VisualAge Generator Generation Guide

Appendix B. Implementing a generation server

Because generation is a resource-intensive operation, you may wish to generate on a system other than the workstation on which you normally run VisualAge Generator Developer. You can set up a generation server to handle your generation jobs or the generation jobs of multiple programmers.

To implement a LAN generation server, you must customize the VisualAge Generator Developer configuration on the generation server and on the client. On the server, most of the customization is handled automatically. On the client, more manual customization is required.

When you are installing VisualAge Generator Developer on a LAN generation server, shared files are placed in a directory on a shared drive that is used for communication between the client and the server. Before you begin installation, you need to know what type of network you will be using and which drive will be shared.

Sample files

VisualAge Generator Developer provides sample REXX programs to help you implement a generation server. During installation, these sample files are placed in the installation directory (by default, C:\Program Files\IBM\VisualAge for Java or C:\Program Files\Vast). You must customize these files for your specific LAN server and operating system environment to provide the required processing support. These sample programs are command-driven and are not directly available on the graphical user interface.

You can use the user interface for generation to create generation command files that invoke the EFKREQ.CMD or EFKREQ.REX client code if the following criteria are true:

• CALL EFKREQ is selected on the Batch generation command portion of the VisualAge Generator Options window when Generation is selected in the left pane.
• Batch Generation is selected on the Generate window.

Note:

The sample REXX programs are the recommended method for running VisualAge Generator Developer on a generation server. It is recommended that you do not use the NET RUN service.

To run these REXX programs on Windows NT you will need to obtain and install REXX support; this is provided by the product IBM Object REXX for Windows NT and Windows 95 (5801-AAR). You need the interpreter edition (Feature 1569, part number 10J9392).

Figure B-1 shows the names of the sample files provided for OS/2 and Windows NT.

Figure B-1. Sample files provided for LAN generation on for OS/2 and Windows NT

Setting up Object REXX support on Windows NT

The tasks described in this section are required only on Windows NT. OS/2 provides integrated support for REXX. The tasks on Windows NT are as follows:

• Install Object REXX.
• Customize Windows NT so that REXX command files, which have a file extension of .REX, are recognized as a REXX command and invoked under the control of the REXX interpreter. To fully implement this level of REXX support in Windows NT you must complete the following steps:
  1. Check that the Object REXX installation process sets up an association for the .REX filetype. You can check the existing associations using the assoc .rex command.

     If the association does not exist, you can add it from the command line by running the following command:

     assoc .rex=REXXscript
     

  2. Make sure the Object REXX command processor is somewhere in the PATH environment variable (or enter it fully qualified in this step) and use ftype to link it to the file type, if this has not been done by your command processor setup. You can check the existing file-type association by using the ftype REXXscript command. Ensure that the file type association for REXXscript has the following value:

     REXXscript="C:\ObjRexx\rexx.exe" %1 %*
     

     where C:\ObjRexx is the path name of the directory where Object REXX is installed. If the ftype definition does not exist, or does not match the value shown above, you can create the definition from the command line using the following command:

     ftype REXXscript="C:\ObjRexx\rexx.exe" %1 %* >.REX
     

     Note:

     A file association may have been set up automatically when you installed REXX. However, you must modify the ftype definition for REXXscript to ensure parameters are passed as expected.

  3. On Windows, make sure that .REX is included in the PATHEXT environment variable on each LAN generation server system and each on each client system. This lets you to use the command file without typing the file-name extension. To set it permanently, use the Environment tab of the Windows NT System Properties window or the Environment Variables page of the Advanced tab of the Windows 2000 System Properties window. If the variable does not already exist (it has a default value when PATHEXT is not set), create PATHEXT with the the following value:

     .REX;.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD
     

Setting up the generation server

This section describes how to set up a LAN generation server. Before you begin, you need to know what type of network you are using, which directory on each generation server will be shared, and which drive on the generation clients will be used to access the shared directory.

To set up a LAN generation server, complete the following steps on each system that you want to use for remote generation:

1. Install the VisualAge for Java or VisualAge Smalltalk client.
2. For Windows NT, install and tailor Object REXX. See Setting up Object REXX support on Windows NT.
3. Install VisualAge Generator Developer.
   1. In the Setup Type window, select Configure LAN Generation Server.
   2. In the LAN Generation Server window, be sure that the shared drive you specify supports long names. If the file system does not support long file names, you must modify the long file names in the sample REXX programs to use file names each with a base name no longer then eight characters and an extension no longer than three characters.

   The installation software completes the following steps:

   • Creates the following directories (C:\LANGENSVR is the default; you can change the value when you are installing VisualAge Generator Developer on the generation server):
     • C:\LANGENSVR
     • C:\LANGENSVR\cmd for command files
     • C:\LANGENSVR\inputGen for the input queue
     • C:\LANGENSVR\outlist for output listings and the generation log
     • C:\LANGENSVR\template for generation template files
     • C:\LANGENSVR\working for temporary files
   • Copies the following files from the installation directory to the cmd directory:
     • EFKGEN.INI
     • EFKLIST.REX or EFKLIST.CMD
     • EFKNETRC.REX or EFKNETRC.CMD
     • EFKREQ.REX or EFKREQ.CMD
     • EFKSERV.REX or EFKSERV.CMD
     • EFKSND.REX or EFKSND.CMD
     • LANGEN.TXT
   • Copies the EFKGEN.INI file in the cmd directory to files EFKGENCL.INI and EFKGENSV.INI.
   • Modifies EFKGENSV.INI to reflect the drives that the generation server uses. It sets the working_dir parameter to a directory located on the server and sets the server_input_dir and gen_listing_dir parameter values to directories located on a shared file system that can be accessed by both generation clients and generation servers. For example, it may produce the following settings: /server_input_dir=C:\LANGENSVR\inputGen and /gen_listing_dir=C:\LANGENSVR\outlist
   • Sets the environment variable GENERATE_INI to the path name of the directory containing the EFKGENSV.INI file.
4. If you are running the Smalltalk version of VisualAge Generator, copy the following files from the VisualAge Generator Developer installation directory to C:\LANGENSVR\cmd:
   • abt.cnf
   • hpt.ini

     This file has been tailored to include the VisualAge Generator environment variables and to point to the repository.

