The Synergy Method Catalog identifies each Synergy subroutine or function that you want to be able to call remotely and the ELB or shared image in which it can be found. For Java and .NET clients, routines are assigned a method name that is used by the client application, and then grouped into interfaces. (See Understanding routine name, method name, and method ID for more information.) The SMC also provides detailed information on the type and length of the input and output parameters as well as the type and length of the function results that are transmitted back to the client.
Data in the Synergy Method Catalog is used to create JAR files for use with xfNetLink Java and assemblies for use with xfNetLink .NET. In addition, SMC data is used by xfServerPlus to do the following:
- Allocate adequate memory for data that is passed to and updated by Synergy routines
- Ensure that data from xfNetLink clients is translated into the correct Synergy DBL data types
- Ensure that data returned to the clients is translated into the correct xfNetLink data types
SMC files
The SMC consists of the files cdt.is? and cmpdt.is?. You cannot change these filenames, but you can create additional SMCs in separate directories if desired. (See Defining multiple Synergy Method Catalogs.)
The SMC files must be located on the machine running xfServerPlus.
A default SMC is installed with xfServerPlus in the DBLDIR directory. It contains methods used by the test programs, as well as entries for XFPL_LOG and XFPL_REGCLEANUP.
Populating the SMC
There are two ways to populate the SMC with data about your routines:
- Load data directly into the SMC from an XML file generated by dbl2xml. To use this method, you must first add attributes that describe your routines to your Synergy code. Then you will run the dbl2xml utility, which reads the information about your routines from your source code and generates an XML file, which you can import into the SMC. See Using attributes to define Synergy methods.
- Use the Method Definition Utility (MDU), which provides a graphical user interface for data entry. See Using the MDU to define Synergy methods.
