Information about planning, configuring and managing a CICS® Web support
architecture, and writing application programs and utility programs for CICS Web
support.
Configuring CICS Web support base components
The base components of CICS Web support are needed for all CICS Web
support tasks. You need to configure these before starting to work with CICS Web
support.
Writing Web-aware application programs for CICS as an HTTP server
In CICS, Web-aware application programs are programs
that use EXEC CICS WEB commands to interact with
a Web client or a server through CICS.
For CICS as an HTTP server, these programs can receive
and analyze HTTP requests and provide application-generated responses
to the Web client.
Administering CICS Web support
When you have configured CICS to perform a variety of CICS Web support
tasks, and started to respond to requests from Web clients, you might need
to carry out some administrative activities to manage your CICS Web support
structure and to provide appropriate handling for requests if a resource is
unavailable.
Web error program
When a request error or an abend occurs in the CICS Web
support process, a user-replaceable Web error program provides an
error response to the Web client.
Analyzer programs
Analyzer programs are associated with TCPIPSERVICE definitions.
Their primary role is to interpret an HTTP request if a URIMAP definition
specifies the use of an analyzer program, or if no URIMAP definition is present.
Converter programs
Converter programs are primarily for use with application
programs that were not originally coded for use with the Web. They
can also be used to combine output from several application programs
into a single HTTP message.
Security for CICS Web support
When CICS is
connected to the Internet, security measures are essential to prevent unauthorized
access to CICS applications
and data, and also to prevent third parties obtaining private information
that is sent over the Internet.
HTTP client requests from a CICS application
CICS can act as an HTTP client, and communicate
with an HTTP server on the Internet. A user-written application program
sends requests through CICS to the HTTP server, and receives
the responses from it.
CICS Web support and non-HTTP requests
You can use CICS Web support to process inbound TCP/IP client requests
which are not in the HTTP format. In CICS Transaction Server for z/OS®, Version 3 Release 1,
this facility is primarily intended to provide support for requests from user-written
clients that use nonstandard request formats. The processing that takes place
for requests, and the response that is provided, are defined by the user.
No specific support is provided for any formally defined protocols which are
used for client-server communication.
CICS Web support and 3270 display applications
When a 3270 transaction is accessed by a Web client, CICS can display
the output as an HTML form. Use the variants of the Web Terminal Translation
Application (DFHWBTTA, DFHWBTTB or DFHWBTTC) to provide Web clients with access
to applications that were originally designed to use the 3270 display system.