   • abt.icx

     This is a workspace/image that already has the VisualAge Generator Developer feature loaded.

5. Edit the EFKSERV and EFKREQ scripts to point to the appropriate input and working directories. Do this in C:\LANGENSVR\cmd, not in the VisualAge Generator Developer installation directory. This ensures that any fixpak changes to EFKSERV and EFKREQ do not destroy your changes.
6. Copy the VisualAge Generator Developer templates (*.TPL files) to C:\LANGENSVR\template and modify the copied files in C:\LANGENSVR\template as needed. Be sure to point your generation options to the modified version of the templates. The directory that contains the original version of the templates depends on whether you are running the Java or Smalltalk version of the product:
   • Java: C:\Program Files\IBM\VisualAge for Java\IDE\program
   • Smalltalk: C:\Program Files\Vast\bin
7. Share the C:\LANGENSVR directory. On Windows do not accept the default share name, LANGENSVR shorten it to eight or fewer characters, for example, LANGEN.
8. Set the PATH environment variable to include C:\LANGENSVR\cmd before the VisualAge Generator Developer installation directory cited at the end of Step 6.
9. If you are running on a Novell Netware LAN environment, set the EZERUSRID environment variable to the LAN user ID of the generation server.
10. Reboot your system for the changes to take effect.
11. Start EFKSERV from a command prompt.
    • The EFKSERV program runs continuously. To stop the EFKSERV program, press Ctrl-C or issue the EFKREQ STOP command.
    • The EFKSERV program writes a log listing the generated programs. This log file is called Gen_Server.log and is located in the directory specified for the gen_listing_dir parameter in the EFKGEN.INI file.
    • For additional information, see the LANGEN.TXT file.
12. For Windows NT, if the repository is not on the generation server system, ensure that the date style and time style in the regional settings on the generation server system match the corresponding information on the system where the repository is located.

Setting up the generation client

This section describes how to set up a LAN generation client. Before you begin, you need to fulfill the following prerequisites:

• A LAN generation server has been set up.
• You know what type of network you are using.
• You know which drive on the generation clients will be used to access the shared directory on the generation server. All clients of a particular LAN generation server must use the same drive for sharing the shared directory.
• You have read and write access to the directory on the server where the input queue is located to submit requests. The location of this directory is defined by the value of the server_input_dir parameter in the EFKGEN.INI file.

To set up a LAN generation client, complete the following steps on each system that you want to be able to use a generation server:

1. Install the VisualAge for Java or VisualAge Smalltalk client.
2. For Windows NT, install and tailor Object REXX. See Setting up Object REXX support on Windows NT.
3. Install VisualAge Generator Developer. The generation client should use the same repository that the generation server uses.
4. Map the generation server drive so that drive h: on the client workstation points to C:\LANGENSVR on the server machine.
5. Set the GENERATE_INI environment variable to point to h:\cmd\EFKGENCL.INI.
6. Modify the EFKGENCL.INI file on the generation server system as follows:
   • Set the working_dir parameter to the path name of a local directory located on each generation client.
   • Set the server_input_dir and gen_listing_dir parameter values as follows:

     /server_input_dir=h:\inputGen
     /gen_listing_dir=h:\outlist
     

7. Set the PATH environment variable to include h:\cmd and the path name of the VisualAge Generator Developer installation directory. The former directory must be included before the latter so that you can use EFKREQ from the generation server.
8. If you are running on a Novell Netware LAN environment, set the EZERUSRID environment variable to the LAN user ID of the client workstation.

   For Windows NT, this should be a user environment variable, because it varies depending on which user is logged in.

9. On each generation client system, specify EFKREQ for generation, as follows:
   1. From the VAGen Parts Browser window, select Window then Options.
   2. In the VisualAge Generator Options window, in the left pane select Generation.
   3. In the right pane select the CALL EFKREQ radio button and Apply.
10. Exit from VisualAge Generator Developer and reboot your system for the changes to take effect.
11. For Windows NT, ensure that the date style and time style in the regional settings on the client system match the corresponding information on the system where the repository is located.

After setting up the generation client

You can submit server requests even if the EFKSERV program is not running. The EFKREQ program places the generation request in input queue of the server.

The HPTCMD command output listings are placed in the directory specified by the gen_listing_dir parameter in the EFKGEN.INI file. The generated source and related program objects are placed on the server machine in the directory specified by the /GENOUT generation option.

When you specify a value for the /GENOUT generation option, use symbolic parameters to avoid conflicts with other generation requests. Figure B-2 shows how to use a symbolic parameter.

Figure B-2. Example showing the use of symbolic parameters

/GENOUT=F:\OUTPUT\%EZEPID%\%EZEENV%

If your target system is CICS for OS/2 and your project is USERA, the generated output is placed in the directory F:\OUTPUT\USERA\OS2CICS. If the directory you specify does not exist, it is created for you.