z/Ware z/OS

Easy and Powerful Web-Enabling and Web Services for your 3270 Apps

Logo - zWare.jpgWe believe your mainframe should be able to communicate with everything and vice versa! That's where z/Ware 2.0™ comes in!

The reworked architecture of z/Ware 2.0 combines everything that our customers have come to expect from z/Web-Host and z/XML-Host into one, and expands the features to new heights! All of this, and it's still just as easy! Months of implementation time? Technology that requires weeks of classroom instruction? Hundreds of thousands of dollars of software and new platform costs? Who made this the norm for bringing legacy applications into the 21st century? Apparently not the customers paying the price.

By combining the common components of the two products, customers now have more choices and capabilities directly from one solution. z/Ware 2.0 now extends the capabilities for data integration from pure 3270 to other data sources including CICS COMMAREAs, extending the ease of use of the Company’s software to include customers’ direct CICS applications and data sources in addition to 3270 screen transformation. The new product also features a robust script-processing facility to automate interaction between applications and platforms across the enterprise, and a new document-facility for creating templates to exchange with XML/Web Services- enabled applications like Java or Microsoft’s .Net platform. z/Ware can integrate your data from MS-SQL, Oracle or other databases and even between your .NET and JAVA applications!

  • OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
  • BENEFITS
    BENEFITS
    BENEFITS
    BENEFITS
    BENEFITS
    BENEFITS
  • FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
  • RESOURCES
    RESOURCES
    RESOURCES
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    RESOURCES

OVERVIEW

z/Ware 2.0 was built for mainframe users. With z/Ware, you get results in hours, not months. z/Ware is the Easiest way to transform the capable, back-end logic of your existing 3270 applications into fully functional web-browser based application or use Web Services to connect with other platforms.

Take a look at how z/Ware was used to combine three 3270 screens, including the one below, into the single web-based application screen at the right!

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The z/Ware application doesn't just look better -- it also adds functionality, including one-click macros, widgets for pop-up calendars and calculators, and even a pop-up for looking up information from the Postal Service!

By creating a brand new graphical user interface complete with menu systems, dropdowns, and widgets for performing tasks automatically, z/Ware can provide a better user experience and increase productivity like never before!

Support your Mainframe into the Future--now with Full IPv6 Support

You know that Internet addresses (IPv4 addresses) are rapidly being exhausted, leaving networks everywhere with constraint on expansion and new capabilities. The Internet community has been hard at work to redefine the architecture and now, with IPv6 addresses, this limitation is limited. But your chosen software product have to support this new environment, and z/Ware is fully IPv6 ready and able.

Transform your Applications to the Web -- Now with AJAX Support!

With z/Ware 2.0 you can transform your 3270 screens into rich, web-browser applications that anyone can access and understand without any training. What's more, you can use any Web design tool you like, including ExpressionWeb, FrontPage, DreamWeaver, Hotdog and more, to layout the look and feel of your screens. Using z/Ware 2.0's Advanced HTML Templates, you store the new layout with definitions of the data on the original screen, and z/Ware 2.0 will merge the data dynamically to create the web-browser output. This means you can even use your web-designer to layout the new look of the mainframe applications.

With z/Ware 2.0's AJAX support your Web-based applications can function like a Windows application, with drag-and-drop, right-mouse click behavior, and dynamic updating of data without refreshing. Your users benefit from intuitive, rich applications in a browser. You benefit from reusing your stable, secure and high performing mainframe applications. And since z/Ware 2.0 runs native on zOS-OS/390, z/VSE and VSE/ESA, there's no need to add extra time, cost and support issues by using additional platforms just to get to your mainframe data.

z/Ware 2.0 works with any 3270 application, CICS or non-CICS. Plus, z/Ware 2.0 doesn't use precious CICS resources, or require less reliable components, like CICS Web Support (CWS), to function. And with z/Ware 2.0's Application Automation Feature (AAF), you can easily automate the interaction with your applications to combine multiple screens into onepass data between screens, even store variables and automatically enter data. This allows you to change the interaction with the user to an easier format, without any changes to the existing application. With z/Web, we can also provide the ability to translate the pages into multiple languages to provide for an even wider customer base!

We chose the easiest and simplest implementation to ensure our software would work in nearly all environments. By not using Java or ActiveX components, z/Ware 2.0 will work with any browser, whether on a PC, Mac or PDA or web-enabled cell-phone.

And z/Ware 2.0 works together with our iCYA product to provide full encryption capabilities for your Internet-enabled mainframe, so your data is secure.

FEATURES

z/Ware Common Infrastructure

Version 2 of z/Web-Host splits the previous product into two parts. Many of the product’s facilities had more to do with supporting the execution environment than providing features of the product. The supporting functions that have to do with environment management, workflow management, communications management and operating system interfaces have been removed from the product code and a new facility called the z/Ware Common Infrastructure (ZWC) has been created. This infrastructure can be used to support multiple products and will make future product development faster and easier while simplifying the code of each product.

