XENTIS Documentation -- Release Notes

XENTIS 4.5

XENTIS V4.5
Release Notes

This document contains information about using XENTIS V4.5 and
highlights features that are available in V4.5 that were not
available in versions prior to V4.5.

A. INSTALLATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION.

1. If you have a previous version of XENTIS already installed
and you never installed an interim version, we recommend
that you copy the release notes of these previous versions
from saveset F on your release tape and review them. The
following DCL command should retrieve these release notes and
place them in your current directory:

BACKUP/LOG tape_dev:XENTIS045.F/SELECT=[*...]*.REL*/SAVE_SET []

where 'tape_dev' is your tape drive.

2. The installation procedure for V4.5 is similar to the procedure
used in V4.2 to 4.4, however V4.2 installation is quite different
from V4.1. Prior to V4.2, all XENTIS images would be linked, with
a LINK command, while the installation procedure was executing.
Starting with V4.2, XENTIS images are copied onto your system
without going through a LINK step. This results in a faster
installation.

This is accomplished by supplying several shareable images that
act as stub routines for databases and other optional software
that XENTIS supports but is not present on your system.

In addition, the installation procedure no longer prompts the
installer for an 'INSTALL' directory. The 'Install' or 'Object'
files are no longer loaded onto your system.

3. If you are using XENTIS with Oracle7 then you must relink XENTIS
on your system, and you must receive a special tape containing
the XENTIS object libraries. The same holds true if you wish
to use CDD, now called Oracle CDD, with XENTIS on Alpha systems.
Using CDD with Vax systems does not require a relink.

4. Starting with V4.2 XENTIS logicals are created in the SYSTEM table
in EXECUTIVE mode. This is done to support the new policy of not
linking on the target system. These logicals are now defined during
system startup. In version 4.1 and prior, the XENTIS$COMFILES
logical was defined in the SYSTEM table in SUPERVISOR mode,
while the XENTIS$PROGRAM, XENTIS$DEMO, and XENTIS$REPORT$DATA
logicals were defined in the PROCESS table. To help avoid problems
with user written DCL command files referring to XENTISLOGICALS.COM,
this file's name has been changed to XENTIS_LOGICALS.COM, and
XENTISLOGICALS.COM will still exist but contain only comments.

5. In response to customer demand, multiple versions of XENTIS may
be installed and active at the same time. Please see section
below for more information.

6. Beginning with V4.2, the XENTIS startup procedure defines a number
of additional logicals. These logicals define which optional parts
of XENTIS are available on your system, and which ones will have to
use stub routines. The definition of these logicals are found in
the XENTIS_SHARE_LOGICALS.COM file.

7. An additional system DCL command file is supplied for the
purposes of shutting down XENTIS. This command file is called
XENTIS_SHUTDOWN.COM and can be found in the XENTIS45$COMFILES:
directory. This command file removes the system logicals that
were created with the XENTIS45_START.COM file. It will also
remove the XENTIS images if they were installed with the
INSTALL command. (This does not delete any files from disk.) It
is recommended that the XENTIS_SHUTDOWN.COM procedure be called
from the system shutdown procedure, SYS$MANAGER:SYSHUTDWN.COM.

8. The user pack routine, used for user written data types, is
implemented as a shareable image beginning with V4.2. This
allows you to write and test your routine without having to
relink XENTIS every time. Linking instructions are found in
the sample source code, XUUSER_PACK.BAS. In addition, the
number of parameters for this routine has changed. Please
review the sample source code for further information. This
information represents no change from V4.2, however the
name of the shareable image is now XENTIS45_USER_PACK.EXE.

9. On VAX systems XENTIS V4.5 requires OpenVMS V5.0 at a minimum.
Installation and operations has been tested on a OpenVMS V5.2
system, but it has not been tested on a OpenVMS V5.0 or V5.1
system. As result we recommend that users be running at least
OpenVMS V5.2.

On Alpha systems XENTIS V4.5 requires OpenVMS V6.2 or later. It
is also important to install all the BASIC RTL patches available
from Digital. Without these patches, XENTIS will abort under
certain circumstances. The patches are available from Digital
World Wide Web site: http://www.openvms.digital.com.

10. If an additional cpu is licensed, and that system has a different
database configuration, it is not necessary to relink XENTIS.
The XENTIS startup procedure effective with V4.2, which must be
run on every node licensed for XENTIS, will detect the different
database configuration and define the XENTIS logicals
appropriate for each licensed CPU.

11. The circumstances where XENTIS needs to be relinked are now quite
rare. Therefore, object libraries are no longer included on the
distribution tape.

12. Beginning with V4.2, CALLABLE XENTIS is a feature that is
available only upon request from your vendor. It is no longer
available in the standard release. CALLABLE XENTIS provides the
ability for a 3GL program to call XENTIS (except /Dictionary and
/Edit) in the context of the same process or image. XENTIS can
still be executed in the context of a subprocess. Using XENTIS
in a subprocess is not considered CALLABLE XENTIS.

