HACP & HATS User Group Community Blog

IBM Z and LinuxONE Community - All Blog Entries

VT Display Session

Introduction VT Display Session connects with the host machine and communicates with it through a terminal. It connects to the host based on the configuration provided. These configurations are available under the Properties section. VT Display sessions provide a terminal screen for users to connect and communicate with the host machine. Users can fetch necessary details from the host by passing appropriate commands through the terminal screen of VT. HACPEE-VT supports only SSH Protocol. SSH (Secure Shell) is a protocol for conducting a secure session over a non-secure network. VT-SSH supports Password and Public Key Authentication. Password ...

FTP(BETA) IN HACP EE

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) provides an easier way to transfer files from local to the required network locations. There are many applications available that provide an FTP connection. The HACP EE 4.0 release provides an easier way to share the files by connecting to a session using FTP. To connect FTP sessions through the HACP EE, create HTML pages containing the FTP sessions or use Admin console. By default, FTP sessions are disabled on the client side, and sessions will reflect if the “EnableFTPsession=true” parameter is available in the web.properties file. The properties modified in HOD, HACP EE client or Admin console will be reflected in all ...
Attention mainframe users! You asked why it is so hard to seamlessly access your mainframe applications and data from your cloud environment. Can it be made easier? Ask and you shall receive! IBM terminal emulator solution is a 360° package that offers a new generation of terminal emulators - desktop-based, web-based and zero-footprint, that enable you to access your host anytime, anywhere and from any device, uninterrupted. Staying true to that vision and direction, we have delivered cloud capabilities in IBM terminal emulation and transformation products. Prepare yourselves for some exciting new synergies between your mainframe applications & data ...

Copy Session in HACP EE

Introduction: This feature helps to duplicate the existing sessions from the HACP EE dashboard page. Execute the below steps to Copy a Session in HACP EE: Launch the Config/HTML/Combined-based client page in the browser, For Example: A.html. Click the context menu of the available session list. Select the Copy Session option. A duplicate session on the dashboard will be created with a unique session name. Now, users can perform all the action items like start session, macro recording, file transfer, etc., Note: · The copied session will have the same session properties. ...
Introduction: In HOD, users have an option “Automatically log users on to Host On-Demand using their Windows username” for the Configuration server-based model to enable the login option with Windows credentials. By enabling the same option in HACP EE, users can log in to the configuration server-based model page with Microsoft credentials. Create Configuration server-based model in DW for HACP EE: Select the Configuration server-based model in the deployment wizard and enable the “Automatically log users on to Host On-demand using their Windows username” option. Then, select any one of the following Logon type options ...

HACP EE Enhancement of Printer session

Summary This blog will cover the before and after enhancement of printer session for the HACP EE client. Introduction of Printer Session in HACP EE A printer session in HACP EE allows the user to view or print the 3270 or 5250 host files in pdf, txt, doc, etc. When interacting with a HACP EE application, the user does not activate a physical printer. Instead, a print file is generated, which can be displayed to the user. The print file can also be printed as pdf, txt, etc. HACP EE Printer Session Before Enhancement: The Print View Jobs window provides the list of printed files for a particular session, and the user can ...
IBM Host Integration License Manager is the license control tool specifically used to get real-time tracking of the number of licenses in use for the Mainframe Terminal emulator products like IBM Host On-Demand and IBM Personal Communications. This blog is about enhancements to an e xisting License Manager . The following are the License Manager Enhancements: Support for External Database Improved User Interface Improved License Logging for better readability Support for External Database: The license manager is available and deployed into the embedded web server by default. The latest License Manager application saves ...
MIGRATION UTILITY-WEB VIEW Introduction The Migration Utility in the HACP EE admin console serves as a web view for the traditional HOD Migration Utility, which allows the HACP EE administrators to migrate the HOD user profiles and data from a lower version to a higher version. Prerequisites Ensure that the HACP EE is accessed on the same machine as the source and target the HOD servers which are independent of versions and should be in a running state. The supported HOD versions are HOD 13, HOD 14, HOD 15, and its refresh packs. The files provided as inputs must have read/write permission over it. Quick actions ...
Securing IBM HATS Web Application (Using HTTP Header) What are HTTP security headers? HTTP Security Headers are a set of key-value pairs that are added to the headers of an HTTP response to provide enhanced security for web applications and websites. They are a subset of HTTP headers that are explicitly related to security. These headers control how browsers and other clients interact with web pages and resources and help to protect against various security threats. Why do we need them? Implementing security headers helps to protect sensitive data, such as user login credentials, and prevents the theft of user data or the manipulation of ...
HTML based model: license count for unique user is a combination of Usermodel(HTML) and IP address . Config based model: license count for unique user is a combination of config user name and IP address. When user launches a https secure connection with client authentication enabled, license count for unique user will be a combination of IP address and common name. Common name is reading from the certificate of the client is presented while accessing the https secure connection. When the client authentication is enabled, if many sessions are launched from different user models (HTML/Config/Combined)at the ...

