isCOBOL Evolve offers several options to leverage COBOL applications across the Web.
Read more about each of these solution areas below.
isCOBOL Application Server, available standard with the isCOBOL Runtime Environment, offers a fast, efficient way to open up existing COBOL applications to the Web. With isCOBOL Application Server you can launch a COBOL application from a web browser running on any supported platform such as Windows, MacOS, UNIX® or Linux. This process requires no code changes or recompiling. The only software required on a end-user’s machine is the Java Runtime Environment version 1.4.2 or later.
In thin client mode, only the user interface runs on a desktop, your application and data stay under your control on the server. With isCOBOL Server, an application runs exactly the same way across a network or over the Internet as it does when running locally. Java Web Start technology deploys the thin client and launches the COBOL application. The first time a user visits the web page on a particular machine, Java Web Start will ask whether the user trusts the web site, and will then proceed to launch the application in thin client mode. On subsequent visits, the application will launch immediately. There are no additional download, installation or application execution steps required of the user.
To enable this functionality, simple JavaScript is added to a web page to detect the presence of a JRE on the user’s machine and download and install a proper version if necessary. Veryant provides clear step-by-step instructions for setting up the web site and Java Web Start to get your COBOL applications quickly to the Web.
isCOBOL Web Direct 2.0 leverages AJAX technology to allow you to create and run a fully interactive COBOL application GUI inside a web browser in a "zero" client solution. Zero client in this case meaning that the only technology required by an end-user to view an application is a web browser -- no plug-in, ActiveX, Java or other software needs to be installed on the client machine.
With isCOBOL Web Direct 2.0, the user interface can run on PCs, Macintosh, X Windows, Mobile Devices or any other system that includes a web browser. User login is simplified through single sign-on and state is maintained throughout an entire user session without special programming or an external state server database.
Developers create web applications entirely in COBOL with isCOBOL Web Direct 2.0 by leveraging COBOL graphical screen section syntax and event paragraphs. In addition, developers can use the isCOBOL IDE's screen designer and Web Direct 2.0 launcher features to design and test screens and logic in the web user interface programs without ever leaving the IDE. The application logic, user interface and the event handling are all written with COBOL statements, providing true interactive web applications without having to learn JavaScript, HTML or any other web tools or languages. Since isCOBOL Web Direct 2.0 preserves the main structure of the COBOL application, your application does not have to be split up into standalone CGI programs or web services.
With isCOBOL Web Direct 2.0, applications are hosted centrally using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Offer the convenience of single sign-on and take advantage of n-tier architectures and secure transport such as https. From a security perspective, the web server is the only port open in the firewall, and with https the communications are encrypted and secure. From an administrative perspective, the application and data are hosted centrally which makes deploying patches and upgrades to the application transparent. The system is scalable because the back-end servers and instances can be load-balanced and increased if necessary without requiring changes to application code.
The isCOBOL Evolve application GUI is completely portable and can run anywhere -- from mainframe to mobile devices. The portable GUI produced by isCOBOL software runs character-based as well as graphical programs, enabling you to easily modernize the look and feel of your GUI environment to meet the expectations of today’s online users.
isCOBOL Evolve provides support for unique graphical capabilities in COBOL such as:
- Including Java Swing or 3rd party JavaBeans technology graphical controls in screen sections.
- Using HTML (conforming to v3.2 with some 4.0 extensions) instead of plain text in any graphical control that displays text (e.g. TITLE property).
- Displaying graphical controls in grid cells.
- Allowing users to sort a grid by clicking on column headings, or drag-and-drop grid columns to move them with a simple one-line code change.
- Utilizing LM-SCALE layout-manager to automatically adjust application appearance for different screen resolutions and resized windows.
- Allowing users to rename items in-place, similar to how items are renamed in Windows Explorer, using Tree-view control.
- Adding bitmap images for automatic mouse-rollover functionality in push-button, radio-button and check-box controls.
- Displaying animated GIF files.
- Displaying bitmap images in menu-items and combo boxes.
- Providing hints on every control.
- Allowing the ability to combine text labels and images on check-boxes, push-buttons, and radio buttons.
The isCOBOL Compiler produces true Java classes, so there is no interoperability layer or additional mechanism needed between isCOBOL and Java components. And the isCOBOL Compiler naturally supports Object-Oriented COBOL. This means
that COBOL programs can use objects written in the Java language, and also create objects that can be used by Java programmers as if those objects were written using the Java language.
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...We can now provide our software on any platform that supports the Java Runtime Environment – meaning more flexibility for traditional desktop deployment models, as well as the possibility of delivering enhanced thin client and Web 2.0 distributions down the road..."
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Rolf Ahlrichs, programmer, HAY Computing
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