13. When the XENTIS45$SUPPORT logical is set to a value of Y, then
whenever XENTIS/Report ( or /File, /Word, /Model, /Creport,
/Update) writes a XENTIS Command File, .XCF, it will write
into the file considerable information regarding the report,
the data files, the setup file, and its operating environment.
This information can be very valuable for the customer support
staff in diagnosing problems with a particular report. When
sending an XCF file to the customer support department, please
set this logical to a value of Y before creating the XCF file.
This feature became effective with version 4.1.

14. If you are upgrading from V4.2 or prior, please note that the
names of the user modifiable shareable images have changed.
Their previous and current names are as follows:

XENTIS_USER_PACK.EXE XENTIS45_USER_PACK.EXE
XENTIS_USER_FUNCTION.EXE XENTIS45_USER_FUNCTION.EXE
XENTIS_XRP3GL.EXE XENTIS45_XRP3GL.EXE

The application program interface (API) to these routines have
not changed from V4.2.

15. The Alpha AXP version of XENTIS has not been tested with CDD.
It should work with a relink of XENTIS. The Alpha AXP version
does not work with Ingres or Sybase. Contact your vendor
regarding more information on these databases. The Rdb interface
has been tested and is supported. The Oracle interface works
with a relink of XENTIS, and in some cases a redefining of
logicals.

B. INSTALLING AND USING TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS AT THE SAME TIME

Beginning with version 4.3 XENTIS allows two or more different versions
to be installed and active at the same time. This is accomplished
by including the version number, in this case 45, with the logicals
used by XENTIS and including the version number in many executable
files. The information in this section describes how this is
accomplished and what the customer needs to do to insure smooth
operation of two or more versions at the same time.

1. All XENTIS logicals that previously began with XENTIS, now
begin with XENTISnn, where 'nn' is the version number. Please
note that symbols such as XENTIS$DICT and XENTIS$PASSWD have
not changed. These symbols are unique to your process and do
not need to be changed.

2. All XENTIS executable files that may get installed with the INSTALL
utility now have the version number appended to the filename.
This is because the INSTALL utility does not allow two or more
files with the same name to be installed at the same time.
Customers that have a limited user count license, or those that
have a Progress database interface license must either install
XENTIS executables with the SYSLCK privilege or must give each
user the SYSLCK privilege. (The XENTIS startup procedure
automatically examines the XENTIS license for these two conditions
and installs the executables if appropriate.) Please note that
due to a bug in Rdb, the XENTIS executables should not be
installed if the Rdb interface is to be used.

3. None of the control files or data files that XENTIS uses have had
their names modified for this purpose. The lone exception to
this rule is the startup file that is executed during system
startup. Its name is now XENTISnn_START.COM, found in the
SYS$MANAGER directory, where 'nn' is the version number.

4. XENTIS version 4.5 may be installed and started, while a
previous version is active and running. It may not be installed
while another installation of V4.5 is active and started. The
V4.5 installation procedure detects this condition and will
halt its processing.

5. During system startup, the various versions of XENTIS should be
started in order with the oldest version first and the newest
version last. When shutting down XENTIS, it is best if the
reverse order is followed; the latest version first.

6. Existing batch command files present a unique problem. Many or
most batch command files created prior to version 4.3 contain a
line in them similar to "RUN XENTIS$PROGRAM:XRP". Under the old
scheme of filenames and logicals, this would always execute the
current version of XENTIS. Under the new scheme of filename and
logicals, this would execute the version of XENTIS that was
previously installed.

If it is desired for pre V4.3 batch command files to use version
4.5, then perform the following steps.

a. Copy XRP45.EXE to XRP.EXE in the same directory.
b. Define a logical as: DEFINE XENTIS$PROGRAM XENTIS45$PROGRAM

Beginning with batch command files created under version 4.3 or
later, you can control which version of XENTIS is used. This is
done with the XEN_VER DCL symbol. To use version 4.3, set XEN_VER
to "43"; to use version 4.5, set XEN_VER to "45"; etc. This
symbol can be set in a user login file or the system login file,
SYS$MANAGER:SYLOGIN.COM. If this symbol is not set, the current
version will be used.

7. To remove an older version of XENTIS from your system,
execute the XENTIS_SHUTDOWN.COM procedure for all versions
in the order of most recent version first. (XENTIS_SHUTDOWN.COM
was introduced in version 4.2.) Next, delete all the files
from the older version. Next deassign the PKMSSHR logical.
Next, execute the XENTIS startup files, found in SYS$MANAGER,
in the order of most recent version last.

C. NEW FEATURES

1. /Report and /Report modules (/File, /Word, /Model, /Update).

a. The XENTIS45_DEBUG_FLAGS logical now accepts two new debug
flags. These flags are designed to output to the debug
file a copy of the records as they are being read. The
debug flag of A will cause Ascii characters to be output.
The debug flag of H will cause a Hexadecimal representation
of the bytes of the records to be output. When Hexadecimal
output is chosen, two lines will be output. The first
line is the most significant nibble, and the second line
is the least significant nibble.

