from high order characters of Mantis name, and (c) number of characters to be included from low order characters.
The log records Mantis name and asigned new name and calls for inclusion in CICS tables.
Called programs, as long as their names are known at conversion time, will be changed accordingly. If and when the called program name is loaded into a variable before the call is made, a warning is written to log calling for action.Also CICS does not support map names longer than 7 characters. The Tool System builds a valid name selecting some characters from left and right hand of the string by itself. A note for mapname inclusion in Cics tables is recorded in the log.
For Mantis Access, the Tool System will use the file name used by CICS (instead of the Mantis programmer name) and therefore it is transparent to the user.
Mantis files.
Mantis local Files are, of course, not supported by CICS. Where these exist, a conversion to VSAM must be done. The data must be unloaded, an appropiate VSAM define cluster must be run, the data loaded and file definitions in CICS must be included. The Tool System will generate full support for these as normal VSAM files.
Background.
The Cobol execution will be an Cobol interpretation of Mantis code, obviously with the pathlength of Mantis structure and would surely not execute as well as a Cobol natively designed and written program.
Cobol generated code will execute in conversational mode.
Demo available on request.
You are invited to send your data for a free test conversion.
Please, contat us.
* ONLY a SUPRA subset is supported.
You are invited to send your data for a free test conversion.
Please, contat us.
* ONLY a SUPRA subset is supported.
