Methods tab shows the general structure of the program in a form of flowchart. The flowchart is similar to one presented on Documentation page but with the following improvement: this flowchart can be viewed in two modes - section level (general) or paragraph level (detailed). Additionally, in detailed mode the flowchart shows exact interactions between paragraphs of different sections or between sections and paragraphs. In both modes flowchart boxes are marked with small color squares: their colors correspond to colors that are being used in Statement Filter so it is easy to identify which types of statements are contained in the particular section or paragraph.
Statements tab presents a hierarchical tree of all program statements so it is possible to ‘collapse’ uninteresting block statements. The tree supports mult-selection: it allows code generation for more than one statement at a time. Using popup menu it is possible to ‘disable’ code generation for particular statements: such statements will be shown in gray. Also, this popup menu allows to highlight in Generated Code memo the exact piece of code that corresponds to selected statement.
Generate Code Button: Use this button to Extract Business Rules using the Data/Statements Filters, and show the extracted rules in the target language. Note also that target language for generated code is being defined in Setup screen of the application. Also code will not be generated for ‘disabled’ statements.
Statement Tree Menus
Generate Code : Generates code for the selected node - without any further Data or Statement Filtering.
Re-apply Filter and generate Code : Re-apply the Data or Statement Filtering to the entire tree - then generated code.
Enable / Disable Code Generation: This is useful for manual alteration of the Extracted Business Rules. It allows the manual removal of code associated to a node from the Code-Screen.
Show Generated Code: Zoom to the code associated with the selected node.
Expand Node: Expand the tree view for all nodes directly underneath the selected node.
Methods tab shows the general structure of the program in a form of flowchart. The flowchart is similar to one presented on Documentation page but with the following improvement: this flowchart can be viewed in two modes - section level (general) or paragraph level (detailed). Additionally, in detailed mode the flowchart shows exact interactions between paragraphs of different sections or between sections and paragraphs. In both modes flowchart boxes are marked with small color squares: their colors correspond to colors that are being used in Statement Filter so it is easy to identify which types of statements are contained in the particular section or paragraph.
Use Natural Language Description - Select and then click on Generate Code again - and the rule will be displayed in a pseudo-English manner .
Trace Variable Usage thru flow-logic - additional flag for Data-Filtering.
Report on 01 Usage in Extracted Rule - Shows all the top level variables (01 Entries in COBOL - Class Definitions in java/C#) referenced in the extracted business rule. The Associated Data Wrappers are shown in the "Data Items used In Code" Section.
Recursive Filtering - This functionality is best described using an example. Consider the following code:
if (export-status == 'false' )
{
// then
invoice-value = invoice-value x local-tax;
}
If we use 'export-status' as a filter
- then the BRE module will show only statements referencing export-status i.e. :if (export-status == 'LOCAL' )
}
The statements within the IF statement have not been show as they do not reference the selected data-filter.
The Recursive-Filtering will remedy this situation, and all the the statements within the block will be displayed. For IF statements - THEN and ELSE statements will be shown.
Include Related Vars On Auto Bre. The system allows import of Variables associated With the specified Data-Filters. Please see Import Associated Data Items for further details.
Clone Business Rule Extraction Frame. This button creates a clone of current Business Rule Extraction screen. Initially the cloned BRE screen has the same filter conditions as its ancestor, but then these screens are absolutely independent.
Select Template Button: Extracted Business Rules can be save to a variety document templates. Use this button to select the target template.
The structure
of template file is very simple: it can be any text file where, after processing, all occurences
of %rulename% tag will be replaced with statement name and all occurences of
%rulecode% tag will be replaced with generated code.
Also, some other tags are being used to ease
import of necessary packages, declaration of data wrappers and setting input parameters (in correspondence with USING phrase in COBOL).
These tags are %idata-package%, %non-persistent-package%, %persistent-package%,
%idata-class%, %idata-wrapper%, %non-persistent-class%, %non-persistent-wrapper%,
%persistent-class%, %persistent-wrapper%, %parameter-wrapper%, %parameter-record%,
%begin%, %end% and %delimiter%. The common rules are the following: while processing a template,
the system selects, one by one, all blocks that start from %begin% tag and end with %end% one; then the system
analyzes a content of each selected block; if the block contains at least one of valuable tags (all tags that have been indicated above
except %begin%, %end% and %delimiter%) and if there are data wrapper class,
data wrapper variable or parameter to substitute this tag, then the system processes the block, otherwise the whole block will be omitted;
valuable tags must always be on the same line in the block because the system
repeats this string (replacing the tags with actual data) as many times as it is necessary. To
see an example of properly prepared template please evaluate "..\Templates\sample.java" file.
The processed code will then be shown
in the memo area of the dialog box.
Top Level Items tab presents a list of top level data items (i.e. of 01 or 77 COBOL level) that were declared in processed program. Using drag-and-drop technique selected items can be copied into Data Filter list (see its description below). By double-clicking over an item it is possible to launch Expanded FD Screen that provides an outline of the selected COBOL data record/group. This screen is very similar to one that can be launched from Documentation tab of the program but it has one BRE specific feature: selected node can also be copied into Data Filter list using drag-and-drop technique.
Lookup tab allows searching for particular data item by its name. Enter the name of data item (or select it from the list of previous choices) and then push Search button. Please note that data item/group of any level can be searched with help of this tab. The result or results (e.g. if there several data items with the indicated name that belong to different groups) are being presented in the list box that supports the same operations as Top Level Items list described above.
This list is an important part of Business Rule Extraction. It allows filtering program statements by data item. If this list is not empty then after applying the filter (use Apply Statement and Data Filters button for this) both Methods and Statements tabs of Program Structure panel will indicate only those statements that use (as one of operands) at least one data item from Data Filter list. To fill this list just copy data items that are of interest from Top Level Tab list or from result list of Lookup tab or from Expanded FD Screen using drag-and-drop technique. Again, as with Top Level Items list, double-click over an item to see an outline on the item. To clear the list partially or entirely use popup menu.
The BRE module allows filtering the code - and showing only the code which is references a particular important data-filter. However, sometimes important calculations are done using other - seemingly un-important variables. For example:
compute WS-FIELD1 = .... move WS-FIELD1 TO RECORD1-FIELD-1. write RECORD-1
If we filter for " RECORD1-FIELD-1" - then the BRE module will only show the last 2 statements,
i.e. the 1st statement where the actual calculation is done will not be shown.
Clicking on "Import Associated Data Items" will bring in all the
variables who have been part an equation ( MOVE or COMPUTE in COBOL)
involving the highlighted variables.
It is another important part of Business Rule Extraction. It allows filtering program statements by statement type. After applying the filter (use Apply Statement and Data Filters button for this) both Methods and Statements tabs of Program Structure panel will indicate only statements of those types or subtypes that have been selected in this tree.
Show all. This button selects all statement types and subtypes so (after applying the filter) all statements will be visible in Statements tree.
Hide all. This button deselects all statement types and subtypes so (after applying the filter) Statements tree will look empty.
This panel is being used for information purposes. E.g. if during Business Rule Extraction process the system has met unrecognised COBOL command it places corresponding message into this area.