Creating simple ZIETrans project

Introduction:

With HCL Z and I Emulator for Transformation (ZIETrans), we can create Web applications that provide an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) for your 3270 applications running on IBM® z Systems platforms and our 5250 applications running on IBM i operating system platforms.

ZIETrans applications can be given a modern appearance. ZIETrans Web applications can be developed with an interface that matches the company’s Web or portal pages, and users can access them through their Web browsers. ZIETrans Web applications can also be developed to provide access to the host applications from mobile devices such as cellular phones, data collection terminals, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

All of the steps in developing a ZIETrans application are performed using the Eclipse-based IBM® Rational® Software Delivery Platform (Rational SDP). The Rational SDP provides the user interface and integrated development environment (IDE) from which you launch wizards to create resources, view lists of resources, and use editors to modify resources.

When you start Rational SDP, you see a single window in which one or more perspectives are displayed. A perspective is a collection of views and editors that allow you to create, edit, view, and run resources which belong to a specific type of project–in this case a ZIETrans project. More than one perspective can be opened at a time, although you can view and work with only one at a time.

At the far right of the Rational SDP window, is a shortcut bar that allows you to open new perspectives and move between perspectives that are already open. The name of the active perspective appears in the title of the window, and the toolbar contains icons associated with the active perspective.

Starting ZIETrans Toolkit and perspective

The ZIETrans Toolkit can be started in two ways.

• Start Rational SDP from the Windows start menu and then open the ZIETrans perspective.
• Start ZIETrans Toolkit from the Windows start menu to start Rational SDP and automatically open the ZIETrans perspective.

The ZIETrans perspective includes two main areas:

• The ZIETrans Projects view, which lists your ZIETrans projects in an expandable tree view.
• The editor window, which initially contains the ZIETrans Welcome page. You will also use editors in this window to work with ZIETrans resources. Below and to the right of the editor are views that aid in editing resources in the editor.
• The Navigator view, which is a default view in Rational SDP, provides a hierarchical view of the resources in the workbench including project .ear files and other local artifacts. It also displays closed (or archived) ZIETrans projects that do not display in the ZIETrans Projects view. These closed projects can be re-opened by right-mouse clicking and selecting Open Project.

The first time you start the ZIETrans Toolkit, you will see a ZIETrans tip, welcoming you to ZIETrans and giving pointers about getting started. You can use the checkboxes on the tip windows to control which tips you see.

When you start Rational SDP, if the ZIETrans perspective does not appear, you can open the ZIETrans perspective by clicking Window > Open Perspective > Other and selecting Z and I Emulator for Transformation from the list of available perspectives. If you close or rearrange some of the windows in the ZIETrans perspective, your arrangement is saved when you exit. When you return to ZIETrans Toolkit, it will be restored to your last successfully saved exit configuration. To restore the original ZIETrans windows, click Window > Reset Perspective.

Creating a ZIETrans project

There are multiple ways of creating ZIETrans project (Follow the video link)

Begin on the Welcome page. If the Welcome page is not displayed, click the Open ZIETrans Welcome Page icon   on the main toolbar.

1. Expand the Create your first project section.
2. Click the link to launch the Create a Project wizard.
3. On the ZIETrans Project page:
4. 1. Type the name of the project you are creating.
   2. Type a description of the project. This is optional. You can keep notes here or use it however you want.
   3. Leave the Use default location checkbox selected.
   4. In the Deployment section select whether the project is for a Web application.
   5. Click Next.          

Note: If the Web deployment option is disabled, this indicates that no server runtimes are defined. To define server runtimes, go to Window > Preferences > Server > Installed Runtimes and add at least one runtime definition.

• • • Web
      • Select the target server you want to use for your application.
      • Supply a name to use for the Enterprise application (.ear file) project or take the default.
      • Leave the Optimize options for mobile devices checkbox cleared.
      • Leave the Add administration console support checkbox selected.

4. On the Connection Settings page:

1. Type the name of the Telnet server to use to access the host application. This can be a host name, a domain name (such as myhost.mycompany.com), an alias, or an IP address.
2. If your host application uses 3270 protocols, select the 3270 or 3270E connection type depending on the functions required by the application. For example, printing support requires the 3270E connection type. If your host application uses 5250 protocols, select the 5250 connection type if it is accessed through a 5250 Telnet server.
3. Select the port, code page and screen size.
4. Click Next.

5. On the Project Theme page, select the overall appearance and behavior you want for the application. You can select whether you want the application to appear and behave more like an emulator, more like a modern application, or a custom setting somewhere in between. Click Next.

6. On the Default Template page, all of the templates provided with ZIETrans are displayed. Choose one to use as a starting point for your project. Click Finish.

7. A progress bar displays as ZIETrans creates the project.

For more details, see the video on ‘Creating a Simple project on ZIETrans’ :

Contact us

For further information on Organizing Web Applications in HCL ZIE, automation capabilities and Lab services offerings, please write to:

ZIO@hcl.com

Mahua Chanda

Developer, Lab Services, HCL ZIE