IBM® CICS® Transaction Server Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting embeds and integrates technology from WebSphere® sMash into the CICS TS V4.1 run time, helping to reduce the time and cost of CICS application development. The Feature Pack provides a robust, managed environment for a wide range of situational applications allowing PHP and Groovy developers to create reports, dashboards, and widgets, and integrate CICS assets into mash-ups, and much more. The CICS Dynamic Scripting Feature Pack combines the benefits of scripted, Web 2.0 applications with easy and secure access to CICS application and data resources. The Feature Pack includes a PHP 5.2 run time implemented in JavaTM and with Groovy language support, support for native Java code and access to many additional libraries and connectors to enhance the development and user experience of rich Internet applications. Access to CICS resources is achieved by using the JCICS APIs. In this IBM Redbooks® publication, we introduce the Dynamic Scripting Feature Pack, show how to install and customize it, and provide examples for using it.

In this IBM® Redbooks® publication, we discuss CICS®, which stands for Customer Information Control System. It is a general-purpose transaction processing subsystem for the z/OS® operating system. CICS provides services for running an application online where, users submit requests to run applications simultaneously. CICS manages sharing resources, the integrity of data, and prioritizes execution with fast response. CICS authorizes users, allocates resources (real storage and cycles), and passes on database requests by the application to the appropriate database manager, such as DB2®. We review the history of CICS and why it was created. We review the CICS architecture and discuss how to create an application in CICS. CICS provides a secure, transactional environment for applications that are written in several languages. We discuss the CICS-supported languages and each language's advantages in this Redbooks publication. We analyze situations from a system programmer's viewpoint, including how the systems programmer can use CICS facilities and services to customize the system, design CICS for recovery, and manage performance. CICS Data access and where the data is stored, including Temporary storage queues, VSAM RLS, DB2, IMSTM, and many others are also discussed.

The service-oriented architecture (SOA) style of integration involves breaking an application down into common, repeatable services that can be used by other applications (both internal and external) in an organization, independent of the computing platforms on which the business and its partners rely. In recent years CICS® has added a variety of support for SOA and now provides near seamless connectivity with other IT environments. This IBM® Redbooks® publication helps IT architects to select, plan, and design solutions that integrate CICS applications as service providers and requesters. First, we provide an introduction to CICS service enablement and introduce the architectural choices and technologies on which a CICS SOA solution can be based. We continue with an in-depth analysis of how to meet functional and non-functional requirements in the areas of application interface, security, transactional scope, high availability, and scalability. Finally, we document three integration scenarios to illustrate how these technologies have been used by customers to build robust CICS integration solutions.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication focuses on developing Web service applications in IBM CICS®. It takes the broad view of developing and modernizing CICS applications for XML, Web services, SOAP, and SOA support, and lays out a reference architecture for developing these kinds of applications. We start by discussing Web services in general, then review how CICS implements Web services. We offer an overview of different development approaches: bottom-up, top-down, and meet-in-the-middle. We then look at how you would go about exposing a CICS application as a Web service provider, again looking at the different approaches. The book then steps through the process of creating a CICS Web service requester. We follow this by looking at CICS application aggregation (including 3270 applications) with IBM Rational® Application Developer for IBM System z® and how to implement CICS Web Services using CICS Cloud technology. The first part is concluded with hints and tips to help you when implementing this technology. Part two of this publication provides performance figures for a basic Web service. We investigate some common variables and examine their effects on the performance of CICS as both a requester and provider of Web services.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides information about the new Java virtual machine (JVM) server technology in IBM CICS® Transaction Server for z/OS® V4.2. We begin by outlining the many advantages of its multi-threaded operation over the pooled JVM function of earlier releases. The Open Services Gateway initiative (OSGi) is described and we highlight the benefits OSGi brings to both development and deployment. Details are then provided about how to configure and use the new JVM server environment. Examples are included of the deployment process, which takes a Java application from the workstation Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) with the IBM CICS Explorer® software development kit (SDK) plug-in, through the various stages up to execution in a stand-alone CICS region and an IBM CICSPlex® environment. The book continues with a comparison between traditional CICS programming, and CICS programming from Java. As a result, the main functional areas of the Java class library for CICS (JCICS) application programming interface (API) are extensively reviewed. Further chapters are provided to demonstrate interaction with structured data such as copybooks, and how to access relational databases by using Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) and Structured Query Language for Java (SQLJ). Finally, we devote a chapter to the migration of applications from the pooled JVM model to the new JVM server run time.

This IBM® Redpaper Redbooks® publication introduces the IBM System z® New Application License Charges (zNALC) pricing structure and provides examples of zNALC workload scenarios. It describes the products that can be run on a zNALC logical partition (LPAR), reasons to consider such an implementation, and covers the following topics: Using the IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile to host applications within an IBM CICS® environment and how it interacts with CICS applications and resources Security technologies available to applications that are hosted within a WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile in CICS How to implement modern presentation in CICS with a CICS Liberty Java virtual machine (JVM) server How to share scenarios to develop Liberty JVM applications to gain benefits from IBM CICS Transaction Server for IBM z/OS® Value Unit Edition Considerations when using mobile devices to interact with CICS applications and explains specific CICS technologies for connecting mobile devices by using the z/OS Value Unit Edition How IBM Operational Decision Manager for z/OS runs in the transaction server to provide decision management services for CICS COBOL and PL/I applications Installing the CICS Transaction Server for z/OS (CICS TS) Feature Pack for Modern Batch to enable the IBM WebSphere® batch environment to schedule and manage batch applications in CICS This book also covers what is commonly referred to as plain old Java objects (POJOs). The Java virtual machine (JVM) server is a full-fledged JVM that includes support for Open Service Gateway initiative (OSGi) bundles. It can be used to host open source Java frameworks and does just about anything you want to do with Java on the mainframe. POJO applications can also qualify for deployment using the Value Unit Edition. Read about how to configure and deploy them in this companion Redbooks publication: IBM CICS and the JVM server: Developing and Deploying Java Applications, SG24-8038 Examples of POJOs are terminal-initiated transactions, CICS web support, web services, requests received via IP CICS sockets, and messages coming in via IBM WebSphere MQ messaging software.