What's new

This page contains recent and forthcoming additions of note to Model 204 documentation.

Model 204 Version 7.6

Highlights of this limited (not generally available) release are summarized here.

RKTools Version 7.5

Released January 4, 2016, the formerly-named UL/SPF family of products has been significantly enhanced to run with Model 204 version 7.5. Its version numbering will continue in parallel with Model 204 versions.

New features include the SoulEdit editor, context-sensitive Help, fast-pathing across the product set, expanded SirPro searching and command capabilities, and more. For more information about the new RKTools, see Release notes for RKTools V7.5.

Janus/TN3270 Debugger Build 64

On October 7 2015, Build 64 of the Janus/TN3270 Debugger Client was released.

Build 64 contains improvements and fixes for the Debugger Client IE Mode settings of mergedPac or NewPac which are used with a Microsoft IE browser.

Please consult the Debugger User's Guide for details (see Build 64 in the "Release Notes" chapter).

Janus/TN3270 Debugger Build 63 with Model 204 Version 7.6

On July 6 2015, Build 63 of the Janus/TN3270 Debugger Client was released.

Build 63 contains support for HTTP: style URLs for PAC (Proxy Auto Config) files, for sites using a Debugger Client IE Mode setting of mergedPac or NewPac with a Microsoft IE browser. Previously, only FILE: style URLs were supported for PAC files.

When Build 63 is used with Model 204 version 7.6, two additional features are available:

• Run Until, White List, and Black List processing is now done for procedures on daemon threads as well as for those on the master thread.
• The Expand Object feature supports the JSON system object type, which was added for Model 204 7.6.

Please consult the Debugger User's Guide for details (see Build 63 in the "Release Notes" chapter).

Fast/Unload Version 4.7

Highlights of this version include support for EAV (Extended Attribute Volume) disks, CHUNK fields (introduced in version 7.5 of Model 204), and FILEORG X'200' (files with 48M records).

The main features in this release (December, 2014) are described in Release notes for Fast/Unload V4.7.

Model 204 Version 7.5

Version 7.5 of Model 204 (December, 2014) follows the acquisition of the Sirius Software product line and integrates the Sirius and Janus software products into the Model 204 nucleus. One of the more exciting results of the integration is Simple Objective User Language, or SOUL. SOUL adds object-oriented programming to, and replaces the name of, User Language. It comes with no additional cost, and it is backward compatible with existing User Language applications.

Release notes

The main features in this release of Model 204 are summarized on this page and described in greater detail in the version 7.5 release notes.

SOUL

Here are some of the new SOUL features:

• Mixed case User Language support
• Generic User Language sorting, searching, and subsetting facilities
• Improved syntax for setting/retrieving large object (LOB) values (directly to/from longstrings)
• Enhanced printing and auditing statements
• Implicit concatenation
• The Assert and Loop Next statements
• A macro language
• Data types:
  • Longstring (including image string items > 255 bytes)
  • Unicode
• Full OO programming capabilities including:
  • Class and object definitions, methods, public/private class variables, inheritance, polymorphism, etc.
  • Support for exceptions such as Try, Catch, and Throw statements
  • Support for named parameters
  • Support for method variables, that is, variables that can be used to dynamically invoke functions or subroutines
• Shorthand right-side assignment operators:
  • %a = @ + 1
  • %a = @ * 1
  • %a = @ / 1
  • %a = @ :div(1)

Note: These features were formerly part of the Janus SOAP product. In version 7.5 of Model 204, these features were incorporated into Model 204 such that SOUL applications continue to work as they always have. Janus SOAP remains as an add-on product that provides support for XML processing.

64-bit enablement of the Model 204 infrastructure

Model 204 moves “Above the Bar” to increase scalability, performance, and growth potential. With this release of Model 204, 64-bit addressing becomes the de-facto standard for all subsequent versions. This might bring new challenges to customers who have written assembler language functions for use within Model 204, and Rocket Software has prepared a new set of service offerings to help accommodate upgrade and conversion needs.

Physical field groups

Model 204 supports non-relational, denormalized data structures, and its efficient processing of multiply-occurring fields provides significant cost and performance benefits. This processing is enhanced by the availability of physical field groups, which let you view and process groups of fields as logical entities.

Range searching by Ordered Index (OI) chunk

The new CHUNK attribute of the DEFINE FIELD command offers significantly more efficient searching on Ordered Index numeric (ORDERED NUMERIC) field ranges. The storage for the file's values of these fields is automatically maintained, divided into ordered sub-ranges ("OI chunks") whose interval-size is part of the CHUNK definition. Finds of value ranges of these fields search by OI chunk rather than by individual value, so they entail fewer scans of the Ordered Index entries.

Expanded file-record limit

In version 7.5 of Model 204, the record limit per file increases from sixteen million records to forty-eight million records.

New debugging tools

Developing web and screen applications that use Model 204 is made easier by newly acquired debuggers: Janus Debugger, TN3270 Debugger, and SoftSpy.