Natural Sort Alternative
CoSort speeds up Natural Sorts and Transformations
Challenges
You need a faster way to sort large datasets directly from Software AG Natural; the native sort function may not have the desired efficiency.
You may also need an affordable, convenient, and faster way to process and report on large files while moving and targeting large working files to and from Natural.
Finally, CoSort may be required to manipulate, mask, replicate, report on, or otherwise work with data in Adabas sources and targets.
Solutions
IRI CoSort contains a plug'n'play sorting library for users of Natural on Unix. Without user intervention and a simple Makefile link, the CoSort Engine can sort up to six times faster in Natural than native sorting. A complete guide to using CoSort and an external sort can be found in the Software AG Natural installation documentation under „Re-linking a Natural Nucleus“.
In addition to this drop-in sorter set, the file transformation and reporting program SortCL can be called directly from Natural via CoSort:
CALL shcmd $COSORT_HOME/bin/sortcl /spec=job.scl
whereby the /INFILE(s) and /OUTFILE(s) can be natural work files of SortCL. This allows for greater flexibility when offloading high-volume file processing and reformatting jobs to SortCL. SortCL functions also protect endangered field data.
CoSort and Natural are also used in the „Operational Processing for Unix“ (OPX) legacy application environment developed by Tetrad Systems. OPX can be easily integrated with Software AG Natural tools and features a SORT wrapper interface to CoSort to re-host and extend JCL sorting functionality.
CoSort and its metadata-aware products:
IRI NextForm for data and database migration, replication, and reporting
and
IRI FieldShield for data masking, encryption, and other field-level protection measures.
It is now also possible to work directly with data in Adabas repositories via partner drivers in the graphical IDE of IRI Workbench, which is based on Eclipse™.