Introduction to CA IDMS VSAM Transparency › Integration with CA IDMS/DB

Integration with CA IDMS/DB

CA IDMS VSAM Transparency is totally integrated into the regular CA IDMS/DB environment. This integration allows access to the following database services and facilities:

• CA IDMS/DB central version (CV) and local mode operations
• Integrated data dictionary control
• Record locking
• Automatic recovery
• Journaling
• Batch application execution
• CICS online application execution
• Concurrent access to data by multiple programs that run simultaneously
• CA application development tools, such as CA ADS, CA OLQ, CA ICMS, and the Automatic System Facility (ASF)

Translating Requests

The interface between VSAM application programs and the CA IDMS/DB database depends on user-defined control information. This information establishes a correspondence between the data viewed by the VSAM program and the database structures defined in the CA IDMS/DB schema. At run time, CA IDMS VSAM Transparency uses the control information to translate VSAM processing requests into CA IDMS/DB database calls.

Processing Requests

Requests pass between the VSAM application and the database as follows:

1. CA IDMS VSAM Transparency accepts processing requests from the calling program.
2. CA IDMS VSAM Transparency converts processing requests to CA IDMS/DB calls.
3. CA IDMS/DB accesses the database and performs requested updates and retrievals.
4. CA IDMS VSAM Transparency returns status information and data (as appropriate) in VSAM format to the application program.

Flow Diagram

The following diagram illustrates how CA IDMS VSAM Transparency processes VSAM requests against an CA IDMS/DB database. CA IDMS VSAM Transparency acts as a translator between VSAM and CA IDMS/DB, allowing VSAM application programs to access an CA IDMS/DB database.

Database Environment

The CA IDMS/DB database used in the CA IDMS VSAM Transparency environment is a standard CA IDMS/DB database that can be used by other CA IDMS VSAM Transparency and CA IDMS/DB applications. Physical database details such as areas, record location modes, set orders, and indexing are transparent to the application program. You can change the physical database details to provide for better run-time performance without affecting the application program or the control information used to describe VSAM and CA IDMS/DB correspondences.

Note that the Mixed Page Group Binds Allowed feature may not be used with CA IDMS VSAM Transparency.