External Action Blocks › Implement External Action Blocks › Host Tasks

Host Tasks

Use the Host Encyclopedia Construction tools to:

• Define the target environment and the construction libraries using the Host Encyclopedia Construction tool.
• Be sure to define the External Action Block libraries that contain the load module for the External Action Block and associated DBRMs.
• Define the CA Gen load module packaging.
• Provide CA Gen with a member name for the stub. This is the name that is used by the procedure step or action block to call the external subroutine.
• CA Gen automatically prompts you to supply member names the first time a system generation or testing facility function is requested for a load module. It also provides a function that allows you to change a member name.
• Generate the External Action Block stub. The stub defines the linkage between the CA Gen procedure step and the External Action Block. This includes the import and export views.
• Outside of CA Gen, modify the External Action Block stub.
• Copy the generated stub to a separate library before modifying it. This prevents an accidental overwrite of the stub. Add the logic to meet the specific requirements of your external subroutine. You use the modified stub to call an existing external subroutine or you include the subroutine logic in the stub.
• After modifying the stub, it becomes the source module for the External Action Block. Compile and link it before installing the load module.

  Note: If you insert the logic for the external subroutine into the stub, the CA Gen does not preserve the changes during regeneration. Copy changes into the new External Action Block stub that is created when the load module is regenerated. For this reason, it is recommended that you call the external subroutine from the stub rather than to insert the logic itself.

• Compile and link edit the external subroutine and the modified External Action Block stub (outside CA Gen). Use the appropriate compiler option for the application type.
• If the external subroutine uses DB2, identify the DB2 DBRMs associated with the external subroutine. Use the option to resolve an External Action Block in the Load Module Expansion panel to identify the DB2 DBRMs.
• Use the system generation tools to generate and install the applications system.
• Use the testing facility to test the application system's functionality.

  Note: The CA Gen testing facility does not support external logic that uses DL/I, IMS or CICS calls. If your CA Gen application uses this type of logic, create the procedures steps with references to the external logic disabled. Then generate and test the CA Gen load module. After making changes to the load module, enable the USE logic to your action diagrams and regenerate the affected load modules. Alternatively, if your application target is CICS, you test your application using the Debug Trace Facility under CICS. This allows you to test your External Action Block logic.

• After you finish testing and make the changes, regenerate parts of the application and/or reinstall the application using a different TP monitor or other environment parameters.
• Move the load modules and DB2 DBRMs to production libraries and bind on the production DB2 subsystem. These activities are performed manually outside of CA Gen.

More information:

Load Module Packaging in HE

Specify Target Environment for HE

Testing Applications

Supplying the Member Name