These new debug flags only work if the R flag, if reading
RMS files, or the Q flag, if reading SQL data, is also set.
In addition, the user must have read access to all fields
of all files in the report. When SQL data is being read, only
those fields being retrieved will be visible. All other fields
will be zeros or spaces. The output from these debug flags
can be extensive. Use them with caution.

This feature was added in version 4.4D, except for
XENTIS/Update. In version 4.5 this feature works in
XENTIS/Update.

b. If the setup file parameter SEGMENTED-CALCS is set to N, then
XENTIS will perform all calculations at the same time. Setting
this new parameter to Y, will cause XENTIS to perform each
calculation at it optimal point. A value of N also emulates
calculation behavior prior to version 4.4. Under most
circumstances, performance will be better with this parameter
set to Y. The default value of this parameter is Y.

This feature was added in version 4.4D and implemented as
a logical called UNIFORM_CALCS rather than as a setup file
parameter. Also, the values of the logical were opposite
of the values of this parameter. This logical is not used in
version 4.5.

c. Version 4.5 can adjust the century of date fields defined with
particular date data types or date fields resulting from
particular calculation functions. The century can be
adjusted for the TDA, MDY, DMY, and for user written date
data types. The adjustment for TDA, MDY, and DMY data types
is applicable only if the length of these fields is 6 bytes.
The century can also be adjusted for date fields created by
the D1, D3, and D5 functions.

Upon initialization, XENTIS will examine the CENTURY-ADJUST
parameter. If this parameter does not exist or has a value of
zero, "0", then no century adjustment will occur. If the
parameter has a numeric value of 1 through 99, then a century
adjustment for the above mentioned datatypes will occur. If
the 2 digit year of the date field referenced is less than
the value of the CENTURY-ADJUST parameter, then XENTIS will
place the date in the 21st century, 2000 - 2099, otherwise
the date will be remain in the 20th century, 1900 - 1999.
Values outside 1 through 99 will result in a zero value.
(Yes, we know that technically the 21st century does not
begin until the year 2001.)

For example, suppose the field REVIEW_DATE is defined with
the MDY datatype and contains "031502". Normally XENTIS
assumes this date is March 15, 1902. If, however, the
CENTURY-ADJUST parameter has a value of 3 through 99, then
XENTIS will use the date March 15, 2002.

This feature was added in version 4.4A and implemented as
a logical rather than as a setup file parameter. In addition,
the adjustment in version 4.4A did not apply to date literals.
In version 4.5 and later, date literals that use a 2 digit
year will be adjusted. This logical is not used in version
4.5.

d. Two functions that support julian dates, which use the day
of the year rather than day of month and month of year,
have been added. These functions are call JLEXT, to extract
the day of the year, and JLBLD, to build a date using the
day of the year.

JLEXT takes one argument, a date-time field, and returns
a numeric field containing the day of the year, 1 to 366.
If an invalid date or a null date is used, the JLEXT will
return a value of zero.

JLBLD takes three numeric arguments, a four digit year, the
day of the year, and the number of seconds since midnight,
and returns a date-time field. If an invalid year or
invalid day of year is passed, then a zero, or null, date
will be returned.

For example, if REVIEW_DATE contains date value of 10-MAR-1996
then JLEXT(REVIEW_DATE) will yield a value of 70, for the
70th day of the year. A calculation expression would look
like:
DAY = JLEXT(REVIEW_DATE)

For example, if YEAR was 1995, and DAY was 363, and TIME was
zero, then JLBLD(YEAR,DAY,TIME) would yield a date-time value
of 29-DEC-1995. A calculation expression would look like:
DATETIME = JLBLD(YEAR,DAY,TIME)

e. With the LIST command, a selection string may be specified
in place of an output file, provided the selection string
is prefixed with an equal sign (=), which will be removed
during processing. This allows the user to perform such
things as listing a setup file parameter without having
to display all the parameters.

The new format of the LIST command is:

LIST topic output-file OR
LIST topic =search-string

where 'option' is the LIST command option, 'output-file'
is an optional output file, and '=search-string' is
an optional selection string. Trailing spaces in the
search-string are not significant, however a space
between the equal sign and the search-string is
significant.

