A new facility is now available which may be useful for people who already have some data in an RDBMS and would like to access the data via DBPronto from a legacy application.

The DBPronto Schema Converter converts an SQL schema into a COBOL data format which can be used by COBOL programs to access the database, and also into an XML format which can be accepted by the DBPronto Server to control access the RDBMS.

The converter accepts a list of SQL table names; for each table it uses JDBC metadata commands to read the table metadata, which is then processed to produce SELECT and FD statements for use by a COBOL program, and also an XML file for use by the DBPronto Server.

The schema converter will attempt to produce output which will be acceptable to both a COBOL compiler and also the DBPronto server. However, this is not a process that can be guaranteed to succeed; for example, an SQL field name might clash with a reserved word for a particular compiler, or a field size might not be acceptable. The schema converter provides some options that can help in this case, but it is still possible that manual editing of the output files will be needed.

Click here to download the DBPronto Schema Converter.

DBPronto 2.0 is now available for download from the Transoft FTP site. This release is available on the following platforms:

• Windows Server 2000, 2003, 2008, Windows XP, VISTA, 7
• Linux PowerPC or Intel, 32 or 64 bit
• HP-UX PA-RISC
• Solaris SPARC and Intel

The major features of this release are the addition of support for U/FOS DBAM (Data General INFOS) file access as well as support for C-ISAM/D-ISAM file access.

Applications that previously accessed U/FOS or C-ISAM data can now access the data migrated to RDBMS tables with no changes to existing source code.

The new features in DBPronto 2.0 include:

Support for DB2. The databases that can be accessed by the DBPronto Server are SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Sybase, and now, DB2.

Support for C-ISAM/D-ISAM file access. Applications that access C-ISAM/D-ISAM data can now access RDBMS data with no code changes, it is not even necessary to re-compile.

Support for U/FOS DBAM file access. U/FOS, originating from Data General INFOS,  is a complex hierarchical database management system. Applications that use U/FOS can now access RDBMS tables instead without making any changes to the application code. DBPronto fully implements the functionality provided by the U/FOS file access commands.

DBWHERE performance feature. DBPronto has been enhanced to enable application programs to specify a partial WHERE expression that will be included in the query executed for a subsequent READ NEXT/READ PREVIOUS operation.

Flexible filenames. The VARFN feature has been extended so that filenames can be specified using any regular expression.

CBL_CHECK_FILE_EXIST. The DBPronto EXTFH client library has been enhanced to provide support for the CBL_CHECK_FILE_EXIST runtime routine.

DBP_GET_USER_INFO. The DBPronto client API library has been extended to provide this new command that returns information related to the session ID, this can be used to identify the owners of locked rows for example.

CHANNEL_LOCKING_MODE. This is a new DBPronto Server configuration option that enables definition of the way in which locking works when a file is accessed by the same client on multiple channels.

For more information, please download the DBPronto 2.0 Release Notice

DBPronto 1.4 is now available for download from the Transoft FTP site. This release is available on the following platforms:

• Windows Server 2000, 2003, 2008, Windows XP, VISTA, 7
• Linux PowerPC or Intel, 32 or 64 bit
• HP-UX PA-RISC
• Solaris SPARC

New features in the DBPronto 1.4 release include:

Block Read Mode in the DBPronto Server. This provides performance improvements where the client application is reading sequentially through the data.

PostgreSQL performance has been improved by modifying the query syntax to ensure the query plan is optimal.

Support for Micro Focus COBOL Filename Mapping.

If environment variables are set in one of the following formats, DBPronto will translate them at “open” time:

• dd_FILENAME=DESTNAME
• DD_FILENAME=DESTNAME
• FILENAME=DESTNAME

Client Block Read

Block Read Mode can be used to improve performance by reducing the network traffic between the RDBMS and the DBPronto Server. Block Read Mode and Client Block Read Mode both improve performance in scenarios where the client application is reading a large number of records using READ NEXT or READ PREVIOUS.

If Block Read Mode is configured, Client Block Read Mode can also be used to reduce the network traffic between the DBPronto Server and the DBPronto client application.

The Metadata Creator will now ignore any records which have no indexes if command line option, x is specified.

Rapidly replace legacy file systems with modern RDBMS

Transoft, an expert in innovative modernization software and service solutions, today announced the launch of DBPronto. Designed to work with legacy file handlers including COBOL, C-ISAM and Transoft U/FOS, DBPronto provides a rapid, easy and automated means of allowing legacy applications to use a modern relational database (RDBMS) such as Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server – replacing older proprietary ISAM file handlers.

With Transoft DBPronto you can:

• Improve data integrity and robustness
• Implement database high availability solutions
• Readily share data with other applications
• Easily implement data warehousing and business intelligence solutions

DBPronto is based on Transoft CIO which was launched 6 months ago and is already being used successfully in a number of organizations. DBPronto extends the functionality to a wider range of legacy data structures, and provides a bridge between existing code and the new RDBMS.

