This file contains information that became available too late for inclusion in the publications or the online help. This file also contains important support information.
Third Party Components' names and license terms are referenced in license.txt, located in the directory where you installed Host On-Demand.
For the latest information, visit the US or Japanese Host On-Demand home page.
For product documentation, step-by-step tutorials, white papers, redbooks, links to important Web sites, and a PDF library with easy-to-print documents, visit the online Host On-Demand Information Center.
For hints and tips and other support, visit the Host On-Demand support page.
For a list of APARs fixed in this release, please refer to the file apars.txt. The location of this file depends on the form in which you received this release:
The Host On-Demand server now supports the following recently released versions of WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Portal:
Version of Host On-Demand required: | Product version supported: |
---|---|
Host On-Demand Version 8.0.1a or above | IBM WebSphere Application Server, V5.0.2 for iSeries |
Host On-Demand Version 8.0.1 or above |
IBM WebSphere Portal 5.0
You can download sample portlets for Host On-Demand from the Host On-Demand Service Key site at: http://www6.software.ibm.com/aim/home.html |
The Host On-Demand client now supports the following recently released versions of browsers and Java 2 plug-ins:
Version of Host On-Demand required: | Product version supported: |
---|---|
Host On-Demand Version 8.0.1 or above | Mozilla 1.3.1 |
Host On-Demand Version 8.0.1b or above | Netscape 7.1 |
Host On-Demand Version 8.0.1a or above | IBM 32-bit Runtime Environment for Java 2, v.1.4.1 SR1 for Microsoft Windows |
On the Connection > Backup Servers window of session properties, there is a new 'Timeout if no host data is received at session initialization' option. Use this option to specify whether or not to time out the current session and attempt to connect to the next backup server in the event that the client successfully connects to the socket but the expected data is not received from the host. The number of seconds that the Host On-Demand client will wait is the value that you specify on the Connection > Advanced window of session properties in the Connection Timeout (seconds) field. If this value is the default (0), the client will not time out. This option is available for 3270 or 5250 display and 3270 print sessions only.
The default value is No.
Host On-Demand J2EE Connector has added the following new property for the J2HOD3270ManagedConnectionFactory and J2HOD5250ManagedConnectionFactory classes:
Property name: CustomTable
Expected input: Name of Custom Table file
Description: Use this property to specify the name of a Custom Table file that contains a character conversion table.
For example, consider a file called customtable.tbl that contains the following content:
sbcs.display.0xc9=0x69 sbcs.display.0xc2=0x62 sbcs.display.0xd4=0x6d
This file converts 'I to 'i', 'B' to 'b', and 'M' to 'm'. Once you specify the name of this file in the CustomTable property, users will no longer see 'IBM' on their host but instead 'ibm'. Keep in mind that any applications that use these strings to recognize host screens may need to be updated.
You must place CustomTable files in the user directory (System.getProperty("user.dir")). Using WebSphere Application Server, however, you must place the files in the base installation directory, for example, C:\WAS. To find the location of the user directory, set the trace level to 3 and specify the file name. You should see a log similar to the following:
User Directory = C:\WAS CustomTable file = customtable.tbl Place the CustomTable file in the User Directory.The J2HOD3270ManagedConnectionFactory and J2HOD5250ManagedConnectionFactory classes now have the following methods:
public String getCustomTable(); //returns the CustomTable file name public void setCustomTable(String); //sets CustomTable file name
Note that the current version of WSAD-IE does not have this property supported in its wizard.
Name: WebStartDesktop
Values:
Name: AutoStartHLLBridge
Values: Possible values include a list of session names to which you want to apply this parameter.
The session names should be separated with commas, for example:
3270 Display, 5250 Display, ralvm17
Description: This HTML parameter allows you to use the HLLAPI Bridge and an additional Auto-Start applet at the same time. Using this parameter means that you no longer need to specify the HLLAPIEnabler class on the Start Options window of session properties. Instead, you can use this window to specify an additional Auto-Start applet.
Name: Disable
Values:
Disable
parameter twice, once with each parameter.
Instead, specify the Disable
parameter once
and specify its value as the following: lum;MacroRecordPassword
The lum
value disables
license use counting and reporting for the
particular HTML file.