For example, the command: LIST SETUP =SORT
will display all setup parameters containing the word SORT.

f. The Registry File feature, introduced in version 4.3, has
been enhanced to include XENTIS Command Files (XCF) that
are newly created and immediately executed or submitted to
batch. The names of such XCF files will be written to the
Registry File. XCF files that are created but not executed
will not be written to the Registry File.

g. A setup file parameter has been introduced to control
where XENTIS/Update will write the deleted record audit
trail entry. This applies only to Maxcim application
users that have audit trail enabled. The parameter is
named DMACS-POLICY and currently has valid values of
1 or 2 only. A 1 indicates that the deleted records should
be written to the first record position in the audit
trail file, while a 2 indicates that the delete records
should be written to the second record position. To be
consistent with prior versions of XENTIS, the value that
is shipped for this parameter is 1.

h. Three functions similar to the PREVT, PREVN, and PREVD
calculation functions have been added. These functions are
named PRERT, PRERN, and PRERD respectively. They are
identical to PREVT, PREVN, and PREVD except the new functions
provide access to the previously read record instead of the
previously selected record. These functions are particularly
useful if trying to eliminate duplicate data. The PREVT,
PREVN, and PREVD functions were introduced in version 4.3.

i. A new calculation function designed to alter the internal
flow of XENTIS/Report is now available. When executed, this
function sets an internal flag that causes the next
sequential read of the desired file, indicated by the argument
used in the function, to return an error. This function,
EOG, takes one argument, a text field or a numeric field,
and always returns a numeric value of 1. EOG is short for
end-of-group.

This function is unique in that it doesn't return any
useful information, it just alters the internal flow of
XENTIS while in the selection phase. It is important to
remember that EOG applies only to sequential reads, which
occur on the primary file, and on auxillary files when
there are multiple records for the desired key; in other
words, a one-to-many relationship.

Usage of the EOG function makes sense only when used
in a conditional calculation such as:
DONE = EOG(A:NAME) IF B:AMOUNT > 999999.99
In this example we are forcing the next read on the primary
file, A:NAME is from the primary file, to return an error
when the AMOUNT field from file B exceeds 999,999.99. The
NAME field is actually never used in a calculation, what
XENTIS uses is the file it came from. The usage of this
function can be seen if you use the debug mode with the
R flag set.

j. A new calculation function, RFA, has been added. This
function takes one argument, a text or numeric field, and
returns a 6 byte string of binary data containing the
Record's File Address (RFA) of the chosen record. The
field data of the argument that is passed is not used, just
the file designator is used. To be useful for printing, the
result of the RFA function needs to be passed on to the CVTN
function or the HEXT function.

This function's primary benefit is to debug reports. A
couple examples of its usage might be:

RFA_B;12 = HEXT( RFA( B:CUSTNO ) )

RFA_A1 = CVTN(SEG(RFA(A:INVOICE_NUMBER),1,4),"LU")
RFA_A2 = CVTN(SEG(RFA(A:INVOICE_NUMBER),5,6),"WU")

Please note that only RMS files have an RFA.

k. When using XENTIS in display mode, if the info window is
blank, then the right and left arrow keys may be used to
navigate the cursor at the response field. Currently only
the CTRL/D and CTRL/F keys may be used.

l. The qualifiers that may be specified at the Execute prompt
are now passed on, if the response to the execute prompt
is B, O, or C, for batch processing, overnight batch
processing, or DCL Command file creation.

m. The temporary batch command file that is created when
the user responds with either B or O at the Execute prompt
is now created in SYS$SCRATCH rather than the current
directory, because the user doesn't always have write
access to the current directory.

n. The XENTIS/Model control files now contain and support the
DEFAULT-OUTPUT-FILE parameter, whose value controls the
default filename at the "Output File" prompt. Please note
that this is a parameter inside the model control files,
not in the setup file.

o. If /Report output is to your terminal, you may now enter
a GRAND command at the "Press return to continue" prompt.
This will cause all output to be suppressed until the
grand totals are reached. Please note that immediately
after entering the GRAND command, one additional detail
will be printed prior to the suppression of all output.

p. There is a set of new setup parameters that allow a user
to reassign certain numeric and date datatypes to a text
datatype for certain files in the report. This means that
when XENTIS retrieves datatype information from the data
dictionary and the datatype matches the list below, then
XENTIS will use the Text datatype instead.

Datatype Parameter Name Description
-------- -------------- ----------------------
NU NU-IS-TEXT Numeric Unsigned
NZ NZ-IS-TEXT Zoned Numeric (Dibol)
NR NR-IS-TEXT Numeric Right Separate (Cobol)
NL NL-IS-TEXT Numeric Left Separate (Cobol)
TDA TDA-IS-TEXT Text Date (YYYYMMDD or YYMMDD)
MDY MDY-IS-TEXT Text Date (MMDDYYYY or MMDDYY)
DMY DMY-IS-TEXT Text Date (DDMMYYYY or DDMMYY)

The value of the parameter may be zero or more file letter
designations, A through R. For example, to cause XENTIS to
assign a Text datatype to NU datatypes in the first and the
third files in a report, you should assign the NU-IS-TEXT
parameter a value of "AC". To do the same for the first five
files, give the parameter a value of "ABCDE"

The benefit of this feature is that these redefined fields
are allowed to be used in the Key Section of the dialogue
with the /Start-End syntax. In addition, various text
functions in the Calculation Section can now be used on
these fields.

