Welcome
Developing
Developing EGL applications
Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) is a programming language that you can use to focus on business problems instead of software technologies. Within the Rational® development environment, you can use EGL wizards and other tools to write complex applications with minimal effort.
EGL Generation Guide
The EGL Generation Guide covers the process of converting EGL code to Java™ or COBOL source code, including the processes and the files involved. This section is intended for a developer who will generate or deploy EGL applications.
Build descriptor options
fillWithNulls

Overview
Getting started
Installing
Upgrading and migrating
EGL Code Accelerator for IBD
Developing
- Model driven development of EGL code
- Generating source code from UML models
  You can use transformations to create source code from a UML model. First you must create a transformation parameters file and then apply those parameters to a model.
- Generating the EGL Dependency Graph from EGL projects
- Generating Source Code from OpenAPI Documents
- Developing EGL applications
  Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) is a programming language that you can use to focus on business problems instead of software technologies. Within the Rational® development environment, you can use EGL wizards and other tools to write complex applications with minimal effort.
  - How to use this documentation
  - Additional information about EGL
    The most recent EGL documentation is in the IBM Business Developer documentation.
  - EGL Programmer's Guide
    The EGL Programmer's Guide covers using EGL within the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE), as well as some of the common programming tasks that EGL developers perform.
  - EGL Generation Guide
    The EGL Generation Guide covers the process of converting EGL code to Java™ or COBOL source code, including the processes and the files involved. This section is intended for a developer who will generate or deploy EGL applications.
    - Introduction to EGL generation and deployment
      After you write and test EGL source code, you generate Java™, JavaScript™, or COBOL code for a target platform.
    - Generation using the Eclipse workbench
    - Generation using the EGL software development kit (SDK)
    - Generating from the workbench batch interface
      The workbench batch interface is a feature that lets you generate and deploy EGL output from a batch environment that can access the workbench.
    - Generating with an Ant script
      You might create an Ant script that cleans a workspace and causes an automatic build and generation. To help you save processing time, the product provides a Java™ VM argument to include in the Ant script.
    - Creating headless EGL build
      You can have multiple Ant tasks for a headless build. With headless builds, EGL builds can be managed more efficiently and EGL can support Agile programming better.
    - Ant tasks for headless build
      Ant tasks are required to create an Ant script that is to be used in a headless EGL build. Besides the Ant tasks defined by Eclipse, Rational® Application Developer, and the ant-contrib library, IBM Business Developer also provide several Ant tasks for your use.
    - EGL Generation Results view
    - Writing Java™ code to capture details of code generation
      You can now write Java™ code to produce a report or otherwise respond to events at generation time.
    - Creating and maintaining a build file
    - Build Descriptor part
      A build file (.eglbld extension) can contain multiple Build Descriptor parts. Each Build Descriptor part controls the generation process for a particular set of circumstances.
    - Overview of build descriptor options
    - Overview of linkage options part
    - Resource associations part
    - Overview of .ir files
    - Overview of the EGL deployment descriptor editor
      The EGL deployment descriptor editor updates the EGL deployment descriptor file. For a description of how that XML file is used, see Introduction to EGL generation and deployment. For a description of how to create such a file, see Creating an EGL deployment descriptor.
    - VSAM support
    - Data conversion
    - Generation output
      This topic outlines the output generated by EGL, including the control files that affect preparation or external deployment.
    - Name aliasing
    - Build plan
    - Build scripts
    - Build server
    - Deploying EGL projects on CICS® Liberty Profile
      You can deploy EGL web projects on a CICS® Liberty profile.
    - Generating and deploying a web service on CICS®
      This topic describes how to generate and deploy a web service on z/OS® CICS®. Aside from setting up the relevant EGL build parts, you must set the following CICS definitions: TRANSACTION, TCPIPSERVICE, and PIPELINE.
    - Deploying a web service requester to CICS®
      You can generate and deploy a logic part that runs on z/OS® CICS® and accesses a web service.
    - Special considerations for generating EGL or SOAP services for z/OS® CICS®
    - Special considerations for accessing SOAP services from IBM® i COBOL programs
      Special considerations apply to accessing SOAP services from EGL-generated COBOL programs on IBM® i. For an overview of the runtime architecture, see Overview of EGL support for SOA.
    - Special considerations for generating EGL or REST services for z/OS® CICS®