By default, the Host On-Demand client sends a report to the
configuration server when a session is launched
and periodically while the session is open.
(The client requires
direct port access to the configuration server for its reporting.)
The Host On-Demand server uses the reports to maintain a count
of connected clients.
If you specify the lum
value for the
Disable
parameter, then
the Host On-Demand client does not send these reports.
The MacroRecordPassword
value controls how
Host On-Demand records a input key sequence typed into
a 3270 or 5250 non-display input field during macro recording.
A non-display input field is a 3270 or 5250 field
that does not display characters when you type into it.
Typically a non-display input field
is used for entering confidential information such as a password.
MacroRecordPassword
value
for the Disable
parameter,
then during macro recording,
when the user types an input key sequence into a 3270 or 5250
non-display input field,
Host On-Demand discards the input key sequence
and creates a Prompt action in the recorded macro script instead of an Input action.
During macro playback, when Host On-Demand processes the Prompt action,
Host On-Demand prompts the user for the input key sequence.
Having MacroRecordPassword enabled during macro recording has the advantage that during macro playback Host On-Demand processes the Input action automatically without the end user having to intervene. However, there is a security exposure, because if an unauthorized person gets access to the macro script, then the unauthorized person can discover the input key sequence by viewing the macro script with a text editor or by editing the Input action with the Macro Editor.
Having MacroRecordPassword disabled during macro recording is much more secure, because the input key sequence is not stored in the macro script. However, the end user must intervene to provide the input key sequence during macro playback when Host On-Demand processes the Prompt action.
Name: PreserveAppendEOFChar
Value: yes
Description:
This HTML parameter
applies to 3270 Display sessions and 5250 Display sessions.
If you specify this parameter with a value of yes, then Host On-Demand
preserves an EOF character (x'1A') at the end of a file
to which a downloaded file is being appended,
by moving the EOF character to a position immediately after the appended data.
This HTML parameter is used in the following circumstances:
Normally, when PreserveAppendEOFChar is not specified (this is the default situation) or is set to no (same effect as default situation), then Host On-Demand:
But if you specify PreserveAppendEOFChar with a value of yes, then Host On-Demand:
For more information see the tables in Treatment of EOF character (x'1A') during file download in Text mode .
Name: RemoveEOFChar
Value: yes
Description:
When this HTML parameter is set to yes, it applies only to 3270 Display sessions.
If you specify this parameter with a value of yes,
then for 3270 Display sessions only, Host On-Demand
deletes an EOF character (x'1A')
from the end of a file being downloaded and,
if APPEND is specified in the Receive Text Options,
also deletes x'1A' from the end of the
existing file being appended to.
This HTML parameter is used in the following circumstances:
Normally, when RemoveEOFChar is not specified (this is the default situation) or is set to no (same effect as default situation), then for both 3270 Display sessions and 5250 Display sessions, Host On-Demand does not delete x'1A' when it occurs as the last character of a file being downloaded.
But if you specify RemoveEOFChar with a value of yes, then for 3270 Display sessions only, Host On-Demand takes the following actions:
For more information see the tables in Treatment of EOF character (x'1A') during file download in Text mode .
During a file download, when the Transfer Mode is Text, three options control how Host On-Demand treats the ASCII EOF character (x'1A'):
The EOF character (x'1A') can occur as the last character of two files:
The following list describes the effect of each option briefly. However, you should consult the two tables further below to determine the exact outcome of specifying each option.
The following two tables describe how these options operate for each combination of settings. In the tables:
ffff
signifies the existing file being appended to.
dddd
signifies the file being downloaded.
+
signifies an append.
==>
signifies "results in".
The first table describes situations in which APPEND is not specified:
Remove- EOFChar | Preserve- Append- EOFChar | Action Taken: |
---|---|---|
no | (Not applicable here because APPEND is not specified.) |
Applies to: 3270 Display session, 5250 Display session.
Here RemoveEOFChar is not specified (or is set to no). This is the default situation. If the last character of the file being downloaded is x'1A', then Host On-Demand does not remove it.
dddd ==> dddd
dddd@ ==> dddd@
|
yes | (Not applicable here because APPEND is not specified.) |
Applies to: 3270 Display session only.
