Changes to the application programming interface (HTTP/1.1 support)

New and changed commands

The following EXEC CICS WEB commands are enhanced when used by CICS® as an HTTP server:
  • EXEC CICS WEB SEND
  • EXEC CICS WEB RECEIVE
CICS Web support is designed to allow Web-aware application programs that used these commands before CICS Transaction Server for z/OS®, Version 3 Release 1 to work unchanged, until you choose to migrate them to take advantage of the enhancements that are now available.
The options that were available on the WEB SEND command before CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 3 Release 1 are CLNTCODEPAGE, DOCTOKEN, LENGTH, STATUSCODE and STATUSTEXT. In CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 3 Release 1:
  • The name and function of the options DOCTOKEN, STATUSCODE and STATUSTEXT is unchanged.
  • The options CLNTCODEPAGE and LENGTH are supported for migration purposes only, and their function is replaced by the new options CHARACTERSET and STATUSLEN respectively.
  • Some new options are available for enhanced functionality.
The options that were available on the WEB RECEIVE command before CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 3 Release 1 are CLNTCODEPAGE, HOSTCODEPAGE,INTO, LENGTH, MAXLENGTH, NOTRUNCATE, SET, and TYPE. In CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 3 Release 1:
  • The name and function of the options INTO, LENGTH, MAXLENGTH, NOTRUNCATE, SET, and TYPE is unchanged.
  • The option HOSTCODEPAGE can still be used, but it is no longer required, and CICS can provide a default if it is not specified.
  • The option CLNTCODEPAGE is supported for migration purposes only, and its function is replaced by the new option CHARACTERSET.
  • Some new options are available for enhanced functionality.

The EXEC CICS WEB SEND and WEB RECEIVE commands also have a new range of options when used by CICS as an HTTP client, which is described in Changes to the application programming interface (HTTP client requests).

The following EXEC CICS commands are provided or enhanced for both CICS as an HTTP server, and CICS as an HTTP client:
  • EXEC CICS WEB PARSE URL
  • EXEC CICS WEB EXTRACT
  • EXEC CICS CONVERTTIME
  • EXEC CICS FORMATTIME
These commands are described in Changes to the application programming interface (General CICS Web support enhancements).
A new MAXDATALEN option is added to the EXTRACT TCPIP command:
MAXDATALEN(data-area)
specifies a fullword binary field to contain the setting for the maximum length of data that can be received by CICS as an HTTP server.