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Script Enhancements

The concept of our previous Application Automation Facility (AAF) statements that could be coded in a Web Screen definition is being expanded into a more feature rich scripting language with enhanced capabilities. These executable statements are now referred to as scripts and they can be used in places other than just Web Screens. Many new facilities in version 2 use script statements to perform important functions. Many of the old statements such as IF and ASSIGN have been enhanced for use with the new facilities like comparing or extracting data in a COMMAREA buffer or a generated Document.

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Execution of Named Scripts

One new version 2 facility that uses script statements is quite simply a stand alone script. Called Named Scripts, these are scripts that are not associated with any existing 3270 session. They may use any of the functions available to the scripting language to perform processing. The source statements are stored in a library member and are defined in the configuration file at start up or dynamically activated by command after start up. Named Scripts can be invoked by requests from an HTTP client such as a web page or user program. The request can also specify any desired data in the usual form of name=value parameters in a URL or generated from a web form or taken from an XML document. The specified parameters are assigned to user variables before the script begins execution so all specified information is available to the script.

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Document Facility

The new Document facility can be invoked by script statements to create or delete named user documents. Documents can be created from templates stored as library members, using substitution of user variables to create dynamic custom documents containing any desired statement format. Documents may contain HTML, XML or any other format suitable for the intended purpose. User Documents can be returned to the requesting client program or placed into COMMAREA buffers. Data can be extracted from Documents using the ASSIGN script statement. There will be additional uses for Documents in future product releases.

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Execution of CICS COMMAREA Programs

New script statements allow the creation of Named COMMAREA data buffers, mapping of the fields within a COMMAREA, updating of the COMMAREA storage with data items, extracting data from a COMMAREA and calling a specific CICS region to execute a CICS program passing a COMMAREA. The CICS EXCI interface is used to request program execution within the CICS environment. A 3270 session is not used for this facility. Data from the returned COMMAREA can be used in the creation of a user Document that is returned to the requesting program, or for any other needed purpose. Typically this facility is used by a web user or client program requesting execution of a Named Script but it can be used any scripting environment such as within a Web Screen script that is driven by a 3270 session.

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CICS COMMAREA Events

Another use of CICS programs and COMMAREAs is COMMAREA Events. These events are processed much like a Web Screen definition is for 3270 sessions but they are not associated with a 3270 connection at all. This facility allows a user CICS program to pass a COMMAREA to the z/Web-Host Server to trigger the execution of a script. The script is coded within a ::COMMAREA:: section of the configuration file, along with data strings that are used to uniquely identify a passed COMMAREA. When the Server receives a COMMAREA from a CICS region, the COMMAREA data is matched against the list of active COMMAREA Events. When a matching definition is found, the script within the definition is executed. The script can make use of any desired scripting functions to process data passed in the COMMAREA and update the COMMAREA which is returned to the calling CICS program. Future releases of z/Web-Host will make this facility very useful.

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Fully IPv6 Ready

On z/OS z/Ware fully supports IPv6 using the IBM z/OS Communications Server stack. The stack can be configured for IPv4 support, IPv6 support or both. On z/VSE z/Ware fully supports IPv6 using the IBM IPv6/VSE product or the BSI IPv6/VSE product. The IPv6 VSE stacks can be configured with a coupled IPv4 stack to provide support for a mixed environment. z/Ware also supports traffic from coupled stacks, accepting both IPv4 or IPv6 connections. Server programs such as z/Ware can listen for connections on the IPv6 stack and receive connections from either IPv6 or IPv4. The user does no additional configuration for IPv6 except use IPv6 IP addresses or domain names. Anywhere an IPv4 host address could previously be provided, an IPv6 host address can be specified. At initialization, the z/Ware server (ZWC component) interrogates the connected stack to determine its capabilities. All operator commands and displays are updated to accept and report both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. If IPv6 addresses are found in the z/Ware configuration file, but an IPv4 only stack is connected, error messages are issued at startup.

XML & Web Services Support

With version 2 of z/Web-Host the product can process requests from clients in the form of XML documents as well as HTML. Templates used to create response documents can also contain XML. In addition, the ZWC Web Server accepts Web Service requests and generates Web Service responses (SOAP envelopes). This facility effectively replaces the z/XML-Host product. Web Screen definitions can be used with 3270 sessions to gather data and generate the response. Named Scripts could also be used to execute CICS programs and return XML documents.

TRY IT

We could continue to show you, but touching is believing. Logon to a Live Demo of z/Ware 2.0 running on a mainframe at the illustro offices. Or better yet, visit our Software Downloads section and download the software for a FREE 30-day trial on your own system. Our software engineers will even help you customize a few of your own application screens just so you can see your own data in web-action completely FREE.

BENEFITS

  • Enhance the user experience without changing your underlying mainframe applications.
  • Increase productivity and train users in hours instead of days with more intuitive user interfaces.
  • Present your applications and data to customers on the Web.
  • Integrate mainframe and web-based applications into a single application.
  • Simplify application workflow by automating processes.

RESOURCES

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