FOCUS for Mainframe Data Adapters

Fast, Native Access to Virtually All Mainframe Databases With High-Performance Adapters

High-Performance Adapters Team Mainframe Data With FOCUS

With its complete family of native data adapters for mainframe data stores, FOCUS for Mainframe remains the established leader for enterprise reporting and application development. FOCUS data adapters are available for all widely used data sources on the mainframe, including DB2/UDB, IMS, CA-Datacom, CA-IDMS, Adabas, CICS, and many others. These adapters enable FOCUS users to easily create sophisticated reports on data from legacy, relational, or transaction sources on enterprise mainframes. Many adapters also update target data sources, to support FOCUS data maintenance and transaction applications. FOCUS for Mainframe data adapters run on z/OS, OS/390, z/VM, VM, and MVS, and deliver highly efficient data access, including indexed read capabilities for significant CPU and I/O savings.

Fast, Native Access to Virtually ALL Mainframe Databases

Ultra-Efficient Operation

FOCUS data adapters are highly optimized for their target data sources. Each adapter generates requests that exploit all the efficiency features of the target DBMS in its native data access language. As a result, FOCUS requests run with a minimum expenditure of system resources – regardless of whether they’re screening on a DB2 key, a VSAM key or alternate index, an Adabas descriptor or superdescriptor, an IDMS key or CALC key, or other unique data attributes.

In addition, FOCUS data adapters pass complex operations like sorts, aggregations, and joins onto the target DBMS, ensuring the most efficient data retrieval – especially with relational tables. Each adapter returns answer sets that are ready for presentation in reports, graphs, or extract files and FOCUS read/write data adapters can support OLTP applications for many existing data sources, too.

Powerful Tools for Complex Reporting

The efficiency of FOCUS data adapters isn’t limited to accessing individual files. Instead, the universal JOIN facility of FOCUS can join multiple data sources in a single request. FOCUS handles such complex jobs effortlessly by quickly obtaining heterogeneous data through its adapters, and then integrating it into reports. So if you need to join a flat file to DB2/UDB – and then join the DB2/UDB file to a VSAM file using the alternate index – FOCUS and its adapters help you handle the challenge.

You can even define "inner" or "outer" joins for relational tables, assuring correct answers even with multiple joins and views – without having to learn DBMS-specific commands or languages such as COBOL, SQL, DL/I, or Natural.

Automatic Metadata Generation Tools

FOCUS data adapters include AUTO facilities, which automatically generate FOCUS metadata (Master and Access Files) from target data source schemas. These AUTO facilities free users from writing metadata from scratch. They easily handle complex data relationships, such as field-dependent repeating groups in VSAM files, and multi-field descriptors and periodic groups in Adabas. Online and batch file generation is supported for flexibility, and extensive online help facilities guide users through the process.

Enhanced Security Features

FOCUS data adapters respect the security facilities of their native data sources, while enhancing them with added protection at the field and even value-within-a-field levels. Data adapters also respect operating system security so password-protected files can only be accessed by people with valid passwords. In addition, the FOCUS Database Administration facility (DBA) allows administrators to restrict certain users from accessing data sources and to limit access to specific files, segments, fields, or records.

FOCUS Data Adapters

All FOCUS data adapters include unique performance features. The descriptions below show the performance features for representative relational and nonrelational data sources.

Relational Data Adapters

DB2/UDB and SQL/DS, Oracle, and Teradata

Reduce development time with ad hoc report-building utilities that generate code for reports and data access
Support transaction processing in either online or batch mode, with full read/write data access that can be enabled or disabled
Support both "inner" and "outer" joins
Build systems faster with FOCUS vs. embedded SQL calls in 3GL programs
Provide full SQL Trace facilities for monitoring performance
Initiate and monitor communications between the adapter and RDBMS, and generate descriptive error messages and recovery support
Direct Passthru facility lets developers issue native SQL directly to the RDBMS without translation or syntax checking
Update multiple tables simultaneously through specification within the update procedures or in the metadata
Support the date-time datatype and read-only (FIELDTYPE=R) fields
Support for three-part table names

Nonrelational Data Adapters

Adabas

FOCUS can maintain Adabas data sources
AUTO facility automatically generates metadata from the Predict Data Dictionary
Supports Multifetch and Prefetch options for highly efficient data retrieval
Dynamically constructs data requests, Read Logical, Histogram (L9), or Find Direct Calls that take full advantage of Adabas descriptors, superdescriptors, and subdescriptors
Supports MU and PE fields and other DBMS-specific field types and formats

CA-IDMS

Supports every DML command
Supports Sorted, Multi-Member, and CALC-to-CALC sets
AUTO facility generates metadata directly from the Integrated Data Dictionary
Describes complex data relationships, including the Bill-of-Materials structure

IMS

Supports HSAM, HISAM, HDAM, HIDAM, DEDB, and MSDB access methods
AUTO facility automatically creates a Master File and FOCPSB for an IMS data source
Data Language I (DL/I) calls generated by the data adapter include optimized
Segment Search Arguments
Runs in the same address as the region controller and, with IMS Release 3.1 and above, the database control (DBCTL) component

VSAM

Permits access to both Key Sequenced Datasets (KSDS) and Entry Sequenced Datasets (ESDS)
Provides simple representation of hierarchical data structures, repeating groups of data nested within other repeating groups, and records whose layout depends on record-type identifiers
Online indexing and buffering features (BUFNI and BUFND) help conserve I/O performance, CPU usage, and processing time
Supports multi-user UPDATE access
Supports keyed data access using primary keys and alternate indices, as well as their initial subsets
Minimizes I/O usage by efficiently accessing sorted flat files

COBOL FD Translator (FOCUS Metadata Generator for VSAM and Flat Files)

Reads COBOL Copybooks to generate FOCUS metadata
Supports GROUP and REDEFINE fields
Converts COBOL picture clauses to proper FOCUS usage and actual data formats
Describes fixed, variable, and nested OCCURS segments (repeating groups)

Comprehensive Support and Service

FOCUS for Mainframe is available with comprehensive support options, including premium 24x7 support plans for mission-critical enterprise applications. FOCUS users can also obtain installation guidance, consulting, training, and even on-site assistance with configuration management or developing sample reports. It's all part of our commitment to ensuring your complete satisfaction with our mainframe FOCUS solutions.