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Tools and Components

Summary:

• Product Information Viewer (fpi)
• Runtime System Builder (fglmkrun)
• Runtime System Program (fglrun)
• Database Driver Builder (fglmksdl)
• Form Compiler (fglform)
• Program Compiler (fgl2p)
• Module Compiler (fglcomp)
• Module Linker (fgllink)
• Message Compiler (fglmkmsg)
• Database Schema Extractor (fgldbsch)
• Library Installer (fglinstall)
• Setup Utility Program (fglmkrtm) 
• Localized String File Compiler (fglmkstr)
• ESQL/C Compiler (fesqlc)

See also: Installation and Setup.

fpi

Purpose:

The fpi utility program is provided to display product information, such as the version number.

Syntax:

Notes:

1. options are described below.

Options:

Usage:

This tool displays the product version number. This version number is useful if you need to identify the installed software. For example, you must reference the product version when you declare a bug. 

fglmkrun

Purpose:

The fglmkrun tool creates a DVM runtime system program that can execute BDL programs compiled with fglcomp or fgl2p.

Syntax:

Notes:

1. options are described below.

Warnings:

1. A C++ compiler and linker must exist on the system. It is strongly recommended that you have the GNU compiler installed (gcc/g++).
2. The target database client software must be installed on the system in order to link the database client libraries.
3. The target database client software environment must be set (for example, INFORMIXDIR, ORACLE_HOME environment variables).
4. When using Informix ESQL/C, you must set the INFORMIXC environment variable to a C++ linker (g++).

Tips:

1. If you create a DVM with a name other than "fglrun", be certain that you set the FGLRUN environment variable so that other tools run properly.

Options:

Usage:

The fglmkrun tool links C++ object files and libraries in order to create a p-code interpreter. This interpreter can execute BDL programs compiled with the  fglcomp or fgl2p tools.

When you create a runtime system program, you specify the following features:

• The name of the runtime system program to be generated (-o option).
• The type of the database interface to be used (-d option).
• What C extensions must be integrated to the runtime system (-ext, -acs, -aob and -alb options).

For more details about runner creation, see also Installation and Setup.

Database Interface

With fglmkrun, a DVM may be created with a static or dynamic database interface. DVMs created with a static interface are statically linked to a database interface library and can only connect to the database server for which the library was designed.

Runners with the dynamic database interface can load database drivers at runtime according to FGLPROFILE settings (see "Connections" for more details). With dynamic runners, BDL programs can connect to different database servers simultaneously, using 'CONNECT TO' instructions.

To create a static runner, use the -d option (described below) with one of the database identifiers that is listed using the -dl option (described below).

To create a dynamic runner, use the "-d dynamic" option.

To create a shared database library to be used with a dynamic runner use the fglmksdl tool.

C Extensions

The runtime system program can be extended with C libraries implementing global functions that can be called from the BDL program.

See "C Extensions" for more details.

Environment Variables

fglrun

Purpose:

The fglrun tool is the runtime system program that executes p-code BDL programs.

Syntax:

Notes:

1. options are described below.
2. program.42r is the program name.
3. argument is a program argument passed to the program.
4. The .42r form file extension is optional.

Warnings:

1. This tool is not provided by default (except on Windows platforms). It must be created with the fglmkrun tool.
2. This tool may have a different name, according to the name provided to the -o option of fglmkrun.

Options:

Usage:

This tool executes BDL programs.

fglmksdl

Purpose:

The fglmksdl tool creates a database driver shared library to be used with a 4gl p-code runner created with the 'dynamic' database interface option. 

Syntax:

Notes:

1. options are described below

Warnings:

1. A C++ compiler and linker must exist on the system. It is strongly recommended that you have the GNU compiler installed (gcc/g++).
2. The database client API library corresponding to the target database engine must exist. (For example, INFORMIX ESQL/C).
3. The target database client software environment must be set. (For example, INFORMIXDIR, ORACLE_HOME environment variables).

Options:

Example:

This tool creates a database driver shared library to be used with a 4gl p-code runner created with the 'dynamic' database interface option.

Special considerations:

INFORMIX:
To create an INFORMIX driver, we strongly recommend to use the esql compiler provided in the INFORMIX CSDK package. You must set the INFORMIXC environment variable to create a shared lib as in the following example:

$ INFORMIXC="gcc -shared"
$ export INFORMIXC
$ fglmksdl -o dbmifx914.so -d ifx914 -l esql

HP/UX platforms:
On HP/UX 11, the shared library loader cannot load libraries using thread local storage, like Oracle libclntsh. So you may not be able to use shared libraries on this system. For more details, search for shl_load + Thread Local Storage on the HP support site.