Autosuggestion Text

This feature provides the capability to predict the rest of the characters when a user is typing in the Presentation Screen. HACP EE users can enable/disable the Autosuggestion text. If enabled, the user can see the suggestions list in the presentation screen. If it is disabled, no suggestion list gets displayed. Users can add user-defined suggestion texts in the table (minimum 1 to maximum 50 suggestions.). Also, using the Aid keys (Enter), users can add the text dynamically in the table. Users can search and edit/delete the text in the suggestion table. The autosuggestion text values will be stored under the browser cache. ...
Trace is a troubleshooting technique used to analyze and discover the root cause of the problem if the user does not get enough information on any problem. It will provide more information on what happens when code runs. With that information, the user can investigate the problem. Users need to activate it manually. Types of Traces Session Trace Admin Console Trace Session Trace This feature provides the capability for users to collect logs. It prints the statements during execution which helps in debugging variables or expressions. This feature captures the logs into the browser console based on trace properties selected under ...

HOD Secure Session

Host Secure Session on Host On-Demand Now, sessions are secure with the highest security of TLS protocols supported by hosts and HTML-based models. This configuration ensures the encryption, authentication, and integrity of session information and user preferences by storing the data locally in the user's machine rather than on the configuration servers. Execute the following steps to set up a secure session: 1. Open the deployment wizard, Welcome page appears, as shown in Figure 1 . Select Create a new HTML option and click Next . Figure 1 : Welcome ...

DBCS CODE PAGE ADDITION

A double-byte character set represents a language with more than 256 glyphs ( visually distinct symbols ) . Each character represents a 16-bit value (two bytes) and takes two positions in the screen buffer. 1.Newly supported Host Code Pages in HACP EE 3.1 are: 939 – Japan (Latin extended) - for 5250 and 3270 sessions. 1390 – Japanese (Katakana Unicode Extended; JIS 2004) - for 3270 sessions only. 2. Host code pages are added under the properties panel. 3. Users can connect directly to the specific host associated with the Host Code Page configured in the properties panel. 4. Changes to the Host Code Page ...

Installing Host On-Demand v15

IBM® Host On-Demand (HOD) provides security-rich web-to-host terminal emulation and host access application programming support from a single interface. HOD provides connectivity to TN3270E, TN5250, VT52, VT100, VT220, and VT420 systems, IBM CICS® applications, and FTP servers. The managed HOD environment replaces the browser on the local machine and removes the need to download the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). With the Host On-Demand version 15 release, Install Anywhere is used to create HOD packages, which provide a simple installation method to install Host On-Demand on all the supported platforms without any external dependency. Execute the ...

Keep-Alive

Introduction "Keep-Alive" property in the Socket Object is set to ‘True’. When it is enabled, the TCP stack sends keep-alive packets, when no data or acknowledgement packets are received for the connection within an interval. It validates whether the connection is still alive. Since no data sent, it can only test the network connection's liveness, not the service to which the socket is connected. The TCP Keep-Alive option is used to keep the session alive by enabling it. In addition, allowing Telnet Keep-Alive option helps to set the timing with different type of communication between client and server to keep the session alive. Telnet ...
The Personal Communications (PCOMM) Online Session Manager provides a client server model of emulator configuration management for users in addition to the existing localized offline mode. Interoperability: Interoperability allows PCOMM users to access PCOMM profiles through Host On-demand (HOD) clients as well as in HACP Extended Edition (HACP EE), after migrating/uploading their profiles to the HACP Server. Pre-requisites: · Make sure that PCOMM is installed in the system. · Make sure that HOD is install in the system and configured with HACP EE. Steps to enable PCOMM and HACP EE Integration: ...
In a modern world, many companies still rely on manual processes to perform even the most basic functions of their business. This may happen because companies rely on older, but still reliable systems that both contain and process their data. One such company is a large supplier of electronic parts and components. This company had a system that included multiple interfaces for fulfilling orders and employees were challenged with an almost completely manual purchasing process. Order entry, customer service, and invoicing were all performed manually. For example: Part numbers were entered from a printed spreadsheet Order history was checked ...
At one of the leading insurance companies in the United States, agents were using more than 100 green screen tools to perform daily tasks. The company’s goal was to integrate these tools with a Salesforce application. An IBM Partner performed a pilot project, demonstrating how to modernize such tools and to integrate them with Salesforce. The pilot also demonstrated how to overcome the challenge of implementing easy user access for thousands of users with single-sign-on (SSO). The solution involved using IBM Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) and it’s Web Express Logon (WEL) component to provide seamless SSO capability and integration ...
To eliminate external dependency, IBM Host On-Demand is shipped with Embedded Web Server in version 1402 and later. While installing the software one can choose to use an embedded server along with it. On selecting embedded server during installation, one needs to specify the port to be used by embedded server to establish a plain/secure connection. Plain connection/HTTP connection doesn’t require any additional steps to launch the HOD/HACP EE pages in Web Browser. Below are the steps to enable SSL/HTTPS with embedded server: Step: 1 Create a client self-signed certificate using Certificate Management Open Certificate Management ...
Introduction IBM HATS provides the ability to transform an application on the host (I-series or Z-series) into a modern web application. Building a web application involves using various out-of-the-box solutions provided by the different libraries and frameworks on both the front-end and back-end (Java-based). This article describes the usage of one such front-end JavaScript-based library that works with Microsoft Excel files from a web application. One of the example requirements is to scrape the data from the HOST screen and export the data to an Excel sheet. ExcelJS vs SheetJS Multiple libraries are available to do a similar job, with the most ...
With Host Access Transformation Services (HATS), you can create Web applications that provide an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) applications. HATS applications can be given a modern appearance. HATS Web applications can be developed with an interface that matches your company's Web or portal pages, and your users can access them through their Web browsers https://community.ibm.com/community/user/ibmz-and-linuxone/viewdocument/hats-modern-insurance-application?CommunityKey=02ca7e54-2793-4fe1-867f-786e27caaac6 Sathiyapriya QA Engineer,Lab Services, IBM HACP & HATS