“Transoft’s revolutionary new DBPronto product has enabled us to combine our existing Insurance Broker application with our new .NET based Life Insurance system without having to make extensive changes to either. This has opened up new markets for us with existing customers, as well as enabling us to provide a single integrated system.”
Alastair Bell, Managing Director, Relay Software

New features in the CIO 1.3 release include:

• Optional mapping to SQL Date types : A numeric or display COBOL data field can be mapped to an SQL date type.
• Support for the Sybase Advantage Database Server
• Support for Transaction processing commands :  COMMIT TRANSACTION, ROLLBACK TRANSACTION.
• COBOL Relative files can now be mapped to an RDBMS table using CIO.
• CIO Lock Server API for .NET : An API for the CIO Lock Server that can be used from any .NET language.
• CIO Server Failover : If, for any reason, the primary CIO Server fails, any subsequent client connections can be redirected to the failover CIO Server.
• Multi-company support : CIO uses a simple client configuration file to provide multi-company support after  data has been moved to an RDBMS without requiring any code changes.
• Automated ETL program generation : automatically generate a COBOL program that will extract the data from your COBOL files and write to the target RDBMS.
• Data cleansing and mapping : CIO can be configured to handle nulls in fields where printable ASCII characters are expected, uninitialized binary fields, spaces in numeric fields, invalid date values.
• Index Access : CIO handles HIGH-VALUES in key fields. CIO uses Primary Key specification when creating the RDBMS data structures.

CIO 1.3 will be released in early January 2009. It will include the following features:

CIO Lock Server API for .NET

An API for the CIO Lock Server that can be used from any .NET language. We also produced a Java API for the CIO Lock Server in CIO 1.2.

CIO implements locking using a Lock Server rather than using RDBMS locking in order to fully emulate the locking functionality in the client application without requiring any application code changes or having a negative effect on RDBMS performance.

By providing an easy to use API to the CIO Lock Server, we enable you to develop applications in Java or .NET that access and update your RDBMS data concurrently with your legacy application.

CIO metadata creator options

The CIO metadata creator will be enhanced with new options to filter extra tables in FDs created by FlexGen and also to automatically convert the sqlname attribute of records and fields to lowercase.

The option to automatically create RDBMS tables and columns with lowercase table names and column names may be particularly interesting for PostgreSQL users.

Support for Transaction processing commands

CIO 1.3 will include  support for Transaction processing commands: START TRANSACTION, COMMIT TRANSACTION, ROLLBACK TRANSACTION.

New commands will be implemented in the CIO API and, where possible, the CIO I/O Intercept client library will intercept existing transaction processing commands in COBOL code.

Multi-company support

CIO 1.3 will provide a highly configurable method for implementing multi-company applications.

Typically a multi-company application will be able to access different sets of data depending on some variable such as the user id. With legacy COBOL data this may be implemented by accessing data files in different directories or by accessing data files with a specific naming convention.

CIO uses a simple client configuration file to provide this functionality when your data has been moved to an RDBMS without requiring any code changes.

Automated ETL program generation

CIO 1.3 will include a new development tool that will enable you to automatically generate a COBOL program that will extract the data from your COBOL files and write to the target RDBMS.

This program will provide an automated ETL process that has no intermediate flat files.

CIO Server Failover

CIO 1.3 will provide the ability to configure a failover CIO Server on the client side.

If, for any reason, the primary CIO Server fails, any subsequent client connections will be redirected to the failover CIO Server.

Create FDs and CIO metadata from existing RDBMS schema

CIO 1.3 will include a new utility which will read an existing RDBMS schema via a JDBC connection and will generate the FDs and CIO metadata that are required to access that data via CIO from a COBOL application.

This will be of interest to people who already have some data in an RDBMS and want to be able to integrate that data into their existing COBOL application.

New features in the CIO 1.1 release include:

• Support for a wide range of COMPUTATIONAL and BINARY data types
• Support for COBOL Sequential files
• Support for files that have a variable file name
• CIO I/O Intercept library for Micro Focus Server Express
• CIO status codes mapped to COBOL file status codes

The latest documentation and release notice can be downloaded from

ftp://ftp2.transoft.com/pub/CIOextras/

The CIO 1.0 release includes:

CIO Server, with support for

• Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server
• Occurs, flattened or as sub-tables
• Files with multiple record types
• Redefines
• Temporary files created using OPEN OUTPUT
• RM/COBOL, ACUCOBOL, Micro Focus COBOL, UFOS clients
• Configurable block reads to maximise performance

CIO Loader

• Create the RDBMS schema
• Load data

CIO Administrator

• Runs in a web browser
• Start and Stop CIO Server functions
• CIO Configuration
• CIO Monitor – Sessions and Locks

CIO client libraries

• CIO API library – this is used by FlexGen generated COBOL code
• UFOS SQL library – this is used by UFOS applications
• CIO IO intercept library – COBOL IO is intercepted and handled by this library.
  This is used by Micro Focus and ACUCOBOL ** applications.
• CIOPP library – the CIO Pre Processor converts COBOL IO to calls to CIOPP function calls.**ACUCOBOL 9 or ACUCOBOL 8.0.1 with patch is required.

CIO licensing utilities

• License features include: user count, table count, RDBMS type, platform

CIO Metadata Creator

• Parses COBOL source files and creates XML format metadata automatically
• Windows only at present

CIO Metadata Manager

• .NET graphical tool allowing easy maintenance of XML metadata.

CIO PreProcessor.

• In COBOL applications where the CIO IO intercept client clibrary can’t be used, the CIO Pre Processor automatically converts COBOL IO.
• No manual changes are required.