HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
HP ALLBASE/4GL System Architecture HP ALLBASE/4GL consists of the following major functional components: * The operating system interface. * The data manager. * The administrator. * The developer. * End user applications. This manual provides a detailed description of the facilities of the HP ALLBASE/4GL developer. To place this description in context, this chapter provides an outline description of the other HP ALLBASE/4GL components. The Operating System Interface This version of HP ALLBASE/4GL operates on Hewlett-Packard HP 3000 series 900 computer systems using the MPE/iX operating system. The HP ALLBASE/4GL operating system interface handles all the communication between HP ALLBASE/4GL and the host operating system. For the most part, you will never need to use MPE/iX commands while developing HP ALLBASE/4GL applications. However, if the need arises, you can access the MPE/iX system to execute external programs in a language other than HP ALLBASE/4GL. You can also call such external programs from within HP ALLBASE/4GL. Data Manager The data manager handles all access to the data files used by an application. The data manager provides access to HP ALLBASE/SQL and HP TurboIMAGE/iX databases from HP ALLBASE/4GL. The HP ALLBASE/4GL developer also provides all the facilities you need to create and delete KSAM (keyed sequential access method) data files and serial data files. This lets you choose the type of data storage that is most appropriate for your site and your application. The Administrator The administrator is an HP ALLBASE/4GL application. The HP ALLBASE/4GL system administrator uses the administrator application to define system user names, applications and versions, databases, and various system wide defaults. Refer to the HP ALLBASE/4GL Developer Administration Manual for details of the administrator application. The Developer The HP ALLBASE/4GL developer is also an HP ALLBASE/4GL application in itself. This is the application that you use to create end user applications. The developer application provides you with application development facilities that can be grouped under the following headings: * Dictionary. * Screen development. * Logic. * Reports. The developer application also includes a module builder, which creates logic and screens automatically, and number of utilities. These utilities can copy or delete components within applications, and print documentation. With the developer application, several utilities run from MPE/iX are also provided. The following chapters of this manual describe the facilities of the developer application in detail. End User Applications HP ALLBASE/4GL supports two types of end user applications: base applications and versions. A version is an additional set of definitions that operate in conjunction with a base application to customize the application for a particular end user or a group of end users. You cannot create versions of an application unless the base application exists. Appendix B describes HP ALLBASE/4GL versions.