IBM AIX platforms:
You can check the library dependences with the dump unix command.
You may need to use the ld system linker with special flags as in the following example :

$ fglmksdl -d ora815 -l "ld -bM:SRE -bnoentry -bexpall -lc"

You may need to use the slibclean unix command to unload a shared library from the system shared library segment. Once a shared library is loaded by the system, you cannot rebuild the executable file unless you unload the library from the system with slibclean.

SCO Unixware platforms:
Unixware 7.1 does not provide shared library version of libm.a and libgen.a. So you cannot use shared libraries on this system.

Other platforms:
If you have the GNU tools installed, you can check the library dependences with the ldd unix command.

See also : fglmkrun tool, FGLLIBSQL environment variable.

fglform

Purpose:

The fglform tool compiles form specification files into XML formatted files used by the programs.

Syntax:

Notes:

1. options are described below.
2. srcfile.per is the form specification file.
3. The .per form file extension is optional.

Warning:

1. All .per form specification files used by the program must be compiled before usage.

Options:

Usage:

This tool compiles a .per form specification file into a .42f compiled version:

The .42f compiled version is an XML formatted file used by BDL programs when a form definition is loaded with the OPEN FORM or OPEN WINDOW WITH FORM instructions.

fglmkmsg

Purpose:

The fglmkmsg tool compiles message files into a binary version used by the BDL programs.

Syntax:

Notes:

1. options are described below.
2. srcfile is the source message file.
3. outfile is the destination file.

Warning:

1. All .msg message files used by the program must be compiled before usage.

Options:

Usage:

This tool compiles a .msg message file into a .iem compiled version:

For backward compatibility, you can specify the output file as second argument:

fglmkmsg mess01.msg mess01.iem

The .iem compiled version can be used by BDL programs, for example, when the HELP clause is used in a MENU or INPUT instruction.

See message files for more details.

fglcomp

Purpose:

The fglcomp tool compiles BDL program sources files into a p-code version.

Syntax:

Notes:

1. options are described below.
2. srcfile.4gl is the program source file.
3. The .4gl extension is optional.

Warnings:

1. The .42m p-code modules must be linked together with fgllink or fgl2p in order to create a runable program. 

Options:

Usage:

This tool compiles a .4gl into a .42m p-code module that can be linked to other modules to create a program or a library.

If a compilation error occurs, the tool generates a file that has the .err extension, with the error message inserted at the line where the error occurred. You can change this behavior by using the -M option to display the error message to the standard output.

To create a runable program, the fgllink or fgl2p tool must be used to link the .42m compiled file with other modules. 

fgllink

Purpose:

The fgllink tool assembles p-code modules compiled with fglcomp into a .42r program or a .42x library.

Syntax:

To create a library:

fgllink [options] -o outfile.42x module.42m [...]

To create a program:

fgllink [options] -o outfile.42r { module.42m | library.42x } [...]

Notes:

1. options are described below.
2. outfile.42r is the name of the program to be created.
3. outfile.42x is the name of the library to be created.
4. module.42m is a p-code module compiled with fglcomp.
5. library.42x is the name of a library to be linked.

Warning:

1. This tool uses the runtime system program to proceed with the link. If you have created a runner with a name other than "fglrun", you must set the FGLRUN environment variable.

Options:

Usage:

This tool links .42m p-code modules together to create a .42x library or a .42r program file that can be interpreted by a runtime system program created with the fglmkrun tool.

fgllink -o myprog.42x module1.42m module2.42m lib1.42x

fgl2p

Purpose:

The fgl2p tool compiles source files and assembles p-code modules into a .42r program or a .42x library.

Syntax:

To create a library:

To create a program:

fgl2p [options] -o outfile.42r { pcodem.42m | srcfile.4gl | library.42x } [...]

Notes:

1. options are described below.
2. outfile.42r is the name of the program to be created.
3. outfile.42x is the name of the library to be created.
4. pcodem.42m is a p-code module compiled with fglcomp.
5. source.4gl is a program source file.
6. library.42x is the name of a library to be linked.

Warning:

1. This tool uses the runtime system program to proceed with the link. If you have created a runner with a name other than "fglrun", you must set the FGLRUN environment variable.