Here RemoveEOFChar is specified and set to yes. x'1A' at the end of the downloaded file is deleted.
dddd ==> dddd (3270 Display session only)
dddd@ ==> dddd (3270 Display session only)
|
The second table describes situations in which APPEND is specified:
Remove- EOFChar | Preserve- Append- EOFChar | Action Taken: |
---|---|---|
no | no |
Applies to: 3270 Display session, 5250 Display session.
Both parameters are not specified (or are set to no). This is the default situation. -- x'1A' at the end of the downloaded file is not deleted. -- x'1A' at the end of the appended to file is deleted but not added back after appended data.
ffff + dddd ==> ffffdddd
ffff + dddd@ ==> ffffdddd@
ffff@ + dddd ==> ffffdddd
ffff@ + dddd@ ==> ffffdddd@
|
no | yes |
Applies to: 3270 Display session, 5250 Display session.
Here RemoveEOFChar is not specified (or is set to no)
and PreserveAppendEOFChar is specified and set to yes.
-- x'1A' at the end of the downloaded file is not deleted. -- x'1A' at the end of the appended to file is deleted and then added back after the appended data. -- A maximum of one @ is retained at the end.
ffff + dddd ==> ffffdddd
ffff + dddd@ ==> ffffdddd@
ffff@ + dddd ==> ffffdddd@
ffff@ + dddd@ ==> ffffdddd@
|
yes | yes or no |
Applies to: 3270 Display session and 5250 Display session.
Here RemoveEOFChar is specified and set to yes,
while PreserveAppendEOFChar can be either specified and set to yes or
not specified at all (or set to no).
5250 Display session: No effect. That is, for a 5250 Display session, the effect is the same as if RemoveEOFChar were not specified (or were set to no). See the other two rows of this table for the results. 3270 Display session: Host On-Demand disregards the value of PreserveAppendEOFChar and takes the following actions: -- x'1A' at the end of the downloaded file is deleted. -- x'1A' at the end of the appended to file is deleted.
ffff + dddd ==> ffffdddd (3270 Display only)
ffff + dddd@ ==> ffffdddd (3270 Display only)
ffff@ + dddd ==> ffffdddd (3270 Display only)
ffff@ + dddd@ ==> ffffdddd (3270 Display only)
|
The ANSI color attribute settings are listed under the heading ANSI Attributes on the left side of the Color section of the VT Display configuration window.
Typically, you would not change the settings of these ANSI Attributes. The reason is that these ANSI Attributes do not affect the default colors with which Host On-Demand displays the text in the VT session window. (The default colors are controlled by the Normal selection under the Base Color heading.)
However, you would typically change the setting of one of these ANSI attributes under the following circumstances:
The ANSI color command sets either a foreground color or a background color for text. The list below shows the colors that can be set by the ANSI color command:
By default, if Host On-Demand receives an ANSI color command, it displays the foreground or background color of subsequent text using the color named in the command. For example, if the VT host application sends the ANSI color command "Set background color to White", then by default Host On-Demand uses white to display the text background. Similarly, if the VT host application sends the command "Set foreground color to Blue", then by default Host On-Demand uses blue to display text characters.
However, you can customize your Host On-Demand VT session to have Host On-Demand display a different color than the color named in the ANSI color command. To have Host On-Demand display a different color, follow these steps:
The standard replacement colors shown in the drop-down lists are:
If you prefer some other color, click the color icon at the right of the Foreground color drop-down list or the Background color drop-down list and select from a wide selection of colors, or create a custom color.
Remember that some VT hosts and applications do not send ANSI color commands. When you customize a VT session to display a custom color (such as Dark Turquoise) in response to an ANSI color command (such as "Set foreground color to Blue"), the color in your VT session window does not change unless and until the VT host application sends the appropriate ANSI color command.
Host On-Demand does not support the following options of the ANSI color command:
Web Express Logon now offers two optional Digital Certificate Access Server (DCAS) and Vault parameters to accomodate SQL applications that do not support the lcase() method when making SQL queries to the Host Credential Mapper (HCM) database. When set to false (the default), the DCAS and Vault plug-ins convert the application ID and network ID of the user to lowercase characters and uses the lcase() method to make SQL queries to the HCM database. When set to true, the character conversion does not take place and the lcase() method is not used.
