Cool:Gen Con-current

Object oriented Language :

Generator

What is Cool:gen - History

A CASE tool for Rapid Application development
which generates code from graphical process models.
Formerly called Information Engineering Facility
(IEF), produced by Texas Instruments. It was then
bought by Sterling Software who renamed it to Cool:gen.
Computer Associates then acquired from Sterling
software and renamed the tool as Advantage Gen. CA
are supporting Advantage Gen and adding support for
J2EE/EJB, enhanced web enablement, web Services
and .Net
Current Version of Advantage Gen 6.5 as on 2003-04-14
Cool:gen Version 5.1

Advantages of Cool:gen
Ensure consistency, completeness and conformance to standards.
Speed up development process (by helping to generate code)
Reduce costs especially in the maintenance phase.
Increase productivity
Can make structured techniques practical.
End to end tool
The code written in Cool:Gen can be generated in C, C++, COBOL,
JAVA etc without any modification to the code.

Data Modeling

Data modeling
Graphical representation of business data
using objects such as Entity types and
relationships

Data modeling

Data model Browser

Data model List

Jargons in Cool:gen
Subject Area
An area of interest to the enterprise centered on a major resource,
product or activity and about which it may hold data
Ex : Human resources, Employee information etc

Entity type
Employee can be defined as an entity type in which all
the details of the employee are present.

Attributes
A characteristic of an entity type.
Ex : For an entity table, attributes could be Employee
number, Employee name etc.

Jargons in Cool:gen
Relationship
A reason of relevance to the enterprise for associating entities of
one or more entity types.

Identifiers
Each value of an identifier uniquely identifies one entity
of a given type
Ex : For an entity table, attributes could be Employee
number can be the identifier.

Jargons in Cool:gen
Elementary Process
An elementary process is the smallest unit of business activity of
meaning to the user.

Process
A defined business activity whose executions may be defined in
terms of inputs and outputs of specific entities.

Procedures
The method of carrying out one or more level of the
processes.

Jargons in Cool:gen
Action Diagram
An action diagram is a collection of statements of the actions that
perform the work of the process.
Its the Statement!!!

Transformation/Retransformation
Transformation is the automatic creation of general and
DBMS-Specific Technical Design (TD) objects from data
model objects.

Transformation implements
Entity types as tables
Relationships as constraints
Identifiers as Indexes
Attributes as columns
Many-to-Many relationships as link tables

Transformation/Retransformation

ReTransformation synchronizes the Technical Design

(TD) to the data model.
Can be performed only after the changes have been
made in the structure of the data model

Design
Window Design
Screen Design
Dialog Design

Window Design

Window
Area of screen on which information is
displayed.

Dialog box
A window without an action bar.

Control
A component of window that allows
selection of choices
Ex List box, entry field etc

Window Design Example

Screen Design

Screen Block Mode

Cool:gen supports 80 character, 24 line
screens.
Supports IMS/DC, CICS screens
Can associate PF keys to the key action
No client Server concept

Screen Design

Views

Views
A structured collection of attributes used by
a process

Types of views
Import Views.
Export Views
Local Views
Entity Views
Group Views
Work Set Views

Views

Dialog Design

Dialog Design
Procedure definition Define procedures
Describes the flow between procedures

Types of Dialog flow

Transfer
Link

Dialog Design

Link

Transfer

Dialog Design

Link/
Transfer
Exit
State

Command

View
matching

Dialog Design

Exit States
The exit state is a special variable which
maybe set within the procedural logic

Types of Exit states

Normal
Rollback
Abort

Exit state messages

Informational, Warning,
None

Error

and

Action Statements
ERD Actions
Actions performed on entity action views
Read, Read Each, Create, Update, Summarize

Conditional Actions
Actions to direct execution of group statements

If, Case, While

Repeated Actions
Actions to execute repeatedly
For, Repeat, For each

Action Statements
GUI Action statements
Actions performed on GUI Controls
Open, Close, Sort

Assignment Statements
Assigning values to variables
Set, Move

Control Actions
Actions that alter the normal flow of execution
Next, Escape

Action Statements

Cool:gen Functions
To reduce the program complexity and the
development time, functions are present.
String functions
GUI Functions
Mathematical functions
Miscellaneous functions etc
Eg trim leading, substr, concat, Beep, GetRed,
DetBlue,
GetGreen,
Backgroundcolor,
OpenExcelDocument, Sine, Cosine