Options:

Usage:

This tool can compile .4gl source files and link .42m p-code modules together, to create a .42x library or a .42r program file that can be interpreted by a runtime system program created with the fglmkrun tool.

fgl2p -o myprog.42x module1.4gl module2.42m lib1.42x

This tool is provided for convenience, in order to create programs or libraries in one command line. It uses the fglcomp and the fgllink tools to compile and link modules together.

fgldbsch

Purpose

The schema extractor is the tool provided to generate the database schema files from an existing database.

Syntax:

Notes:

1. dbname is the name of the database from which the schema is to be extracted.
2. options are described below.

Options:

Usage:

The fgldbsch tool can generate schema files for any database supported by the product. The fglschema tool is specific to INFORMIX databases, supported for backward compatibility.

The database system must be available and the database client environment must be set properly in order to generate the schema files with these tools.

Warning: The fgldbsch tool is a 4GL program using the configured FGLRUN command. With BDL v1.33, you have to intialize the FGLRUN environment variable with a runner compatible with the databse system destination, else the fgldbsch tool will use the INFORMIX Standard FGLRUN runner. For example, you can define the FGLRUN to fglrundyn tool wich can use all Database Interfaces or make a specific runner (see. fglmkrun in V1.33 documentation). With BDL v2.0, the standard FGLRUN runner is a dynamic one (like fglrundyn), so you have nothing to do.

To generate schema files, you must run fgldbsch with the -db dbname option to identify the database to which to connect.

The database type is automatically detected after connection; you do not have to specify any database server type.

The database driver can be specified with the -dv dbdriver option, if the default driver is not appropriate.

The BDL compiler expects SQL data types in the schema file. Most data types correspond to Informix SQL data types. But non-Informix databases have different data types. Therefore, data types are generated from the system catalog tables according to some conversion rules. You can control the conversion method with the -cv option. Each character position of the string passed by this option corresponds to a line in the conversion table. You must give a conversion code for each data type (for example: -cv AABAAAB). Run the tool with the -ct option to see the conversion tables.

If the operating system user is not the database user, you can provide a database login and password with the -un and -up options.

With some databases, the owner of tables is mandatory to extract a schema, otherwise you would get multiple definitions of the same table in the .sch schema file. To prevent such mistakes, you can specify the schema owner with the -ow owner option. If this option is not used, fgldbsch will use the login name passed with the -un user option. 

By default, table and column names are converted to lower case letters to enforce compatibility with Informix. You can force lower case, upper case or case-sensitive generation by using the -cl, -cu or -cc options.

fglinstall

Purpose:

The fglinstall tool installs all library files needed to run programs.

Syntax:

fglinstall [options]

Notes:

1. options are described below.

Warnings:

1. This tool uses the runtime system program to link some utility programs. If you have created a runner with a name other than "fglrun", you must set the FGLRUN environment variable.

Options:

Usage:

This tool compiles all message files, form files, libraries and programs needed to run applications. This operation is automatically done during installation, but you might need to re-run this tool if some runtime system libraries or forms are changed by hand.

fglinstall

fglmkrtm

Purpose:

The fglmkrtm tool installs all files needed to have a complete development or runtime environment.

Syntax:

fglmkrtm [options]

Notes:

1. options are described below.

Warnings:

1. This tool uses the runtime system program to link some utility programs. If you have created a runner with a name different from "fglrun", you must set the FGLRUN environment variable.

Options:

Usage:

This tool is used by the installation program to set up the environment and compile required files (it calls fglinstall).

fglmkrtm -v -m ASCII -t dev

If you set the database client environment (INFORMIXDIR, ORACLE_HOME) before running this tool, it automatically creates a runtime system program corresponding to the database client environment.

fglmkstr

Purpose:

The fglmkstr tool compiles localized string files.

Syntax:

fglmkstr [options] source-file[.str]

Notes:

1. options are described below.
2. source-file is the .str string file. You can omit the file extension.

Options:

Usage:

This tool is used to compile .str localized string files into .42s files. 

For more details, see Localized Strings.

fesqlc

Purpose:

The fesqlc tool compiles ESQL/C sources.

Syntax:

fesqlc [options] source-file.ec [...]

Notes:

1. options are described below.
2. source-file is the .ec source file.

Options:

Usage:

This tool is used to compile ESQL/C sources. 

For more details, see FESQLC Manual.