Re: Driving TN5250 non-interactively

The Bookmanager Library Reader used to be distributed several years ago in a
CD, where there were also the library itself containing shelves with the
electronic copies of the printed material.  Now there is an on-line service
for that.

In particular, shelf QB3ANA01 "Host Communications Bookshelf", contains
almost anything you need.  Book CO2E2001, "Functions Reference", document
number SC30-3533-04, has a lot of that.

But with all that, writing that interface is not so easy.  Wouldn't it be
more practical to write a TCP/IP sockets interface instead?  You could write
an ILE RPG or ILE C server program to run in batch, and talk to this program
from your Unix-like server with your own commands and query your database.

Have fun!

-----Mensaje original-----
De: linux5250-bounces-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected] [mailto:linux5250-bounces-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected]]
En nombre de Richard Nolde
Enviado el: Viernes, 16 de Julio de 2010 02:44 p.m.
Para: linux5250-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected]
Asunto: [LINUX5250] Driving TN5250 non-interactively

Original message:
> TN5250 list members:
>
> I've been tasked with writing an interface between an application that
> runs on a remote iSeries host, accessible with TN5250 over a private
> network, and our application that would query the iSeries in real time
> without human interaction. My application will run on a Linux or AIX
> box, and act like a broker between the local application and the remote
> iSeries host application that contains the database we are querying.
>   ...
>
> Thanks,
> Richard Nolde
>
> ------------------------------
>
> message: 2
> date: Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:10:08 -0600
> from: Xavier S?nchez<[email protected]>
>
> It seems like what you want to know are details about the 5250 data
stream.
>
> 5250 is a data stream that contains not only plain text data, but
attributes
> for the data displayed on the screen (like foreground color, background
> color, underlining and bold), along with keyboard command attention (CA)
and
> command function (CF) keys.
>
>    
Yes, I've studied enough of the source code to the tn5250 application to 
see that it is a highly complex protocol with a multitude of control 
sequences and status bits and very demanding sequencing requirements.
> I think the best source of that complete information is specified in a set
> of books by IBM, like "SNA Formats", and others related to the SNA data
> streams used in 5250-like terminals.
>
> There is an on-line source of information where you will probably find it.
>
> I'd suggest you search the IBM search engine at this URL.  You will have
to
> look for further to find what you need.  Try to find out one version that
> deals with iSeries under the same bookmanager library reader.
>
> http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/library/softcopy/softfeat.html
>
> Good luck!
>
>    
Thanks for the link. As with most things IBM, it is harder to find with 
there own search engine that with Google, but your link saved me a lot 
of time.
> X Sanchez
>
> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: linux5250-bounces-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected] [mailto:linux5250-bounces-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected]]
> En nombre de Richard Nolde
> Enviado el: Jueves, 15 de Julio de 2010 04:47 p.m.
> Para: linux5250-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected]
> Asunto: [LINUX5250] Driving TN5250 non-interactively
>
>    
from: Jim Oberholtzer <[email protected]>

subject: Re: [LINUX5250] Driving TN5250 non-interactively

>You say that the iSeries is on a private LAN.  Why not just write a
>program using ODBC to access the data you are after? Or, create some
>stored procedures on the iSeries and use a web service over there. I
>wonder if the direction is coming from someone that does not realize
>those facilities are available on that machine, or alternatively you
>don't have the ability to sign on and create things there.  If the goal
>is to run specific commands, you might consider an FTP script using
>"syscmd".

We do not have any access to the remote AS400 machine except to run this one
specific application. The business partner with the AS400 does not have its
own developers and the administrative staff is scared to change anything. We
looked into developing a web service on their end and they have no
development environment or programming staff. None of our IT staff has ever
worked on an AS400. We do only Linux/AIX and database applications that
interface with our own servers so we are stuck with this kind of interface.

That said creating a screen scraper application really is all about
knowing the 5250 data stream.

>Try this for more understanding.  I pulled it from V5R3 since you said
>"iSeries" guessing that the system might be a bit further back in OS
>than current.
>
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/iseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topic=/apis/
dsm1f.htm

I don't even know the exact hardware or version of the OS they are running
but I can be relatively sure it isn't current.  Thanks for the link.

>Jim Oberholtzer
>CEO/Chief Technical Architect
>Agile Technology Architects, LLC

>message: 4
>date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:29:23 -0400
>from: "Raul A. Jager W."<raul-txJ8x5cWuapVBtrROPlz/[email protected]>
>subject: Re: [LINUX5250] Driving TN5250 non-interactively

>Can you use a web service instead?

>If the reports to be transfered are easy to build, you can generate a
>web page and retrieve it automaticlay.
>If you need the output of a "batch" program, you can run it from a web
>page (automaticaly, by using something like wget) and retrive the spool
>file after.

See above. Our only option is to use the existing interface at this point. I
think it is going to be a long shot at best, with lots of potential for
hangups, but we have to prove whether it is practical or not.

Thanks,
   Richard Nolde





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