Please note that the value of these setup parameters are used
only when field descriptions are being retrieved from the
data dictionary.

q. The new setup file parameter SQL-FILE-WRITE controls whether
or not SQL is used to write records to Rdb, Ingres, or
Sybase databases when using XENTIS/File. If the parameter
value is Y, then SQL is used. If the parameter value is N,
then the native API is used. Please note that Oracle and
Progress always use SQL in XENTIS/file. The default value
of this parameter is set to Y, to enable the NULL-NUMERIC
and NULL-TEXT setup parameters.

r. XENTIS/File can now write null values to an SQL database.
This is accomplished by using the NULL-NUMERIC and the
NULL-TEXT setup parameters. If a text field equals the
parameter value specified with NULL-TEXT, then XENTIS will
write a NULL value rather than the value of the text field.
Likewise, if a numeric field equals the parameter value
specified with NULL-NUMERIC, then XENTIS will write a NULL
value rather than the value of the numeric field. To disable
this feature, set the parameter value to "", which is the
default value. To write NULL for a date field, set the value
of the date field to 00-XXX-0000. The SQL-FILE-WRITE setup
parameter must be set to Y to enable this feature for Rdb,
Ingres, or Sybase databases.

s. The error message that XENTIS/File displays when it encounters
an error while writing to an RMS file has been enhanced. If
the output file is an indexed file, all the of index values
will be displayed in the error message. This will make
tracking down the offending record easier. Please note that
when RMS returns a "Duplicate Key Detected" error, it does
not inform XENTIS which index caused the error, if the file
has more than one index.

t. There is a new setup parameter called DFLT-MULT-RECORDS that
controls the default value for the "Does this key have
multiple records" prompt. The allowable values for this
parameter are Y, for a default of Yes, N for a default of No,
and A to instruct XENTIS to automatically determine the
default value as it has done in previous versions.

u. The Selective Print Frequency feature that exists for fields
in the Field Section now works in the Calculation-on-Total
section of the dialogue. Please read the reference manual
for more information. Also note that print frequencies D,
S, T, F, and H are not available with Calculation-on-Total
expressions.

v. The Guide Menu feature of Display Mode now displays a status
for each section of the dialogue. The status flags you may
see include:

Not Avail This section is not yet available.
Required This section is required.
Optional This section is optional.
Started This section has started.
Completed This section has completed.

w. The maximum number of SET commands that may be written to
a XENTIS Command File, XCF, has been increased to 40.

x. The restriction of not allowing Selection-on-Subtotal
expression to reference fields whose accumulation type is
an alternative type, such as average, variance, etc. has
been removed. You may now reference fields that have an
alternative accumulation type in Selection-on-Subtotal
expressions. Alternative accumulation types include average,
variance, standard deviation, minimum, maximum, and count.

y. Selection expression performance has been improved by an
average of 5% for most reports that have selection expressions.

z. A new setup file parameter, DISPLAY-WARNINGS, controls whether
or not warning messages during the dialogue phase are
displayed at the user's terminal. This parameter has valid
values of Y and N only. To display warning messages, give
the parameter of value of Y, otherwise give it a value of N.
The shipped value of this parameter is Y.

These warning messages include such things as, using obsolete
datatypes, writing to output files that already exist, entering
report titles that are too long, entering calculations whose
expanded expression is too long, joining SQL tables in a
non-standard manner, and attempting to modify key fields in
XENTIS/Update.

aa. XENTIS can now produce HTML output files. It accomplishes
this by breaking your report file into several output files
and placing them into an HTML envelope using the preformatted
text feature of HTML. The result can range from one HTML
output file to one thousand HTML output files per report
depending upon the size of the report and the number of pages
allowed per HTML document file.

This capability is invoked by responding with an H to the
"Queue to system printer" prompt. When an H is entered, three
additional prompts will be issued.

The first additional prompt is "HTML Document Title". The
response should be the title you wish to give to this HTML
document. Quite often it will be the first or second title
of the report. The response to this prompt will become the
default for the second title line.

The second additional prompt is "Enter into catalogue". The
response here should be either Y or N. Entering a Y will
cause XENTIS to create an entry in the HTML catalog file for
this report. The HTML catalog file is an HTML document that
contains links to HTML reports generated by XENTIS. The
name of the HTML catalog file is controlled by the new
HTML-CATALOG-FILE setup file parameter. The default for the
response to this prompt is controlled by the HTML-DFLT-CATALOG
setup file parameter. Unlike the catalog file for XCF
files, the HTML catalog must exist, contain appropriate HTML
code, and contain specific flags relevant to XENTIS.

The HTML catalog is an HTML document that contains links
to XENTIS created reports that are wrapped with HTML code.

