ENL - What are Libraires?

What are Libraires?

Libraries allow you to associate objects and components stored in the Knowledge Base to a specific library - the library can then be added to the Graphical View in place of its associated objects (the associated objects will be removed from the Graphical View). An Access (A) link type will be drawn from any objects present in the Graphical View (that have a physical link to any of the objects associated with the library) to the actual library.

Object Libraries can be particularly useful where just seeing that a specific object has a link to an object in the library is enough information.

Take for example MFC system files in a C/C++ project. These objects can be analyzed and stored in the Knowledge Base, however, you probably don’t need the same level of detail for these system files as you do for your own project files, indeed you may only need to be aware that some of the objects they contain are “used” by your project files. In this case, you could associate all your analyzed C++ system objects to a Library called “MFC”. When this Library is then placed in the Graphical View, you will instantly know if another object links to an MFC system file within the Library via the “Access” link type - without knowing what specific object is called or what the actual link is.

A simple example for a Cobol project:

Standard view

The two Cobol copybooks below are associated with the Library “COBOL”.

After COBOL library is added to the Graphical View

The two Cobol copybooks have been replaced by the COBOL library. The "I" Include type links have also been replaced by simple "A" Access links. From this view, we can tell that the three Cobol programs access an object associated with the library - but not which objects or via what link type.

Direct links are created between objects and Libraries in the following cases:

  • An object that is not part of the Library calls an object in the Library > a link is created from this object to the Library.
  • An object that is not part of the Library is called by an object in the Library > a link is created from the Library to the object.
  • A link between two Libraries is created if an object in one Library is linked to an object in the other Library.

Notes

  • This feature is not currently supported in a CAST Storage Service environment.
See Also

Creating Libraries | Using Libraries

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