On the Start Options window of session properties, session ID value options now include Automatic (the default) or any letter of the English alphabet.
If the value is Automatic, Host On-Demand automatically assigns a letter to the session in alphabetical order, and, if Start Automatically is set to Yes, starts sessions in the order they are created.
If you specify a letter value for the session, Host On-Demand assigns that letter to the session. However, if that letter is already being used by another session and you attempt to open a duplicate session, either from the Host On-Demand desktop or by selecting 'Run the Same' from the started session, you will get an error message stating that the session is a duplicate session.
The exact behavior of these two session ID options depends on whether or not your sessions are configured to use HLLAPIEnabler. If your sessions are not configured to use HLLAPIEnabler, the session ID rules will apply only to sessions that are opened within that same browser. However, if your sessions are configured to use HLLAPIEnabler, the session ID rules will apply across browsers for all sessions that are configured to use the bridge.
For example, if you configure your sessions to use HLLAPIEnabler and start two sessions in separate browsers while no other sessions are currently running, consider the resulting behavior:
For the HTML and Combined models, users can rearrange icons on the Host On-Demand desktop back to the default order set by the administrator by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop and selecting Reset All.
The OIA is the area at the bottom of the host session screen where session indicators and messages appear. Session indicators show information about the workstation, host system, and connectivity. For a list of session indicators, refer to Understanding the OIA in the Host On-Demand Troubleshooting Guide.
Since a screen reader cannot interpret the graphical symbols used on a session's OIA, the Alternate Terminal now offers you the option to display a textual OIA. The textual OIA interprets the graphical symbols and displays them as text that a screen reader can interpret and read. It is designed so that you can tab (using Ctrl+Tab) to the textual OIA field from the green screen without erasing the memory location of the cursor position. Shift+Tab returns focus from the textual OIA back to cursor position in the host session. For example, if you want to know your current cursor position on the green screen and diagnose possible problems with the session, you can simply tab to the textual OIA, and a screen reader will read the text that is located in the texual OIA field. Once you are ready to return to the green screen, you can simply press Shift+Tab to return to the session.
The textual OIA is a series of rows that contain strings of text. You can navigate in the textual OIA by using the up and down arrows on the keyboard. When you log on to a session, the initial rows of text describe the default values of the OIA fields for that session. As you perform actions on the screen and move the cursor, the textual OIA updates the sentences to describe the current activity on the screen. The textual OIA represents the current status of the OIA, not a running history of the OIA.
The textual OIA is located just below the graphical OIA on the session screen and can be enabled from the following three locations:
When users select to display the textual OIA in the View menu, the option remains selected even after users close and restart the session. Users can select to view both the graphical OIA and the texual OIA, either the textual OIA or the graphical OIA, or neither the graphical OIA nor the textual OIA.
In Virtual Terminal (VT) sessions, users can add sentences to the textual OIA. Since Host On-Demand has no control over what users add, screen readers may or may not be able to read the these sentences.
You can now use the keyboard to navigate the Alternate Terminal color remap window. In addition, there is a visual indicator when an object on the Alternate Terminal color remap window has focus. Users who want to take advantage of these accessibility features must have Java 1.4, which is a specific version of the Java 2 platform. These features are available on the Windows platform.
There is a known conflict with the IBM 1.4.1 Java 2 plug-in and Java Web Start. This problem should be resolved in the first service release of the IBM 1.4.1 Java 2 plug-in.
When configuring 5250 sessions, you can input new wildcard combinations in the Workstation ID field that allow the Host On-Demand client to automatically generate more ID variations for winning connection acceptance from the host. This decreases the time required for session connection, as it decreases the number of times the host must reissue a request to the client for valid Workstation ID.
The wildcard character is [=]. It can be input multiple times in the Workstation ID field (located in the session properties Connection window), in any combination with other alphanumeric characters. (For example: N=A=M=E, NAME==, etc.) With each use of the wildcard, you decrease the likelihood of generating a Workstation ID already claimed by another session:
For example:
Given the input of NA=ME for Workstation ID, the one [=] can trigger generation of 36 unique IDs that use the alphanumeric characters specified (N, A, M, E). Adding a second [=] can trigger generation of approximately 1296 unique IDs, etc.
