# Can NATURAL be called from COBOL? **URL:** \ **Category:** Forum\ **Tags:** Adabas-Natural, Natural, Natural-on-Mainframes\ **Created:** [January 27, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/can-natural-be-called-from-cobol/92614 "2010-01-27T20:26:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/da6949/32.png) [@Ats](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Ats)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/can-natural-be-called-from-cobol/92614/1 "2010-01-27T20:26:27Z")
Hi All, I would like to know if a NATURAL program be called from COBOL? Please share your thoughts if it’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Johnson1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/brian_johnson1/32/163_2.png) [@Brian\_Johnson1](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Brian_Johnson1)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/can-natural-be-called-from-cobol/92614/2 "2010-01-27T21:21:42Z")
Ats, Yes, you can. Just define something like this: 01 NAT-PARMS PIC X(200) VALUE SPACES. 01 WS-COMMAREA. 05 RESTART-TRAN-ID PIC X(04). 05 DYN-PARMS-ADDRESS USAGE IS POINTER. 05 DYN-PARMS-LENGTH PIC S9(04) COMP. 05 NAT-TRAN-ID PIC X(04). 05 RET-PGM-ID PIC X(08). and execute something like this: MOVE EIBTRNID TO RESTART-TRAN-ID. MOVE ‘MQNT’ TO NAT-TRAN-ID. MOVE 228 TO DYN-PARMS-LENGTH. MOVE HIGH-VALUES TO RET-PGM-ID. MOVE NAT-PARMS TO PARM-DATA. EXEC CICS LINK PROGRAM (‘NATNUC’) COMMAREA(WS-COMMAREA) LENGTH (22) END-EXEC. and have NAT-PARMS (PARM-DATA) be your logon string (profile, user id, password, etc). Specifics here will be different there, but hopefully this gives you enough to move in the right direction. ---
**Author:** ![Douglas\_Kelly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/douglas_kelly/32/102_2.png) [@Douglas\_Kelly](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Douglas_Kelly)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/can-natural-be-called-from-cobol/92614/3 "2010-01-28T00:52:44Z")
There is a documented method to call subprograms (= CALLNAT) from 3GL’s also. [http://techcommunity.softwareag.com/ecosystem/documentation/natural/nat426mf/ops\_mf/calln-over.htm#calln-over](http://techcommunity.softwareag.com/ecosystem/documentation/natural/nat426mf/ops_mf/calln-over.htm#calln-over) ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Johnson1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/brian_johnson1/32/163_2.png) [@Brian\_Johnson1](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Brian_Johnson1)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/can-natural-be-called-from-cobol/92614/4 "2010-01-28T02:45:48Z")
Doug’s suggestion sounds easier, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/original/3X/c/d/cd19967bb605d28a72d77eb83a1cae22f3df2eb8.svg) [@system](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/can-natural-be-called-from-cobol/92614/5 "2010-02-01T16:00:00Z")
pls check NCI 4.2 source lib: we are delivering 4 samples of COBOL programs invoking Natural using different techniques: - XNCIFRCL - COBOL invoking NAT via EXEC CICS LINK - XNCIFRCR - COBOL invoking NAT via EXEC CICS RETURN IMMEDIATE - XNCIFRCS - COBOL invoning NAT via EXEC CICS START - XNCIFRCX - COBOL invoking NAT via EXEC CICS XCTL ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/original/3X/c/d/cd19967bb605d28a72d77eb83a1cae22f3df2eb8.svg) [@system](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 2:57pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/can-natural-be-called-from-cobol/92614/6 "2021-04-02T14:57:58Z")