Identifying Interfaces for Generic API Analysis

Use the Generic API Analysis feature if your legacy program calls an unsupported API to interface with a database manager, transaction manager, or similar external facility. In this call, for example:

CALL 'XREAD' using X

where X refers to a table name, the call to XREAD is of less interest than its parameter, the table the called program reads from. But because the parser does not recognize XREAD, only the call is modeled in the CA repository.

You enable the Generic API Analysis feature by identifying unsupported APIs and their parameters in the file \<CA Home>\Data\Legacy.xml. Before you verify your application, set Perform Generic API Analysis on the Verification tab of the Project Options window. That option tells the parser to define relationships with the objects passed as parameters in the calls, in addition to relationships with the unsupported APIs themselves.

This section shows you how to identify the programs and parameters to the parser before verifying your application. You can specify both object and construct model information, and create different relationships or entities for the same parameter in a call.

Attention:

The specification requires a thorough understanding of the COBOL Analyzer repository models. For background information on the repository models, see the following documentation sections:

How COBOL Analyzer Models Applications in Getting Started.
Understanding the Application-Level Metamodel in Using Architecture Modeler
Using the Model Reference Pane in Interactive Analysis

Note: Only the predefined definitions described in this section are guaranteed to provide consistent data to CA databases.

Note: For altered Legacy.xml files: The Legacy.xml file that resides in the \<CA Home>\Data directory gets overwritten when a new HotFix is installed. To preserve the changes made to the file:

Create an empty file Legacy.xml in the workspace directory. You can use the \<CA Home>\Data\Legacy.xml.user file as a template.
Add only the tags that need to be added or altered
Save the file and verify the sources.

We do not recommend copying the \<CA Home>\Data\Legacy.xml file to the workspace directory and then altering it as needed, since the altered file is merged with the original file every time the parsers are required to read them. An example of a user-defined Legacy.xml is:

<Legacy>    
   <Cobol>    
    <OverloadedDiagnostics>  
      <msg num="2054" sev="2"/>  
    </OverloadedDiagnostics>  
   </Cobol>    
</Legacy>