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 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.
Appendices
Names for keyboard keys in EGL

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.
  - 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.
    - General syntax
    - System data parts
    - User-defined data parts
    - Logic parts
    - Correspondence between a JSON string and an EGL variable
      This topic describes the EGL record that corresponds to a JavaScript™ Object Notation (JSON) string. Other topics describe the functions (serviceLib.convertFromJSON() and serviceLib.convertToJSON()) that are used by a Rich UI developer to convert JSON data to or from a variable, as may be necessary to access a third-party REST service. A failure in either function causes a RuntimeException.
    - Correspondence between a JSON string and an EGL variable for zOS and IBM i
      This topic describes the EGL record that corresponds to a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) string. This topic describes the functions—serviceLib.convertFromJSON() and serviceLib.convertToJSON()—that are used by an EGL developer to convert JSON data to or from a variable either for zOS or IBM i systems. A failure in either function causes a RuntimeException.
    - Special considerations for JSON support on IBM i:
    - Correspondence between an XML string and an EGL variable
      This topic describes the EGL record that corresponds to an Extensible Markup Language (XML) string. Other topics describe the functions (serviceLib.convertFromXML and serviceLib.convertToXML) that are used by a Rich UI developer to convert XML data to or from a variable, as may be necessary to access a third-party REST service.
    - EGL statements
    - EGL core system libraries and variables
    - Accessing data in EGL
      Whenever you access a data store in EGL, the data goes into a record.
    - Applications with user interfaces
    - VisualAge® Generator compatibility
    - Appendices
    - Importing product-supplied projects
      You can click a link to download the current version of Rich UI projects. The capability is useful if you deleted a project or want a clean version.
  - 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

Names for keyboard keys in EGL

When you need to identify a key on the user's keyboard, as in consoleLib.getKeyCode(), use one of the keywords below. You typically refer to these names as quoted strings.

ASCII characters

You can represent any of the 95 printable ASCII characters (numbered 32-126) with the character itself, though for clarity, you can find several of them (for example, SPACE) in the "Special characters" section later. You can also put the keyword KEY_ in front of the character, as in KEY_a, KEY_A, or KEY_\.

Control characters

You can represent most control characters with the keywords CONTROL_A through CONTROL_Z, however, the following keystrokes have special meanings in Console UI:

CONTROL_C: The EGL runtime reads this as an interrupt character, terminating the program.
CONTROL_G: This input causes the EGL runtime to toggle a character-sized grid on and off.
CONTROL_H: The EGL runtime reads this as a BACKSPACE.
CONTROL_I: The EGL runtime reads this as TAB.
CONTROL_R: This input causes the EGL runtime to repaint the screen. This is useful in UNIX™ or other systems where other programs can interfere with the display.
CONTROL_S: This tells EGL to read the next function key as shifted. EGL interprets the key combination CONTROL_S + F2 as SHIFT_F2, that is, as F14.

Holding the shift key when entering a control character does not change the input. The EGL runtime sees SHIFT_CONTROL_A as CONTROL_A. The EGL runtime ignores CONTROL_ALT characters.

Function keys

EGL recognizes function keys F1 through F24. Users can simulate keys F13 through F24 by using the shift key. EGL interprets SHIFT_F1 as F13, SHIFT_F2 as F14, and so on.

EGL reserves keywords for program function keys PKEY_F1 through PKEY_F24, though the numeric values assigned to them are the same as those assigned to F1 through F24. EGL cannot distinguish between the user pressing F1 and PKEY_F1.

Special characters

EGL reserves keywords for the following keystrokes:

BACKSLASH (\)
BACKSPACE
DELETE
DOWN (Down arrow)
END
ENTER
ESC
ESCAPE
HOME
INSERT
LEFT (Left arrow)
PAUSE
PGDN
PGUP
RETURN
RIGHT (Right arrow)
SPACE (Space bar)
TAB UP (Up arrow)