With the 'Design explorer' view of the 'Design'
perspective, you can view and modify the design of your applications. It enables
you to create, modify, rename or move instances, import and export instances,
search for references, perform various types of generation, and dispatch Macros.
Here is what the 'Design explorer' view looks
like:
The '
Design explorer' view displays
a tree structure.
- The first level is constituted of the location. A location can be compared
to a Database. It the location is open, its name is preceded by the
icon.
If the location is closed, its name is preceded by the
icon.
- If the location is open (to open it, right-click on it and select Open in
the popup menu), you can expand it and see the entity level. The number of
instances already existing in the location is displayed next to the entity.
- The third level is constituted of the instances, if any. To see instances
here, you must have:
- Created new instances directly in the 'Design explorer'
view.
- Imported, into the current location, a file containing a set of instances
(via the Import choice of the contextual menu of the
Design explorer view).
- Converted instances to the Pattern Driven Programming (PDP) model, from
the Pacbase explorer view of the Pacbase explorer perspective,
into the current location (choice when you right-click
on an instance in the Pacbase explorer view).
To see the physical distribution of the instances into projects and packages,
you must open the 'Navigator' view, located next to the
'Design explorer' view, in the 'Design'
perspective.
Tasks from the location, entity or instance level
If
you right-click on an open location, on any entity or instance, you can see
a popup menu which enables you to:
- Create a location ().
- Create instances (, or , ... or any
other entity available).
- Copy and paste instances,
or delete instances or locations.
- Import/export a set of instances,
grouped in a file.
- Refresh the display after updates.
- Rebuild your environment, to make sure that your Design perspective
is consistent. All the files and projects contained in your workspace are
opened and if the files contain instances, they are parsed and repaired (the
existence of the instances, their references, links to keywords... are checked
and updated if necessary).
Tasks from an instance level only
If you click on
an instance level (whatever the entity), you can:
- Open the selected instance. The instance is then
displayed in its dedicated Pattern Driven Programming editor.
- Open the selected instance with... various
editors.
- The first editor is the flat editor, which displays the instance in an
xml format. You can modify the instance in this editor but it is not recommended.
It is advised to modify it in its dedicated PDP formatted editor.
- Three other editors are also available; text editor, system editor and
in-place editor. You can also add other editors via your preferences specified
via .
- Refactor the selected instance. You can:
- Rename the selected instance. The new name is automatically
propagated to all the instance's links (references, keywords, instance calls,
lists...). Renaming an instance this way avoids consistency errors.
- Move one or more selected instances (you can select
multiple instances in the 'Design explorer' list) to
another existing project and/or package, while keeping all their links (references,
keywords, instance calls...).
- Search for the selected instance's References.
You can search for its super references, i.e the instances
in which it is called, or its sub-references, i.e.
the instances it calls. Selecting one of these choices makes you switch to
the References view, where the search results are displayed.
Possible generation requests
You can perform various
types of generation. If you right-click on:
- A Program instance, you can select , and if you right-click
on or a Screen instance, you can select . Both these choices
enable you to generate the design of the selected instance. This generation
outputs a .cbl file, nested under the instance in the Design
explorer view. Right-click on it and choose to
access the Cobol editor and views which will enable you to work on the code
and the design. (A contextual help is available on this editor and views)
- An open location, or on a Macro (entity or instance level), you can select to
initialize the files which will contain the code of one or more Macros. You
must select this choice if you want to:
- Enter the code of a Macro and if this code does not exist yet.
- Overwrite the code of the Macro whose code already exists (either it has
been entered in VA Pac and imported in RDz (via a drag and drop or a copy/paste)
in the Navigator view, or it has been directly entered
in RDz). If the code of the Macro already exists, a message warns you that
the content of the .cblgen file will be re-initialized.
This generation outputs a .cblgen file in the Navigator view.
Right-click on it and choose to access the 'Macrostructure
tags tree' and the .cblgen editor, in which
you will enter the Macro code. (A contextual help is available on this view
and editor).
- An open location, or on a Data Structure (entity or instance level), you
can select:
- to generate the error messages associated
with one or more Data Structures and constituting Segments into a text file,
which will have to be integrated into the error messages file used by the
applications.
- to generate the COBOL description (COPY book) of one or more
Data Structures in a file. This file is then available for a subsequent insertion
in a Program, through the use of the COPY clause. A single Data Structure
can be used to generate several different descriptions, each one adapted to
a particular need in the programs. (i.e. in FILE SECTION or WORKING-STORAGE
SECTION, taking the internal and input formats into account). The
file is created in the Navigator view. To see its content,
you must right-click on it and choose .
The 'dispatch macro' choice
A dispatch
macro choice is available from the location level as well as from
the Macro level (entity and instance levels).
You should use this choice
if your Macros already exist in VA Pac and have been generated in a single
file.
If you do not select this choice, the code of all the generated
Macros will remain in this single file (which you will have to put (via a
drag and drop or a copy/paste) in the Navigator view
of the Design perspective, with a .cblgen extension).
On
the other hand, if you dispatch the Macros to packages (equivalent of Libraries),
one .cblgen file will be created for each Macro included
in the VA Pac generated file. To see these files, go to the Navigator view
and select the package you have specified.
The toolbar
Like the other views in the Workbench,
the '
Design explorer' view has its own toolbar, which
enables you to:
- Go back (
icon). This command navigates to the most recently-displayed
state of the view with a different element at the top level. This button becomes
available once you double-click on an entity line and consequently see its
instances alone in the Design explorer view. Clicking this button then returns
the view to the same hierarchy from which you double-clicked on the entity
line. The hover help for this button tells you where it will take you.
- Go forward (
icon). This command navigates
to the state of the view with a different element at the top level that was
displayed immediately after the current state. For example, if you have just
selected the back command, then selecting the forward command
in the resulting display returns the view to the same hierarchy from which
you activated the back command. The hover help for
this button tells you where it will take you. This command is similar to the
'Forward' button in a web browser
- Go up (
icon). This command navigates
to the location level. The hover help for this button tells you where it will
take you.
- Expand all (
icon). This command expands
all the tree nodes in the 'Design explorer' view
- Collapse All (
icon). This command collapses
all the tree nodes in the 'Design explorer' view
- Link with Editor (
icon). This command
links the active editor to its corresponding instance in the 'Design
explorer' view list (if this button is not clicked, changing the
active editor will not update the selection, in the Design view list, to the
instance being edited).
- Change the sort and display of instances in the Design view list. Click
the white upside-down triangle icon and select:
- Sort to specify a new sort criterion: by name,
package or project.
- Display to specify a new display criterion: by
package, project or label.
This new setting will then automatically be saved and associated with
the 'Design explorer' view, until you change it again.