For information you can use as a guide to estimate the load capacity of the Host On-Demand 8 Redirector, visit the Host On-Demand 8 InfoCenter.
If Host On-Demand is running using Java 2, and you select a button from the toolbar or macro manager that is only partially displayed in the view, it might not process the selected function. In this case, you should scroll or tab the button into full view and then reselect the button. The button should now function correctly.
This section also appears in the Planning, Installing, and Configuring Host On-Demand guide, however, the examples have been corrected.
When users open their sessions, they can use the Play Macro or the Available Macros windows to see a list of the macros in the directory. These macros are available when users select Server library as their macro location. The Server library location is only available if you have configured the session to use a server macro library.
You can use DWunzip to unzip Deployment Wizard zip files into any directory. It is not limited to unzipping files only to the Host On-Demand publish directory. Copy the Deployment Wizard zip file to the directory where you want to unzip it, update the DWunzip command to point to that directory, and launch the command.
For the most current Smart Card information, see Technotes on the Host On-Demand support page.
The Programmer's Guide for the AS/400 Toolbox for Java is located on the Toolkit CD in the as400 directory. The guide is available in zip files for the following languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Russian.
Host On-Demand customers who use the zSeries platform might want to use the following two tools to remove the ASCII file extension from their Host On-Demand HTML, TXT, JS, PROPS, and PROPERTIES files. Typical customers who might benefit from these tools are those who serve Host On-Demand through IBM WebSphere Application Server.
The first tool is a shell script called hodAscii.sh, which can be found in the Host On-Demand product samples S390 directory, for example, usr/lpp/HOD/hostondemand/lib/samples/zSeries. This script removes the ASCII file extension from all files that are included in the Host On-Demand publish directory and subdirectories. Note that you might need to update your Web server's Pass directives to reflect the changed file extensions. Optionally, this script can also remove the ASCII extension from Deployment Wizard files that are located in a separate user publish directory. The script has an undo feature that allows users to reappend the ASCII extension.
The second tool is an enhancement to the DWunzip-S390 utility, which can be found in the Host On-Demand product samples directory in DWunzipCommandFiles folder. The DWunzip tool unzips a Deployment Wizard zip file, places the files into the appropriate directories, appends the ASCII file extensions, and sets files permissions and ownerships on the files and directories. The enhancement allows you to choose whether or not you want to append the ASCII extension to the files. You can set this option inside the DWunzip-S390 script with an environment variable called ADD_ASCII_EXTENSION.
The CICS function in Host On-Demand can only be used with the CICS Transaction Gateway v5.01 or later.
If you use the Apache 2.0.x Web server, you might experience problems when viewing HTML files provided by Host On-Demand in some languages. If the file does not display correctly, try changing or commenting out the following line in httpd.conf, located in the Web server's conf directory:
When using FTP through an HTTP Proxy, be aware that some HTTP proxies now include a configuration parameter called AllowCONNECT. This parameter lists the ports through which the HTTP Proxy allows outgoing connections when an HTTP CONNECT command is received. When you FTP through an HTTP Proxy, the FTP process uses passive mode. In passive mode, after the initial FTP connection, the FTP process receives a port number from the FTP server. The FTP server wants the client to use this port number when establishing a second connection, the data connection, to the FTP server. If this port number is not in the AllowCONNECT port list in the HTTP Proxy configuration, then the proxy does not allow the second connection to be established with the FTP server. Some FTP servers, as part of their configurations, allow the ports returned to the client to be restricted to a certain range. In this case, you must add all the port numbers within the range to the AllowCONNECT HTTP Proxy directive for the FTP session to connect through the HTTP Proxy.
Bidirectional Edit Options are now available from the Edit > Preferences > Edit menu. See Understanding bidirectional language support for more information.
The following options are now available for 3270 Printer Session and ZipPrint:
When recording a Web Express Logon macro, the checkbox for Field Count may disappear on the Wait Conditions window. To resolve this, either click the words 'Field Count' to make the checkbox reappear or upgrade to IBM JRE Version 1.4.1, which is available on the IBM Software Internet Service Delivery site at http://www6.software.ibm.com/aim/home.html.
