Language Environment Interface Reference

Creating a New Language Environment

Net.Data uses language environments as pluggable programming language and database interfaces, accessed as DLL files, shared libraries, or service programs depending upon your operating system environment. In this document the term shared library is used when generically referring to these types files. Net.Data provides a set of language environments, but when these language environments do not meet your application needs, you can create your own, using the Net.Data language environment interface.

Creating a new language environment involves the following steps:

• Determine what interfaces and functions you must provide for the language environment. The dtw_execute() interface must be provided, and all provided interfaces must match exactly the prototypes that are defined in the dtwle.h C language header.
• Build a shared library that implements the set of language environment interface routines you want to provide. See the documentation for your compiler to understand how to build shared libraries.
• Make all interfaces externally available from the shared library so Net.Data can call them.
• Determine your ENVIRONMENT configuration statement, then add it to the Net.Data initialization file.
• Add functions to the Net.Data macro that uses the new language environment.

Before you decide to create a new language environment, determine if the Net.Data-supplied language environments satisfy your requirements.

This chapter describes how to design the language environment.

• Creating a Shared Library
• Language Environment Communication Structures
• Language Environment Interface Functions
• Designing the Language Environment Statement

To learn about the language environment programming interface, see The Language Environment Programming Interface Utility Functions .