The third additional prompt is "Pages per HTML document". The
response here should be a number from 1 through 999. This
controls the number of HTML document files that will be
created. If your report normally consists of 50 pages, and
you enter a response of 5 to this prompt, then XENTIS will
produce 10 HTML report document files, and one HTML index
document. The HTML index document will be created only if
more than one HTML report document is created. This index
document contains links to all the HTML report documents. The
default for this prompt is controlled by the HTML-PAGES-PER-DOC
setup file parameter.

The envelope of HTML code that is placed around the XENTIS
report when HTML output is controlled by two template files.
These template filename are established by the HTML-PRE-PREFIX
and the HTML-PRE-POSTFIX setup file parameters. The first
template file controls all HTML code used prior to the HTML directive. The second template file controls all HTML code
used following the directive.

The HTML-PRE-INDEX setup file parameter controls the name of
the template file that in turn controls the style and format
of the HTML index document, assuming more than one HTML report
document is generated.

It is recommended that each site customize these three template
files and the catalog file to reflect the HTML document
standards that each site may have developed.

Three additional setup file parameters are used in conjunction
with HTML output. The HTML-OUTPUT-TYPE setup parameter
controls the filetype, or extension, of HTML files. The
HTML-PAGE-SIZE setup parameter controls the default page size
of HTML reports. A value of zero means to use the normal
default pages size.

bb. When using RMS data files, the LIST FILES command will now
display the actual and the RMS translated data filenames, in
addition to the filename entered by the user.

cc. A list of pointer files is now displayed in the info window
at the "Enter Pointer File" prompt when using REREPORT,
RESELECT, etc.

dd. If a user's terminal is in 132 column mode, then XENTIS will
use a larger field window for primary filenames, calculation
expressions, selection expressions, and calculation-on-total
expressions.

2. /Edit

No enhancements specific to XENTIS/Edit were made for
version 4.5.

3. /Dictionary

No enhancements specific to XENTIS/Dictionary were made
for version 4.5

4. General Enhancements

a. During installation where the installer enters locations
for the XENTIS data directory, demo directory, and images
directory, if logicals are entered and the logicals translate
to exactly a device and directory, then when the installation
process creates the XENTIS_LOGICALS.COM file, it will write
to this file the logicals entered by the user. In previous
versions, the device and directory combination of the
translation of the logicals would be written to the
XENTIS_LOGICALS.COM file.

b. Since version 3.6 XENTIS requires DECnet to be active.
XENTIS.COM and XENTIS1.COM now inspects DECnet to make sure
it is active.

c. When changing your default data dictionary to an Rdb database
XENTIS will now verify that the Rdb version logicals are
established. Please note that when Rdb is not the default
dictionary and you access Rdb in a report using the multiple
dictionary feature, XENTIS does not verify the establishment
of the Rdb version logicals. You may receive a RDB$_WRONG_ODS
error message.

d. The TOLAS TIRS data dictionary is identical to the XENTIS
version 3.0 data dictionary except that its header record
was modified. XENTIS version 4.5 will accept this modified
header record and treat a TIRS data dictionary as a XENTIS
data dictionary.

e. In saveset F on the release tape you will find two files that
allow you to produce reports from the OpenVMS System
Accounting file. The first file, ACCOUNTNG.TEMPDIC, is a
temporary dictionary that describes the system accounting
file. The second file, ACCOUNTING_REPORT.XCF, is a sample
XENTIS Command File that will produce a report of Process
Termination accounting records. Be sure to place the
temporary dictionary file, ACCOUNTNG.TEMPDIC, into the
same directory as your accounting file, usually SYS$MANAGER:.

f. During XENTIS startup, the startup procedure will now display
the 3 character codes for each of the XENTIS modules are
licensed. These codes are also placed in the XENTIS45$MODULES
logical. Please note that changing this logical will not
affect the modules that are licensed. This logical is for
support information purposes only.

D. KNOWN PROBLEMS AND RESTRICTIONS

XENTIS has several known problems and restrictions. Some of these
are known bugs in the XENTIS software, some are known bugs in
other software that XENTIS uses, such as Rdb, while others are
limitations placed upon XENTIS by the operating system.

1. Print frequency U (for Unique) and the setup parameter
ACCUM-IF-UNIQUE may not always work when multiple primary files
are being used. This is because two records in different primary
files may have the same record pointer (RFA in RMS files). After
sorting, these two records may get sorted next to each other. As
a result, XENTIS thinks they are the same record, because they
have the same RFA.

2. If the user enters a prompted literal, then backs up and makes
a correction to the prompted literal, the user may be
prompted for the first literal even though it is no longer part
of the report. This happens because literals that were entered
and then changed during the report definition, remain in the
internal literal pool. This problem will automatically
disappear when the report definition is saved and the report is
reexecuted after exiting.

3. A problem may occur with XENTIS Dictionaries created prior to
XENTIS V3.1. In some cases the prefix entry in the file
record was not created correctly. Due to enhancements made to
the processing of prefixes, the incorrect data stored in such
prefixes may cause reports or /Edit to work incorrectly. This
problem is resolved by running "Edit a Data Dictionary" from the
XENTIS/Dictionary menu and selecting "Change" "File" followed
by changing the prefix value from spaces to null. Running the
program XDFIX_PREFIX found the images directory will also
correct this problem.

