In this view, you can see and modify the design of your
applications. You can work on the instances that constitute these
applications.
If you select
Folders (entities)
as the
top-level elements in the tree, the
content of the
Design Explorer view will be
similar to this picture:
Figure 1. Design Explorer view
that displays the entities as the top-level elements
The
Design Explorer view
contains trees.
- The first level of each tree is constituted of a location. A location
can be compared to a database. If 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 it and select Open),
you can expand it and see the entity level. The number of the instances
present in the location is displayed next to the location (total number)
and also next to each entity.
Note: If you select projects or packages as
the top-level elements, they constitute an additional level, higher
than the entity level. If you are maintaining a Pacbase application, the
notion of packages is irrelevant. When you import a file that is produced
by the Pacbase extraction
and migration procedures, the package is set to blank.
- The third level is constituted of the instances, if any. There
are various ways of loading instances into the view.
For explanations,
see Loading the local workspace.
You can see all the Rational Programming Patterns icons that
can be displayed in the trees of the Design Explorer view
by clicking the link at the end of this page.
Note: Symbols are
associated with the instance icons when instances have the same name
in projects that belong to the same branch of the design build path.
The instance that is defined in the higher project in the hierarchy
is considered as the master instance. Its icon is adorned with

. The instance that is defined in a lower and dependent project
is considered as the subordinate instance. Its icon is adorned with

. If an instance is subordinate in a project
but master in a lower project, its icon is adorned with

. For more information on the
master and subordinate instances, see
Master and subordinate
instances.
Creating locations or instances
If you right-click
an open location, any entity or instance, you can carry out the following
actions:
- Create a location ().
- Create instances (, or for example, or any
other entity available).
Viewing and modifying the design build path of the
location
This path is the hierarchy of the projects that
is explored in an upward direction to resolve the dynamic links and
references between the instances that are contained in the various
projects of the current location.
To view and modify this path,
right-click an open location and select Properties.
Importing and exporting, copying, and pasting instances
If
you right-click an open location, any entity, or instance, you can
carry out the following actions:
- Import and export a
set of instances that are grouped in a file.
- Copy and paste instances,
or delete instances.
Duplicating Programs, Screens, or Servers
If
you right-click a Program, Screen, or Server instance and select Duplicate,
you duplicate the design and the generated files of this instance.
Sharing selected elements
You can populate
the Design Explorer view with the content of
a Rational Team Concert server. To limit the number of the loaded
artifacts, you can load only the artifacts that are required by one
or more artifacts that you select.
However, the folder structure
that is loaded in this way does not have a "shared" status. If
you create or generate instances in projects that are loaded in this
way, you must share them explicitly here.
To do so, select the
instances or the COBOL files to be shared, right-click, and select . The newly created files are ready to be uploaded to
the Rational Team Concert server.
For explanations,
see Loading the local workspace.
Rebuilding your workspace
If you right-click
an open location, any entity, or instance, you can carry out the following
actions:
- Rebuild your workspace to make sure that
it is consistent. All the files and projects that are contained in
your workspace are opened. If the files contain instances, they are
parsed and repaired. The existence of the instances, their references,
links to keywords are checked, among others, and updated if necessary.
- Rebuild the mapping between the designs and the generated
files.
Opening, renaming, moving, comparing an instance
If
you right-click an instance (whatever the entity), you can carry out
the following actions:
- Open it. The instance is then displayed
in its dedicated PDP editor.
- Open it with various
editors.
- The first editor is the design editor that is dedicated to the
entity. It is the default editor.
- Three other editors are also available by default: text editor,
system editor, and in-place editor. You can also add other editors
in your preferences. You access the preferences from the Window menu, .
- Refactor the instance. You can select one
of the following choices:
- Rename the instance. The new name is automatically
propagated to all the instance links (references, keywords, instance
calls, lists for example). Renaming an instance in this way avoids
consistency errors.
- Move one or more selected instances to
another existing project while keeping all their links (references,
keywords, and instance calls for example).
You can also compare instances by selecting
Compare in
the contextual menu. You can compare the design of all the instances,
or the source code of Macros. You can start a comparison from the
following elements:
- Two or three instances with each other
- Two or three versions of the same instance. These versions can
be selected from the local history or from a version that is stored
on the server.
The comparison result is displayed in the compare editor. You
can browse through the differences or copy them.
Starting a search
You can search for the
following elements:
- Instances by clicking
in the toolbar, selecting
the Search menu, and opening the Design
search tab. If you are connected to a Rational Team Concert
server, you can also run a search on this server by selecting the
corresponding choices.
- The instance references by right-clicking
the instance (whatever the entity) and selecting this choice. You
can search for its super references (the instances
in which it is called), or its subreferences (the
instances it calls). Selecting one of these choices makes you switch
to the References view, where the search results
are displayed.
You can also search for the subreferences of
a COBOL generated file (.cbl file nested under
a Program, Screen, or Server). The instances that are involved in
the file generation will be automatically displayed in the References view.
- The Program, Screen, or Server instances that call a Macro. To
do so, right-click a Macro and select . All the
instances that call the Macro in the local project are then displayed
in the Macro cross-references view. The list
of the parameters and their values are also displayed, in a read-only
mode.
- The usages of a Data Element in the code that is entered manually
in the PROCEDURE DIVISION of generated Programs,
Screens, or Servers (.cbl extension). To do so,
right-click a Data Element and select Usage search.
Possible generation types
You can generate
the following elements:
- A selected Program, Screen, or Server by right-clicking an instance
and selecting . This generation
produces a .cbl file under the instance in the Design
Explorer view. Right-click it and select to access the COBOL editor and views. You can then
work on the code and the design of the instance.
Note: You are warned
of any desynchronization between the generated code and the design
when you expand the link that leads to the generated file. If a desynchronization
is detected when the link is expanded, the icon of the generated file
changes (

