What you need to know to develop and deploy CICS Java applications
using the CICS Explorer.
Developing applications using the CICS Explorer SDK
The CICS Explorer Software Development Kit (SDK) provides
an environment for developing and deploying Java applications in CICS,
including support for OSGi.
Setting up the target environment
Before you start to develop your application,
you must set up a target definition in Eclipse for the earliest level
of CICS your application runs in. A target definition consists of
a set of plug-ins and environment settings, for example, JCICS API,
JRE and any custom APIs you might use.
Creating a plug-in project
You create your CICS® Java application as an Eclipse plug-in
project that complies with the OSGi specification. The OSGi Service
Platform provides a mechanism for developing applications by using
a component model and deploying those applications into a framework
as OSGi bundles.
Updating the plug-in project manifest file
When you have developed a new JCICS application,
or you have packaged an existing application in a plug-in project,
you must update the project manifest file and include a CICS-MainClass
declaration.
Creating a CICS bundle project
A CICS bundle project
is the unit of deployment for an application in CICS. A bundle is a collection of CICS resources, artifacts, references, and a
manifest file that you can deploy into a CICS region to represent all or part of an application.
Adding a plug-in to a CICS bundle project
When you create a CICS bundle
project, the project contains only a manifest file and a properties
file. You must add details of any CICS plug-ins
that you want to include in the bundle before you deploy everything
to zFS.
The JCICS samples
CICS provides samples that show you how to use
the JCICS classes, how to combine Java programs
with CICS programs written in other languages, and how to include
the programs in a CICS bundle project.
Packaging existing applications to run in a JVM server
If you are running Java applications in pooled
JVMs, you can move them to run in a JVM server. Because a JVM server
can handle multiple requests for Java applications in the same JVM,
you can reduce the number of JVMs that are required to run the same
workload.
Deploying a CICS bundle
You can deploy a CICS bundle
by exporting it directly to a z/OS® UNIX System Services (z/OS UNIX)
file system from CICS Explorer®.
Use a BUNDLE resource to locate the bundle in zFS and dynamically
create the resources from the bundle in the CICS region.
Deploying a CICS non-OSGi Java application
The Java applications
are included in a CICS bundle
and can be deployed directly to a z/OS UNIX System Services (z/OS UNIX)
file system from CICS Explorer.
The exported bundle includes the application JAR files that are used
by CICS.
Enabling a Java security manager
By default, Java applications have no security restrictions
placed on activities requested of the Java API. To use Java security
to protect a Java application from performing potentially unsafe actions,
you can enable a security manager for the JVM in which the application
runs.
Exporting a CICS bundle project to your local file system
If you do not have authorization to deploy a bundle directly
to a z/OS file system, or you
want to backup your bundle source code, you can export the bundle
project to your local file system. and then transfer the exported
archive file to your z/OS UNIX file system, source code repository,
or to another user.
Installing OSGi bundles in a JVM server
To deploy a Java application
in a JVM server, you must install the OSGi bundles for the application
in the OSGi framework of the target JVM server.