Welcome to WebFacing!
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With the IBM WebFacing tool in Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) toolkit, you can convert the user interface of your i5/OS business applications into a Web user interface. Your converted i5/OS DDS display file source members are deployed as a Web application that communicates with your original program logic when accessed from a browser. The development-time conversion of your DDS application allows you to further develop and customize your application interface and integrate it with new Web technologies.
We strongly recommend you follow all the steps below to quickly get started with WebFacing.
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Expand the topics below and click on related links to learn about WebFacing:
Create your first WebFacing project
Creating a project is the first step in developing with WebFacing.
-
Click here to launch the WebFacing Web Project wizard. This option is also available from the New Project wizard under the WebFacing category.
In this wizard, enter the name of the project, choose a style, select source members to convert, specify CL commands, and click Finish. For help on any fields inside the wizard, press F1. After the project has been created, you will be returned to the WebFacing perspective. The WebFacing Projects view lists your WebFacing projects and their artifacts. Source member conversion needs to be completed before testing your WebFacing project. If you accepted the default setting on the last page of the WebFacing Web Project wizard, to create the project without conversion, right-click your project and select Convert.
- Test your WebFacing project
by right-clicking on your project and selecting Debug As->Debug On Server
(
) or Run As->Run on Server(
).
You may have to specify which server to start.
This
built-in test environment
runs your project so that you can preview and
test it before deploying it.
- Starting with version 7.1, WebFacing is installed as a part of the Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) product. If you have purchased HATS licenses click here to launch the License Settings dialog. For more information see License settings for runtime enablement.
Congratulations, you have created and previewed your first project!
Work with WebFacing project resources
The WebFacing Projects view is by default located at the top left corner of the WebFacing perspective. This view contains all WebFacing projects. Folders under each project correspond to the selections you made in the creation wizard:
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CL Commands: you can right click and add more CL commands
- DDS and UIM Help: you can right-click and add more DDS or UIM source or convert the source
- Style: expand to see the current style of the project
Some folders or objects will have properties that you can edit.
If an object has specific properties defined, those properties will be
displayed in the Properties pane beneath
the WebFacing Projects pane. To edit the
properties for your project, right-click the icon for your project and
select Properties.
To see a file system view of your project, click the Navigator tab.
Customize your WebFacing application
You can customize the look and feel of your converted WebFacing applications a number of ways, including the following:
Please see
Customizing your WebFacing applications for other customization options.
Use System Screens and Dynamic Data Stream Transformation
Your WebFacing project continues to function in the Web browser even if it accesses an unconverted screen. This can include system screens and non-DDS screens, as well as unconverted DDS screens from other applications. Non-DDS screens and unconverted DDS screens are displayed using dynamic data stream transformation. You can selectively enable the WebFacing enabled system screens or dynamic data stream transformation in the project.
There are some differences between a pre-converted WebFacing application and an application that is dynamically rendered. For a list of these differences, refer to
WebFacing versus dynamic data stream transformation.
Learn about WebFacing Portal Support
WebFacing Portal support allows WebFacing applications to run on a Portal
Server or Portal Container such as WebSphere Portal Server. A portal is a Web
application with the framework to allow users to access multiple other
Web applications from a single Web page. Portals
allow users to view news headlines,
e-mail, and stock quotes, all from one coherent-looking page. Each of
these Web applications must be wrapped within a particular interface
called a portlet.
The WebFacing tool allows you to create and test WebFacing portlets. Below you can find instruction on how to do this. Please note that
WebFacing Portal support is an optional installation with its own prerequisites. Please see the
HATS
Install Guide for more information.
If you have WebFacing portal support installed,
click here to launch the WebFacing Portlet Project wizard. Use the wizard pages to enter a name for your project and select a target runtime, choose a Web style, select DDS and UIM source members to convert, and specify the CL commands to invoke your application. On the last page of the wizard, choose the option to proceed with conversion, then click Finish to create the project.
Test your WebFacing Portlet project right clicking on your project and selecting Debug As->Debug On Server
(

) or Run As->Run on Server(

).
You have to specify a WebSphere Portal server as the server type.
This
built-in
test environment
runs your project so that you can preview and
test it before deploying it.
See
Differences between WebFacing portlet and Web projects for more information.
Interoperate with HATS and other Web applications
HATS
interoperability with WebFacing applications allows you to
perform development-time 5250 DDS conversion, as well as runtime 5250 data
stream transformation within the same Web enterprise application using a
single connection to a WebFacing server. This function is particularly useful
for those who have built a DDS source-based application using
WebFacing that needs to interact with a host application that has been
data-stream transformed using HATS.
To find out more about HATS
click
here to access HATS perspective, or view the
HATS information
center.
The
WebFacing Application Bridge feature introduced in version 7.1 allows your WebFacing and HATS applications to exchange data with other Web applications such as those written in EGL so that you can modernize your i5/OS applications even further.
See
WebFacing interoperability with HATS and other Web applications
for more information.
Explore WebFacing beyond basic functionality
Beyond WebFacing's basic functionality the tool also supports the following additional features:
Migrate WebFacing Projects
Migration is required most often because of updates to the
underlying technology from one release to another. For example, new
standards in Web application directory structure may require
reorganization of your projects. In general,
migration is straight-forward; simply right-click your unmigrated WebFacing project and select Migrate->WebFacing Project to bring up the WebFacing Migration wizard. Once the process is complete you can continue working with your updated projects in the new
version of WebFacing. In some special
cases related to customization, you might need to perform extra manual steps.
This information is documented as a part of
WebFacing migration
guide.
View
the library of online information for WebFacing
Access additional information to help you create and customize applications using WebFacing:
- Developing WebFacing Applications help topics
- What's new for 7.1
- Troubleshooting
- DDS Support table
- Readme and Certificate Management: available off the Start menu in the HATS program group
Visit these Web sites to search or browse for more information on support, hints and tips, updates, flashes, news, services, training, tutorials, white papers,
API reference, and newsgroups:
- IBM HATS Web site (http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/hats/index.html)
- HATS V7.1 Information Center (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/hatshelp/v71/index.jsp)
- IBM Education Assistant (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/ieduasst/v1r1m0/index.jsp)
- IBM Support Assistant (http://www.ibm.com/software/support/isa/)
(click here
for information on installing the HATS plugin)
- WebFacing
newsgroup news(news://news.software.ibm.com:119/ibm.software.websphere.studio400)
- WebFacing tool PTFs (http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27002213)
If you are new to the IBM Software Development Platform (SDP), you may want to peruse the SDP online help to learn how to work and navigate in the workbench
environment.