Toolkit for creating new e-business applications
Z and I Emulator for Web includes the Java component-based ZIE Host Access Toolkit for creating customized e-business applications. This Toolkit contains a rich set of Java libraries and application programming interfaces, including the Host Access Class Library (HACL), Host Access Beans for Java, and Java Enterprise Edition (J2EE) connectors.
HACL provides a non-visual API for interacting with back-end host machines running applications originally designed for human interaction. Host applications rely on readable character presentation, formatted fields, color-coding, and keyboard responses. HACL provides specialized classes for functionalities needed to mimic traditional interaction with a series of host screen presentations (green screens). HACL contains no GUI (visible component) classes. For example, a Java program could be running on a mainframe as a secondary application. The secondary application program interacts first with another mainframe running a CICS data application, and then with a client browser through dynamically generated HTML pages. The secondary application interprets client inputs into simulated terminal actions which are sent to the CICS machine using the HACL API. The response screens from the CICS machine are captured using HACL APIs, converted into dynamic HTML pages, and sent back to the client.
Z and I Emulator for Web J2EE Connector provides a set of Resource adapters that communicate to 3270, 5250, CICS, and VT hosts. These resource adapters are deployed to a conforming application server, such as IBM Application Server. The users can write Web applications using the APIs provided in Z and I Emulator for Web J2EE Connector via WebSphere Studio Application Developer Integration Edition.