4. The sizes of all records from all input files, plus calculations,
sort records, and literals, cannot exceed 32767 bytes. Under
most circumstances this restriction is not a problem. However,
should this limitation be reached, it is possible to avoid the
limitation by restricting the record size of certain files. This
is accomplished as the following example illustrates.
$ DEFINE RECSIZE_LIMIT_SALESHIS 12000
If the above DCL command is entered, then XENTIS will limit the
SALESHIS file to 12000 bytes.

5. /Update does not allow the same data file to be used twice,
unless those files are used only to perform selection and/or
calculations. This means that you cannot modify a field or
delete a record if that field or record is located in a file that
is used two or more times in a single /Update run. This
restriction is placed due to problems involving record locking,
rereading records by RFA, and RMS not being able to keep track of
where the next record is located. This restriction may cause
certain existing XENTIS command files to no longer work;
receiving the error message "Same physical file update not
allowed". These XENTIS command files may not have been working
correctly. The solution to this problem is to perform this
operation in two passes; the first being a SELECT function where
the desired records are selected and their pointers are saved
into a pointer file, followed by a REUPDATE where the selected
records are read after retrieving their pointers from the pointer
file. This restriction was effective with V3.6 of XENTIS.

6. When using a MAXCIM ECB data dictionary, only one version of a
data file is allowed. Specifying a version other than the most
current version will be ignored. Using the ACTUAL/GENERIC syntax
does not get around this restriction. The LIST FILES command
will display the filename as the user entered the filename and
the name of the file that was actually opened by the software.

7. The DROP-PRIV setup file parameter has no effect with MAXCIM
V4 or later files. This is to conform to the MAXCIM security
mechanism.

8. Calculations-on-totals should not use more than one occurrence
of the same data field in the same report. An easy work around
is to specify a calculation such as: AMOUNT3 = AMOUNT(3)

9. There is no support in the software for descending keys. They
may, however, work under certain limited circumstances where
the ascending/descending nature of the key is not used.

10. Entering a print mask using dual leading dollar signs or dual
leading asterisks without including a trailing minus sign is
accepted. Printing negative data will thus erroneously print
as if it were positive, with no error indicated.

11. The COBOL to XENTIS dictionary transfer does not support sequence
numbers in columns 73 through 80. Sequence numbers are typically
used in older punched card source files. If you have sequence
numbers, you must remove them. In addition sequence numbers in
character positions 1 through 6 are not allowed. If they exist
you must remove them.

12. The Rdb interface converts Rdb VARCHAR fields to CHAR fields. This
means that VARCHAR fields will have spaces appended to the end of
the field to fill out the field to its maximum size allowed. If
a VARCHAR field is used in an index, which is usually not wise,
and two or more tables are joined using the /NOSQL qualifier, then
you will probably have to specify a sub-field as your 'field to
build key' field. For example: if the desired index to file B is
using datatype VARCHAR(5) but only two of the five characters are
really being used, then you should use only the first two
characters of the input field from file A.

13. When displaying the output of a report to the screen, there is
a limit of the number of lines available. If a detail contains
more than the limit, then one or more printed lines may scroll
of the top of the screen.

14. The FMTNM function does not support the blank-when-zero feature
of print masks, designated by the ampersand character, the
trailing DB if negative feature, the trailing CR if negative
feature, or the surrounding parenthesis if negative feature.

15. The minimum version of Ingres that is supported is version
6.3. This allows XENTIS to support groupids of the
Knowledge Management Extension to Ingres.

16. The Rdb interface does not support the catalog and schema
features of Rdb V4.1 and later. When XENTIS/Report attaches
to a multischema database it specifies that the multischema
capability will be turned off for the duration of the
attachment. If a multischema database is used, the then the
RDB-USE-ATTACH setup parameter must be set to Y.

17. When entering a CDD pathname and you do not want CDD$DEFAULT
applied, be sure to start the pathname with _CDD$TOP rather
than CDD$TOP. In other words, start the pathname with an
underscore character.

18. XENTIS/File does not work when the output file is an Rdb table
and the table contains computed_by fields, or virtual fields.

19. Calculation expressions may not include the vertical bar
character (|). If you need a vertical bar character, the
following calculation expression will yield one:
BAR;1 = CHR(124.)

20. Due to a bug in Rdb, the Rdb interface for XENTIS does not work
if XENTIS is installed with privileges. If you have a limited
user license key, give all XENTIS users the SYSLCK privilege
and define the XENTIS45_PRIV_LIST to NOINSTALL before executing
the XENTIS startup procedure (SYS$MANAGER:XENTIS45_START.COM).

21. The minimum supported version of Rdb is version 4.0 on Vax systems
and 6.0 on Alpha AXP systems.

22. The minimum supported version of Oracle is version 7.0. To use
Oracle7 on Alpha AXP systems contact your XENTIS vendor.

