Getting started with the JCICS examples

The CICS Explorer® SDK contains the JCICS examples to help you start developing Java applications for CICS.

About this task

The JCICS examples are packaged as a set of OSGi bundles that you can import into an Eclipse plug-in project to view the Java source code. You can also use the context help to look up the Javadoc explanations for the methods that are used in the code.

Procedure

  1. In the Eclipse IDE, open the Java perspective.
  2. To create a new example plug-in project, open the New Example wizard using one of the following choices:
    • In the Eclipse menu bar, click File > New > Example.
    • Click the down arrow on the New Wizard icon and click Example.
    • In the Project Explorer view, right-click and click New > Example.
  3. In the CICS Java folder, select CICS Hello Examples and click Next.
    Screen capture showing the wizard with four examples available in the CICS Java folder.
    • The CICS API examples demonstrate how to use transient data queues, temporary storage queues, and channels and COMMAREAs in Java programs.
    • The CICS application bundle example demonstrates how to create a CICS bundle to deploy to CICS.
    • The CICS hello examples demonstrate two ways to do a simple Hello World test in CICS.
    • The CICS web example demonstrates how to use classes to interact with a web browser.
  4. In the Project name field enter a name for the new project. By default, Eclipse creates a name that is the folder location of the examples in the workspace, followed by the example name. For example, the default project name for the Hello World example is com.ibm.cics.server.examples.hello.
  5. Click Finish. Eclipse creates the plug-in project containing the JCICS Hello World example as an OSGi bundle.
  6. Expand the project in the Package Explorer view.
    Screen capture of the Package Explorer view with the Hello World example project expanded.
    • The Plug-in Dependencies folder contains the dependencies for the OSGi bundle. In this example, the bundle has a dependency on the OSGi bundle that contains JCICS. This information is also captured in the manifest of the project.
    • The src folder contains the Java source for the examples. You can browse the source files to see the JCICS classes that are used and use the context help to look up a particular class. You can also open the Javadoc view to see the API details for the selected content, for example a method or class.
    • The META-INF folder contains the manifest for the project. The manifest contains the OSGi headers to describe the OSGi bundle.
  7. Create plug-in projects for the CICS API and CICS Web examples by using the New Example wizard. You can view the Java source to understand how the JCICS classes are used for working with programs and web applications.

Results

You have created three plug-in projects in Eclipse for the JCICS examples. These projects contain OSGi bundle packaging information, including plug-in dependencies and target Java environments.

What to do next

To run Java applications in CICS, you have to deploy the Java application in a CICS bundle project to zFS. You can try the deployment process using the JCICS examples, as described in Deploying the JCICS examples.