    - Special considerations for deploying COBOL SOAP services on IBM® i
      Deploying COBOL SOAP services on IBM® i requires that you generate outputs for both Java™ and COBOL. For an overview of the generated output and the runtime architecture, see Overview of EGL support for SOA.
    - Generating web transactions
      Use EGL web transactions to migrate VisualAge® Generator web transactions to EGL.
    - Overview of Java™ generation
    - Build descriptor options used with JavaScript™
      This topic lists the build descriptor options used with JavaScript™, which is the generated language for EGL Rich UI.
    - Overview of COBOL generation
    - Build descriptor options
      - bidiConversionTable
      - bidiRuntime
      - bind
      - birtEngineHome
      - blanksAsZero
        The blanksAsZero build descriptor option controls what happens when you assign or compare a text variable to a numeric variable.
      - buildPlan
      - byteArrayOperationsForStructuredRecords
        The byteArrayOperationsForStructuredRecords build descriptor option specifies how generated Java™ code handles fields in structured records.
      - cachePreparedStatements
        Use the cachePreparedStatements build descriptor option to improve program performance when EGL generates JDBC PreparedStatement objects.
      - cancelAfterTransfer
      - checkIndices
      - checkNumericOverflow
      - checkToTransaction
      - checkType
      - cicsEntries
      - cicsj2cTimeout
      - clientCodeSet
      - commentLevel
      - currencyLocation
      - currencySymbol
      - data
      - dbContentSeparator
      - dbms
      - debugLocalDateFormat
      - debugTrace
      - decimalSymbol
      - defaultDateFormat (build descriptor option)
      - defaultMoneyFormat (build descriptor option)
      - defaultNumericFormat (build descriptor option)
      - defaultServiceTimeout
      - defaultSessionCookieID
      - defaultTimeFormat (build descriptor option)
      - defaultTimeStampFormat (build descriptor option)
      - deploymentDescriptor
      - destDirectory
      - destHost
      - destLibrary
      - destPassword
      - destPort
      - destUserID
      - eliminateSystemDependentCode
      - enableJavaWrapperGen
      - endCommArea
      - errorDestination
      - fillWithNulls
      - formServicePgmType
      - genDataTables
      - genDDSFile
      - genDirectory
      - genFixedLengthSqlLike
        The genFixedLengthSqlLike build descriptor option indicates whether a host value used in an SQL LIKE clause includes trailing blanks to conform to the fixed length of the value, if the value is of type CHAR, MBCHAR, or UNICODE. The option applies to COBOL and Java™ generation and to behavior at debug time.
      - genFormGroup
      - genHelpFormGroup
      - genProject
      - genProperties
      - genResourceBundle
      - genReturnImmediate
      - genRunFile
      - genVGUIRecords
      - imsFastPath
      - imsID
      - imsLogID
      - imsPSB
        The imsPSB build descriptor option specifies the default PSB that is loaded for the program at debug time. Set this option if, at debug time, you need to use a different PSB than the PSB you expect to use at run time. For example, you might need a special PSB to point to test databases at debug time.
      - includeLineNumbers
      - initIORecordsOnCall
        This build option specifies when called program IO records are initialized.
      - initNonIODataOnCall
        This build option specifies when called program non-IO-record and primitive variables are initialized.
      - j2ee
        The build descriptor option j2ee is used during Java-code generation to indicate whether the generated code will use the following JEE capabilities: data sources rather than direct database connections, and the JEE deployment descriptor rather than a Java™ properties file.
      - j2eeLevel
        When you generate Java™ code, the j2eeLevel build descriptor option specifies the level of Java Enterprise Edition in the application server to which you deploy an EGL web service or Enterprise JavaBean.
      - leftAlign
      - linkage
      - linkEdit
      - math
      - maxNumericDigits
      - mfsDevice
      - mfsExtendedAttr
      - mfsIgnore
      - mfsUseTestLibrary
      - msgTablePrefix
      - nextBuildDescriptor
      - oneFormItemCopybook
      - positiveSignIndicator
        The positiveSignIndicator build descriptor option is used only in iSeries® environments to improve performance.
      - prep
      - prepareAllSQLStatements
        The prepareAllSQLStatements build descriptor option controls the kind of JDBC object that EGL uses to run an SQL statement.
      - preparedStatementCacheSize
        The preparedStatementCacheSize build descriptor option specifies how many prepared statements to keep in the runtime cache when the cachePreparedStatements build descriptor option is set to YES. The value is an integer greater than zero, and the default is 100.
      - printDestination
      - programPackageName
      - projectID
      - reservedWord
      - resourceAssociations
      - resourceBundleLocale
      - restartTransactionID
      - restoreCurrentMsgOnError
      - returnTransaction
      - secondaryTargetBuildDescriptor
      - separatorSymbol
      - serverCodeSet
      - serverType
      - sessionBeanID
      - setFormItemFull
      - spaADF
      - spaSize
      - spaStatusBytePosition
      - spacesZero