MICROSOFT OFFICE 365

Introduction: It is possible to integrate Office 365 with HACP EE. Microsoft Graph APIs allow HACP EE to connect with the files across Microsoft 365. Initially, the user must register the application in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). After successful registration, users must sign-in with their Microsoft 365 account in HACP EE. Then, using OAuth , the user retrieves an access token for the application. With this access token, Microsoft Graph APIs can be called and retrieve data from Microsoft 365 for the user. Steps to Register the Application in Azure Active Directory: Open the web browser, go to the Azure portal . In the menu, select ...

ENPTUI

Enhanced Non-Programmable Terminal User Interface (ENPTUI) enables an enhanced interface on non-programmable terminals (NPT) and programmable workstations (PWS) over the 5250 full-screen menu-driven interface, taking advantage of 5250 display data stream extensions. HACP EE supports a subset of the ENPTUI feature, which includes graphical interface constructs. Scrollbar field component Selection field component Scrollbar field (ENPTUI) The Scrollbar field (ENPTUI) is a component that recognizes ENPTUI scrollbar fields from the 5250 data stream. This component will recognize any selected host screen region, and this component can be rendered using ...
Purpose of the document This guide provides information on how to enable a Secure connection on HACPEE. Enable HTTPS Secure connection: 1.From the HOD installation package Right-click on the Certificate management tool and select Run as administrator . 2.Create a HODServerKeyStore.jks to store a self-sign certificate. Steps to create the “HODServerKeyStore.jks” Click Key Database File and select Select the Key database type as JKS . Click Browse… and navigate to the HOD Installation directory to store this file. Example ‘ C:\Program Files\ibm\HostOnDemand1404\bin’ . d.Enter the File Name as ‘ ...

HACP EE Plus

Introduction: The HACP EE Plus feature provides the HACPEE users to turn the traditional green screen into a modernized look. To enable this feature, the user must Select the “HACP EE Plus” checkbox under the Preferences tab in the Settings panel. By default, the checkbox is Clear . Users can also enable the HACP EE Plus transformation through the properties file. If the user sets the parameter HACPEEPlus = true , by default, the HACP EE Plus checkbox gets selected , and the users are unable to change it. If the user sets the parameter HACPEEPlus = false , users are able to select or clear the checkbox. Brief description: By ...
Printer Setup – Print-To-Disk Personal Communications (PCOMM)-Print Setup- Print-To-Disk feature is used to save a host print job or the contents of the session window (print screen) to a PC file instead of printing it on paper. The function has an advantage over the print-to-disk function provided by printer drivers. PCOMM : Print-To-Disk saves the user’s print job data to a configured file by Appending, Overwriting, or Making a new copy. The Print-To-Disk feature supports the .txt and .doc file formats. Users can browse/select any one of the file formats through the browse option to append or overwrite the print job data. PCOMM users ...
With IBM HATS, you can create Web applications and Rich client applications that provide an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) for your 3270/5250 applications. IBM HATS makes it possible to build an application that can scrape data from the host, format it as required, and present the formatted data on an e-mail, programmed to trigger the e-mail automatically on any user action. To achieve this, the user needs an SMTP server, like Gmail(smtp.gmail.com), Microsoft Outlook(smtp-mail.outlook.com), Yahoo(smtp.mail.yahoo.com), etc. Let us consider the below HOST screen having a credit report. Figure 1: Transformed screen ...

3270 Host File printing on IBM HATS

Summary This document will cover how to print the Host file in the default Host connection in HATS . Overview Users can establish a printer session for the associated host application while developing the HATS project. When the HATS application runs in a production environment, the user can print or display data formatted for printing. Print support settings only apply to the default HATS connection. A print file can be generated, displayed, and printed when the user interacts with the host application. The user may or may not activate the physical printer to print the data from the application. HATS host print application connected to a ...

Design Thinking

Design Thinking Design thinking has a “human-centred” core. Crafting together what’s Desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically Feasible and economically Viable . Design thinking is “ Multidisciplinary ” Design thinking is a way to get our team thinking creatively about our products and services from the customer's perspective . We'll look at how can we (Stakeholder(s)) help our team understand user issues, find creative solutions to the biggest issues, and build and test a prototype of how those solutions would look in our product(s). By following a set of techniques we get the best bits of the new feature ...