) and a special character is displayed.
The default special character is
> but you
can change it by selecting . You can regenerate all the desynchronized files in
the
Generation Manager view.
- A selected Database Block. To do so, right-click a Database Block
and select . This generation produces
a .txt file under the instance in the Design
Explorer view.
- The error messages that are associated with a Data Structure or
some of its Segments (for a Program), or with a Dialog (standard,
client, or server) or some of its Screens or Servers. To do so, right-click
an Error Message instance and select . The
generation produces a .txt file that you must
integrate into the error message file of your applications
- The COBOL descriptions of Data Structures in a file (Copybook).
To do so, right-click a Copybook and select . This generation
produces a .cpy file under the instance in the Design
Explorer view. You can integrate its content into programs
by using the COPY statement.
Note: All these generations can also be started from the
rpp
–generate command line.
You can also generate
a Volume, which groups instance descriptions to be published. To do
so, right-click a Volume and select . This generation
produces an XML or HTML file
in a directory you specify.
Dispatching Macros
The dispatch
Macro choice is accessed by right-clicking anywhere in
a location.
You must use it to migrate Pacbase data if the file
that is produced by the Macro migration batch procedure contains the
source of more than one Macro.
When you activate this function,
the Macro sources are dispatched among the corresponding Macros of
the projects in your local workspace.
If errors occurred during
the dispatch, you can consult the .pacdispatchmacro.log error
file in the .metadata folder of your workspace.
Note: This
task can also be run from a command line. For more explanations, refer
to the
Macro dispatching page.
Using the migration help
The migration
help choice is available from the Program, Screen, or
Server instance level.
You must run the migration help function
to migrate the code of a Program, Screen, or Server generated in Pacbase. This function copies
the Pacbase COBOL
into your workspace and generates it again locally. The COBOL that
is obtained after the local generation is then compared with the initial
COBOL. The migration help function sets warnings on the lines where
it detects differences. It excludes the differences in the formatting
or comments. You must manage the warnings.
Locking an instance
The Lock choice
is accessed by right-clicking a generated COBOL instance (.cbl file),
and selecting . This choice is available only if the instance is on
the connected server.
The toolbar
The
Design Explorer view
has its own toolbar, from which you can complete the following actions:
- Collapse All (
icon). This command collapses all the tree nodes
in the Design Explorer view
- Refresh (
icon). This command
refreshes the workspace after updates.
- Link with Editor (
icon). This command links the active editor to
its corresponding design instance or COBOL file in the tree of the Design
Explorer view. If this option is selected, changing the
active editor updates the selection in the tree to the design instance
or to the COBOL file being edited. Changing the selection in the tree
also automatically selects the corresponding design or COBOL editor,
if it is active.
- Change the sort and display of instances in the Design
Explorer view. Click the triangle icon (View
menu) and select:
- Top-level elements to indicate which element
type is to constitute the top of the hierarchy in each location tree:
folders (default value, represented by the entity types), projects,
or packages (irrelevant for the maintenance of a Pacbase application).
- Sort to specify a sort criterion: instance
name (default value), project, package, or level. The level refers
to the level of the projects in the design
build path. If you select this criterion, the display order
will reflect the position of the projects in the hierarchy. The instances
of the highest-level project will be displayed first and the display
will follow the hierarchy down to the lowest level.
- Display to display additional information
for each instance line in the tree: To remove some of the selected
information from the line, select it again in the menu.
- Filters to reduce the amount of data that
is displayed in the view. This choice opens the Design
Filters wizard where you can specify your parameters.
This new setting is then automatically saved and associated with
the Design Explorer view, until you change
it again.