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 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.
Working with EGL code
Preferences
EGL preferences affect the way the workbench displays and works with EGL.
Setting general preferences

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.
    - Introduction
      These topics explain the fundamentals of using EGL in the Eclipse IDE, as well as changes to the EGL language and IDE in this version.
    - Contents of an EGL application
      EGL applications contain projects, packages, folders, and files.
    - Properties
      Properties set specific options for parts. In general, you specify the properties when you create the part and then the properties are static. In certain circumstances, however, it is possible to change a property dynamically.
    - Annotating EGL Applications
      EGL developers can annotate their applications to indicate the version, authors as well as a general description.
    - Import and use statements
      Use the EGL import and use statements to expand the visibility of code elements.
    - Working with EGL code
      - Common programming tasks
        These topics contain information on how to complete several common programming tasks in EGL.
      - The EGL editor
        The EGL code editor looks and works like a standard text editor or code editor for other languages, but it has additional features to help you edit EGL code. The code editor highlights invalid syntax, provides an explanation for problems in the code, colors keywords, strings, and comments, and helps you write EGL code.
      - Content assist
      - Using cheat sheets
        Cheat sheets can assist you with common tasks in the Workbench. They provide step-by-step instructions within a workbench view and can perform some of the steps in the task automatically.
      - Editing DataItem parts with the source assistant
      - Searching for EGL files and parts
        The workbench provides several options for searching for and viewing EGL files and parts.
      - Shortcuts in the EGL editor
        In the EGL editor, you can use the following shortcuts:
      - Preferences
        EGL preferences affect the way the workbench displays and works with EGL.
        Setting general preferences
        Setting build descriptor preferences
        Setting preferences for the EGL editor
        Setting the fonts used in the EGL editor
        The EGL editor uses the fonts and colors from the general preferences in the workbench.
        Setting preferences for folding in the EGL editor
        Folding enables you to collapse blocks of code in the EGL editor to hide them.
        Setting preferences for formatting in the EGL editor
        Setting preferences for organizing import statements in the EGL editor
        EGL can automatically organize the import statements in your code.
        Setting preferences for source styles
        Setting generation preferences
        Setting preferences for EGL text
      - EGL Deferred Work view
    - Accessing data with EGL code
    - Transfer of control across programs
    - Developing segmented programs in EGL
      Different runtime environments have different considerations for developing segmented programs.
    - Developing EGL programs for the IMS™ environment
    - Developing EGL programs for the CICS® environment
      There are specific design and development considerations when creating EGL programs for CICS® for z/OS® and CICS for VSE.
    - Developing EGL programs for the VSE environment
      IBM Business Developer provides a Generation for VSE feature that you can use to generate EGL as COBOL source for the z/VSE® environment.
    - Developing programs for iSeriesC
      You can deploy EGL-generated COBOL programs targeted for the IBM® i environment.
    - Overview of EGL Logging for Java Application
    - Overview of EGL Rich UI
    - Services: a top-level overview
      The topics in this section describe service-oriented architecture (SOA) and related technologies, EGL support for SOA, and service-related procedures, with an emphasis on service access. For details about deployment, see “Introduction to EGL generation and deployment” and “Add web-service deployment entries in the EGL deployment descriptor.”
    - 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.
    - Building EGL Text User Interface applications
      A Text UI application presents a text-based user interface similar to that of a 5250 or 3270 terminal.
    - Creating reports with EGL
      EGL offers different ways to create reports, using external engines to generate the report contents.
    - Working with web transaction applications in EGL
    - Debugging EGL applications
    - EGL Unit Testing
    - z/OS Connect
  - 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.
  - 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

Setting general preferences

Set the basic EGL preferences as follows:

From the main menu, click Window > Preferences.
In the Preferences window, click EGL in the tree.
In the EGL Base section, select whether VisualAge® Generator compatibility is needed in your environment. Ensure that the VisualAge Generator compatibility check box is selected if your environment requires compatibility.
In the Encoding field, select the character-encoding set that will be used when you create new EGL build (.eglbld) files. The setting has no effect on existing build files. The default value is UTF-8.
Select features to be enabled by default for a new EGL project in the Default EGL Project Features Choices.
Select facets to be enabled by default for a new EGL web project in the Default EGL Web Project Facet Choices section.
If you are migrating code from VisualAge® Generator, EGL must determine the kind of web project to create when migrating web transactions. Select a server runtime program to affect this decision from the Code migration's default web runtime list, or click New to set up a new server.
Select the way you want EGL to respond when dependent projects are not in the workspace. The Incomplete build path preference has two possible values:

Error (the default)

If a dependent project is missing, EGL will not attempt to build the project.

Warning

If a dependent project is missing, EGL will attempt to build the project, showing individual errors for missing dependent parts.
Click Apply to save the changes and remain in the Preferences window. Click OK to save the changes and exit the window.