        The spacesZero build descriptor option specifies whether the generated program includes extra code to process numeric variables that are filled with spaces.
      - sqlAccessColumnsAsBytes
        The sqlAccessColumnsAsBytes build descriptor option specifies whether column values from a DB2® database are copied directly as bytes into an SQL record rather than being used to construct Java™ objects.
      - sqlCommitControl
      - sqlDB
      - sqlErrorTrace
      - sqlID
      - sqlIOTrace
      - sqlJDBCDriverClass
      - sqlJNDIName
      - sqlPassword
      - sqlSchema
      - sqlValidationConnectionURL
      - startTransactionID
      - statementTrace
      - synchOnPgmTransfer
      - synchOnTrxTransfer
      - sysCodes
        When you generate a COBOL program, the sysCodes build descriptor option determines the source of the return code that is placed in the sysVar.errorCode system variable in response to a file I/O error. The option is also available in the EGL Debugger.
      - system
      - targetNLS
      - tempDirectory
      - templateDir
      - transferErrorTransaction
      - truncateExtraDecimals
        When you generate Java™ or COBOL code, the truncateExtraDecimals build descriptor option specifies whether additional digits will be dropped or rounded off if a given numeric value has more digits after the decimal point than the target can store.
      - twaOffset
      - useCurrentSchema
      - userMessageFile
      - useXctlForTransfer
      - validateBlankDateFields
        When you generate a Java™ program or run the EGL Debugger, the validateBlankDateFields build descriptor option specifies whether to identify an error in the following case: the dateFormat property is in effect for a field in a text form, but the user set the field to blank.
      - v60DecimalBehavior
        The v60DecimalBehavior build descriptor option controls the precision of an even-length DECIMAL, MONEY, or PACF variable.
      - v60NumWithCharBehavior
        The v60NumWithCharBehavior build descriptor option affects how EGL handles the NUM type in assignments and comparisons.
      - v60NumWithDateBehavior
        The v60NumWithDateBehavior build descriptor option specifies whether the behavior of assignments from Num fields to Date fields fulfills the behavior that was in effect in EGL version 6. This option has no effect on comparisons.
      - v60SQLNullableBehavior
        The v60SQLNullableBehavior build descriptor option affects how EGL behaves when a null value is assigned to a variable.
      - v71AddBehavior
        The v71AddBehavior build descriptor option states whether, in a specific case, the effect of the plus (+) sign is determined by the type of variable to which an expression is assigned. The option is available for all target languages but is intended solely for maintaining COBOL code that was written after EGL version 6.0 and through EGL version 7.1.
      - vagCompatibility
      - validateMixedItems
      - validateOnlyIfModified
      - validateSQLStatements
      - workDBType
      - wrapperCompatibility
      - wrapperJNDIPrefix
      - wrapperPackageName
    - Linkage options part
  - EGL Language Reference
    The EGL Language Reference covers the fundamental use of the language, including its concepts, syntax, and keywords. This volume is intended for a developer writing EGL applications with some experience in procedural programming.
  - Rational® COBOL Runtime Guide for zSeries®
    This manual provides information about customizing and administering the IBM® Rational® COBOL Runtime.
  - IBM Business Developer EGL Server Guide for IBM® i
    This manual provides information about customizing and administering EGL Server for IBM® i on the host.
  - Generation for VSE Feature Reference
    This reference manual provides z/VSE-specific information about developing and generating EGL programs in the VSE environment.
- Source code analysis with code review
  With code review, you can create configurations of coding rules for EGL source code. You can then run the configurations to check the source code for consistency with the rules.
- Responsive Design Support in IBD
  What is Responsive Design? Responsive design is an approach for creation of web pages that automatically scales its content and elements to match the screen size on which it is viewed. So, instead of designing multiple websites for different devices with variable screen sizes, we can design just one website that scales up or down automatically, to match the device it’s being viewed on.
- Containerizing an EGL RUI Application
Samples
Troubleshooting and support
EGL runtime error messages
Reference
Glossary
Using the help
Notices for IBM Business Developer documentation

fillWithNulls

When you generate a COBOL program, the fillWithNulls build descriptor option is used when you generate a form group. This option indicates whether to fill form fields with null characters. The affected fields have these characteristics:

The fillCharacter field property is set to an empty string
The field is of one of these types: CHAR, DBCHAR, MBCHAR, or NUM

If you have reason to regenerate your text forms and want to retain the field characteristics that were in effect in EGL versions before mid 2012, set the following symbolic parameters to NO: ALLOWTUILEFTALIGN, ALLOWTUISETFORMITEMFULL, and ALLOWTUIFILLWITHNULLS.

Values

YES (the default value): Fill the form fields with null characters.
NO: Do not fill the form fields with null characters.