The Web Express Logon Reference describes how to deploy a WAR file in a WebSphere Application Server environment. If you are planning to enable Java 2 security in this environment, the Credential Mapper Servlet (CMS) or Host Credential Mapper plug-in may fail to run due to inadequate Java security permissions, which are defined in the was.policy file. This happens because when the WAR file is deployed, WebSphere Application Server uses the default was.policy file instead of the was.policy file supplied with Host On-Demand. To resolve this, do one of the following:
If you use Host On-Demand's Web Express Logon feature with z/OS V1R4 or z/OS V1R5 and Digitial Certificate Access Server (DCAS), and the specified certificates contain an 'empty string value' in the organization unit (OU) field (for example, cn=Tom Jones,ou=,o=IBM,c=US), apply System Secure Socket Layer's APAR OA04226 (UA04423) to avoid an ABEND0C4 when a client attempts to connect.
When using the Sun JRE 1.4.0, you might encounter the following error message when running a Web Express Logon macro for the first time:
If you run the macro again, it should work correctly, and continue to work until you close the 3270 session window.
To avoid this problem, migrate to a later level (1.4.1) of the Sun JRE. You can also use IBM JRE 1.4.0, which you can download from the IBM Host On-Demand Server (HODMain.html).
For information you can use as a guide to estimate the load capacity of the Host On-Demand 8 Redirector, visit the Host On-Demand 8 InfoCenter.
On Windows with the Turkish locale, Host On-Demand signed applets run without security permissions with IBM JRE 1.4.0. To avoid this problem, you should install IBM JRE 1.4.1 or Sun JRE 1.4.1. The IBM JRE 1.4.1 is available for download from the service key Web site at http://www6.software.ibm.com/aim/home.html.
If the Wrap option is set to false (the default setting), then the macro runtime searches each row of the rectangular area separately. This method works well when the entire string is contained within one row. For example, if the string is Utility Selection Panel and the rectangular area is (1,1), (24,80), then the macro runtime searches for the string as follows:
In contrast, if the Wrap option is set to true then the macro runtime searches for the string as follows:
If the string you are searching for can wrap from one line of the session window to the next, then you should set the Wrap option to true. Do not confuse this option with the Unwrap attribute of the Extract action, which is based on fields rather than blocks of text. For more information, refer to Unwrap Text option in the Macro Programming Guide.
The following description provides an example in which the Wrap option is set to true.
6 Hardcopy Initiate hardcopy output 7 Transfer Download ISPF Client/Server or Transfer data set 8 Outlist Display, delete, or print held job output 9 Commands Create/change an application command table * Reserved This option reserved for future expansion
In the rows above, the first character of each row is a blank space. For example, in row 14, the the first two characters are ' 6', that is, a blank space followed by the numeral 6. Suppose that you want to set up a String descriptor that checks for the following rectangular block of text on this application screen:
Hardcopy Transfer Outlist Commands Reserved
The steps in setting up the String descriptor for this multi-row block are as follows:
'HardcopyTransferOutlist CommandsReserved'
Notice that in step 3 above the five rows are concatenated as a single string, without any filler characters added (such as a newline or space at the end). However, the string does contain a blank space after 'Outlist' because that blank space does fall within the boundaries of the rectangle.
In May 2001, an efficiency enhancement called Contention Resolution was introduced to the Telnet protocol 3270E. Several bugs persist in its implementation, however; the IETF has not yet issued fixes for all of them.
If you determine that server-side Contention Resolution bugs cause connectivity issues in your Host On-Demand environment, you can now disable Contention Resolution for TN3270E sessions. Set either the following HTML parameter or Session Bean property to a value of false:
HTML parameter (Deployment Wizard Advanced Options window):Name: NegotiateCResolution Value: true; any value other than true is interpreted as falseSession Bean property name (for use with Host Access Toolkit APIs):
Name: negotiateCResolution Value: true or falseThe default value for either parameter or property is true, which enables Contention Resolution.
Stop the Host On-Demand Service Manager on Windows 98 and Windows Millennium before you migrate from an earlier version of the Host On-Demand local client to the Host On-Demand 8 local client.
If the Deployment Wizard is installed on a Simplified Chinese workstation, it is unable to edit HTML files created with the Host On-Demand 8 Deployment Wizard. For more information on the problem, search the Host On-Demand Hints & Tips for Reference Number 1116143.
Java and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both.
Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.
Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.