Event processing
Triggering of special processing like click, scroll etc.
Supported only for GUI
Types of GUI Events
Window/Dialog Box events
Attach events to windows/Dialog Boxes.
Open, Close
Control Events
Attach events to controls on windows/Dialog
boxes
Click, Scroll
Special Event
Tirevent User defined Event

Types of Action Diagrams

Process Action Diagram
Collection of action statements that directly support
an elementary process.
Contains Insert, Update, Delete statements
Common action Blocks
Collection of action statements that support
elementary process involved by more than one
process
Procedure step Action blocks
Collection of action statements that implement one
or more processes.
Collection of action statements that support data
processing on window/Screen

Construction

Provides tools to create an executable application

system.
We need to specify
Environment
- Execution environment like
Windows, OS/2 etc
Packages - Identifies components of a load module
GENERATION
Generates the source code in C, C++, COBOL,
Java etc

Encyclopedia
Central repository of objects that allows multiple users
to work at the same time

Two types of encyclopedia

1. Host encyclopedia that operates on MVS using
TSO
2. Client Server encyclopedia that operates on a
network, using one or more workstations

Encyclopedia

Subsetting
Definition of part of a model that a user wants to change
on the toolset
Key Concepts of subsetting
Subset definition : Subset definition is the process
of selecting objects from a model to include in a
subset
Expansion : Extent to which additional objects for
a scoping object are included in a subset
Expansion level could be default, short, Full
Protection : Protection is the level of authorization
on an object.
Delete, Modify, Access and read only

Subsetting protection Option

If you request a but the object is you get the object with
scoping object with this checked out with this this
downgraded
protection.
protection
protection
Delete

Delete

Read

Delete

Modify

Access

Delete

Access

Modify

Modify

Delete

Read

Modify

Modify

Access

Access

Delete

Read

Check-out
Check Out a Model downloads (copies) a model or
subset from the encyclopedia to the workstation.
Models and subsets are checked out to a user.
All the objects scoped in a subset are downloaded to
the PC.
The model name and the subset name should be the
same as scoped.

Check-in
Update and Check In Model uploads (copies) a
workstation model or subset to the encyclopedia.
When a model is checked in (uploaded) to the
encyclopedia, it becomes the active copy.

Two Types of Checkin

Update and checkin
Update and do not checkin

Check-in-Checkout Process
H
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S
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N
C
Y
C
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P
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D
I
A

IEFDOWN
Creates DS
ief.tran

IEFUP

File transfer
As checkout.trn

Update.trn
File transfer to
ief.tran

Trace Facility
Trace facility is available for both the GUI (windows)
and Screens.
Can see the step-by-step execution of the program.
Skip a single line of execution (available only for
Screen testing)
Can run trace before the complete coding is done.

INFORMATION ENGINEERING
What is Information Engineering?
A Methodology for developing and maintaining business
Oriented Information Systems
Seven Stages Of Information Engineering

INFORMATION ENGINEERING
ISP : Information Strategy Planning
Establish an information strategy based on the evaluation of
business strategy.
Evaluate the effectiveness of existing business.
Identify data as a corporate resource and establish a basis for its
analysis and control

BAA : Business Area Analysis

Detailed analysis on the particular area of business
Understanding why and how things work the way they do
Data analysis, Activity Analysis

INFORMATION ENGINEERING Activity

Dependency

INFORMATION ENGINEERING Activity

Hierarchy

INFORMATION ENGINEERING
BSD : Business System Design
Technical solutions to the requirements are evaluated.
Detailed logical design developed which shows clearly how the
new system will operate within the business.

TD : Technical Design
Tailoring of BSD to specific target computing
environment
Takes into account the characteristics of OS, DMBS,
Hardware etc.

INFORMATION ENGINEERING
Con : Construction
Creation of executable components of the system

TRN : Transition
Installation of new system in production environment in
an orderly manner.

PRD : Production
Execution of application system satisfying the portion
of business requirements identified in the ISP

Thank You