23. The only supported versions of Progress are 6.2N and 6.2L on VAX
systems and 6.2N on Alpha systems.

24. The Info File Creation program does not work with Rdb V4.0, but
it does work with later versions of Rdb.

E. PROBLEMS FIXED IN XENTIS V4.4A through V4.5.

1. When data from a data record was being printed in a report
title, the data would sometimes be from the next record
rather that the previous record when the first item on a
page after the column headings was a break line rather than
a detail line. This problem was introduced in V4.3.

2. The default mask for Oracle numeric fields that were not
defined with a precision or scale was just a minus sign.
This problem was introduced with version 4.0 and fixed in
version 4.4A.

3. XENTIS could not process Oracle synonyms, because the first
two characters of field names were being overwritten with
null characters. This problem was introduced in V4.3 when
Oracle7 was supported and fixed in version 4.4A.

4. Oracle7 on some Alpha systems return numeric data as G-Float
rather than D-Float as it does on Vax. This is resolved by
having sites using G-Float use the ORACLE-GFLOAT setup parameter
and to give it a value of "Y". This problem was fixed in V4.4A.

5. XENTIS/File would not convert the output file from a sequential
file to an indexed file if the MAX-FILES setup parameter was
set to the maximum allowed, 18. This was introduced with the
ability of XENTIS/File to convert to indexed files in V4.3 and
was fixed in version 4.4A. XENTIS/File is now limited to
17 input files.

6. Break descriptions were being allowed to overlay report fields
if the print frequency of the report field was a number. This
problem was introduced in V3.6 and fixed in version 4.4A.

7. XENTIS would not find an input file if the input file was
specified using a search list logical, the first translation
of the logical did not find the file, and the data dictionary
for the file was the CDD. This problem was introduced with
V4.2 and fixed in version 4.4A

8. The IGNORE-TIME setup parameter did not work on Alpha systems.
This problem is solved by linking XENTIS differently. This
problem was fixed in version 4.4A.

9. On Alpha systems only, due to a compiler bug, XENTIS would not
process certain numeric data correctly. In one example, XENTIS
could not select records using a selection expression such as:
DATA_FIELD EQ 0.02.
This problem was resolved by modifying XENTIS. The bug still
exists in the compiler. The problem was resolved in version 4.4B.

10. When writing RDA and RDR datatypes, XENTIS did not write
the data correctly if a null date, 00-XXX-0000, was used and
the data field was 4 bytes long. It now writes all binary
ones, which has an integer value of -1, to the field. This
problem was introduced in V4.4, when RDA and RDR was extended
to 4 bytes.

11. The SUBS1 function erroneously inserted the replacement string
on to the front of the result field if the search string was not
found in the original string. This problem was introduced in
version 4.4.

12. The PRINT-PAGE setup file parameter was being ignored if it was
set to a value of N. The page number would print, but not in
the expected location. The problem was introduced in version 4.3.

13. If the default dictionary was CDD, then the default password was
ignored. This was important if you used the multiple dictionary
feature, utilizing a CDD dictionary and a non-CDD dictionary, and
you did not want to enter a password. This problem was introduced
in version 4.0.

14. Under some circumstances when using the PREVT function, the data
returned would consist of null characters when used on the first
selected record and when then TEXT-IS-STRING setup parameter was
set to a value of Y. This problem was introduced with the PREVT
function in version 4.3.

15. The Label Reformat program would exclude the last row of labels
if the first line of the first label on the last row was blank.
This problem was introduced in version 4.0.

16. When using the Barcode Conversion utility, XENTIS now verifies
that the XBAR command has been installed. If it has not been
installed, XENTIS will install it.

17. On Vax systems, the "Change the default dictionary" menu
selection now works with Rdb version 4.0. It also verifies
the Rdb version logicals are set, for both Vax and Alpha systems.

18. Join Suggestion files were wrongly ignoring a NONE value if the
number of key segments used in the join file were fewer than the
number of key segments in the data file. In addition, the Join
Suggestion file was requiring a comment on each line in the file.
This problem was introduced in version 4.4.

19. Literal fields were not being accumulated consistent with prior
version when multiple input files were used, and the user requested
that missing records were to be replaced with zeros and nulls, and
there were missing records. This problem was introduced when the
/ACCUM= option for calculation fields was introduced in version
4.3.

20 Subrecord specifications could be added to XENTIS/Dictionary views
but they could not be changed. This is wrong. The problem was
introduced with the subrecord feature in version 4.0.

21. The Info window values displayed for the 'Detail or Summary Output'
prompt in XENTIS/File indicated that a response of 'Both' was
acceptable. This is wrong, XENTIS/File does not allow both detail
and summary output in the same output file. This problem was
introduced in version 4.3, when both detail and summary output
was introduced in XENTIS/Model.

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XENTIS Documentation -- Release Notes

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