SirXref

" The single most important DBA tool is the data dictionary. A comprehensive dictionary will include cross-reference information, showing, for instance, which programs use which pieces of data. It should be clear that the dictionary is a vital component of the system, provided, of course, that it is kept up to date at all times. In particular, it is crucial to the DBA in the task of maintaining overall control of the system. For example, the effects of any proposed change in the system can be quickly determined by means of a query to the dictionary." -CJ Date

An organization committed to Model 204 has made a substantial and critical decision about its information resources the management of those resources require careful planning and consideration. Managing a complex Model 204 database environment is an extremely challenging task that requires the right expertise with the right tools in order to make that system runs correctly. As Date says, the most important of these functions is the ability to query database and procedures information.

If you share the responsibility for maintaining Model 204 in your organization you may want to consider the following questions.

• Can you issue queries to quickly find the answers to questions such as which procedures use a field?

• Are your User Language procedures cross referenced?

• Can you quickly estimate the impact of a change in an application or operating environment?

• Is the information available to the application developers and maintenance programmers in an easy-to-use, online format?

• Does your data dictionary contain current cross reference information?

• Can cross reference information be loaded into the dictionary automatically as you are updating procedures?

SirXref allows you to quickly cross reference your User Language procedures and, if you wish, automatically updates your data dictionary. This Cross Reference Database is loaded with referenced data about each procedure's usage of files, groups, fields, procedures, global variables, commands, and $functions. After it is loaded, anyone with proper privileges can retrieve information about the procedure-entity relationships.

This Panel allows the user to identify the procedure(s) that use a specified entity

Your staff can query on procedures in which specific entities are used, or on entities used by specific procedures. Access to this information is valuable to the organization. Managers can use it to assess the impact of proposed changes to applications or data. This helps in determining the time and costs involved in making such changes. Programmers can quickly locate and edit procedures that affect the entities in question. In large applications this reduces the time to research problems from days to minutes.

This panel allows the user to identify the entities used by a specific procedure

To provide a highly effective user interface that requires no training, Sirius Software has replicated IBM's ISPF within SirXref. Critical functionality has been implemented in a highly specialized library of $functions that brings a degree of power, comprehension, and performance unobtainable with user developed utilities.

One example of such a function is the SirXref list-sort function. It allows a user to instantly sort lists of procedures by name. date, or userid by pressing a function key.

Beyond the user interface, good performance is a necessity for enhancing productivity. SirXref is highly optimized. In addition to the performance gains achieved through the $function library, SirXref requires a small server size (285K bytes). The code has been carefully optimized to provide the fastest response time possible. An incremental cross reference feature determines which procedures have been modified since the last cross reference and only submits those procedures for cross referencing.

For an example of the value of SirXref, consider the series of problems faced by shops converting from R9.O of Model 204 to Version 2. New compiler restrictions required the format of some older User Language procedures to be modified. A user of one Model 204 shop estimated that it would take several days to locate and change all the occurrences of the $CHKTAG function in all of the procedures. With SirXref they did this in a matter of hours.

SirXref offers several clear advantages over other means of cross referencing your Model 204 databases and procedures.

• It is available for on-line query. The queries span multiple procedure files.

• It automatically loads the dictionary.

• It allows you to trace procedure pathing, procedure structures, and global variable control

• Its interface to the procedure editor makes program modification easy.

SirXref runs under both the MVS and VM operating systems. It provides background request processing capability with a comprehensive job monitoring and control system. For MVS users this has the advantage of eliminating the need to write batch JCL and eliminating job failures as a result of threads being tied up.

SirXref is an important investment for every Model 204 shop. It increases productivity, provides improved control of the programming and database environment, and reduces the chance of errors when implementing changes to applications or database files.