RKTools

RKTools — Rocket Tools for Model 204 — is a family of products implemented as SOUL application subsystems, designed to function together in a Model 204 Online. Prior to version 7.5 of RKTools (October, 2015), the product was known as UL/SPF.

Each product in the family can be installed and run independently, or each can be installed and run as a component of the integrated RKTools framework. All RKTools products share a common look and feel, providing a highly productive full screen 3270 interface to a variety of common Model 204 functions. In addition, many of the component subsystems also support web interfaces.

RKTools components

RKTools is comprised of the following products:

SirDBA

A system that analyzes Model 204 databases to determine their logical structure, populating an internal catalog. SirDBA is distributed as a component of the Sir2000 Database Analysis Tools.

SirFile

A comprehensive facility both for monitoring the physical storage utilization of Model 204 database files and for warning users of the need for file reorganizations. SirFile maintains historical information that allows it to predict when file sizing problems will occur, allowing a DBA to take preventative action before an application outage results.

SirLib

A powerful and flexible system that provides change management and configuration control for Model 204 SOUL applications. SirLib is fully integrated within the SirPro programming environment.

SirMon

A comprehensive facility for monitoring the performance and availability of Model 204 online systems. SirMon combines the real time monitoring of Model 204 performance with intelligent full screen displays that facilitate System Manager and Administrator duties.

SirPro

A collection of powerful and easy to use tools for programmers, database administrators, and application managers. SirPro provides programmers with powerful facilities for managing large libraries of User Language procedures, and it provides system managers with intuitive ISPF-like front ends to many Model 204 system management commands. As of RKTools Version 7.5, SirPro also incorporates the user-extensible SoulEdit editor, which can also be invoked from the command line via the (optional) Model 204 apsy SE. Because the procedure list feature of SirPro is so central, it too has an optional standalone apsy called PL.

SirScan

A high performance utility that allows users in a Model 204 Online to browse the contents of its journal in real time. SirScan permits ordinary users to view journal entries generated by their own online session, and it allows users in ADMIN SCLASSes to browse journal entries for any set of users. The data is displayed in a full-screen browser with powerful searching commands and filtering options.

In addition, a number of subsystems that are not linked into the RKTools menuing structure may be accessed via APSY-transfer from the UL/SPF applications. One such subsystem is FACT, a utility for browsing SirFact dumps.

There are also many sample web and client-server applications developed for the Janus product family that are distributed and installed along with the UL/SPF products. These include JanCat, an application that builds normalized views of Model 204 data for use by Janus Specialty Data Store applications, and JanSSL, a system for creating and managing SSL certificate requests.

RKTools packaging and installation requirements

All of the RKTools products are Model 204 application subsystems written in SOUL. RKTools is distributed as a set of Model 204 files in a backup format produced by the Model 204 DUMP command. All SOUL-based products are distributed in a single Model 204 procedure file called SIRIUS.

RKTools makes extensive use of specialized SOUL OO classes and $functions. These classes and $functions enable the creation of powerful SOUL application systems that can support complex environments with minimal server size requirements.

Integrating RKTools with other subsystems

RKTools and any of its constituent products can be easily integrated with other SOUL subsystems. Whenever a RKTools component product is exiting, it first checks to see if the global variable SIRIUS.COMM exists and has a non-null value. If so, the RKTools product performs a subsystem transfer using the value in SIRIUS.COMM as the name of the target subsystem.

For example, the following code fragment lets you transfer into SIRMON. When SIRMON exits, control is transferred to the application subsystem MENUSYS, provided that NEXT is the current subsystem's communication global variable:

%rc = $Setg('SIRIUS.COMM','MENUSYS') %rc = $Setg('NEXT','XFER') %rc = $Setg('XFER','SIRMON') STOP

In addition to the individual SOUL subsystems that implement the RKTools products, Rocket Software distributes an umbrella RKTools subsystem: The RKTOOLS subsystem provides a menu that contains entries for all RKTOOLS components installed at a site.

The RKTOOLS subsystems support fast-path navigation.

For example, a SirMon user can transfer into SirPro Option 1 by entering:

=M.1.1

You can also transfer directly between component subsystems, without the RKTools subsystem being active, by using the component subsystem name or short-code along with a menu number. For example, a user in SirScan can enter SIRMON 3.1 on the command line and be transferred directly to the SirMon 3.1 screen.

The valid transfer keywords are the subsystem names: SIRMON, SIRPRO, SIRSCAN, etc. Or you can use the subsystem name without the SIR prefix: PRO 1 transfers you to the SirPro Procedure Selection page.

RKTools installation

Installing RKTools requires:

1. Downloading the SIRIUS file and restoring it to the Model 204 environment where the tools will run.
2. Setting up some subsidiary Model 204 files.
3. Verifying that the environment has the appropriate parameter settings.

For details, see RKTools installation.

Upgrades to RKTools can almost always be handled by restoring a fresh copy of the SIRIUS file.