How to launch TN5250J emulation

[pixerp]

Most of our customers are running their LOB applications on IBM AS/400. We want to integrate those programs with the new web apps to be developped with Aware IM ...

TN5250J is the emulator that we can launch thru Java WebStart wtih jnlp configuration files. We have done this in PHP.

Can you please tell us how we could best launch TN5250J from within AwareIM. We need to pass dynamic parameters ($progname, $parm1..).

Not familiar with Java, may I refer you to the following sites :

http://tn5250j.sourceforge.net/index.html
http://www.itjungle.com/fhg/fhg042005-story01.html

Thanks in advance.

[aware_support]

This can be easily done by plugging in a special servlet (as described in the second article) into Aware IM. The servlet has to be written in Java.

The rest is simple.
You should define a menu command that will go to the URL that is handled by this new servlet. Or you can use the URL from a form or you can write a process using DISPLAY URL action. Invoking this URL will start the emulator via Java Web Start.

If you have Java experts who can write such a servlet, we can provide guidance on how to plug-in the servlet into Aware IM. If you are not comfortable with Java we can write this servlet for you.

[pixerp]

As far as DISPLAY URL is concerned, see my post in the Problem section (Telephony integration).

The overall "picture" on my application is about integration, i.e. develop a web UI for each task a user will have to do (within a Business Process). The objective is that all information used (created) will be "linked" automatically with the BP/task instance.

E.g., you receive suppliers' invoices in the post. This is part of a Purchase BP with various tasks. Let's say you scan the documents into a shared folder, then a task will display the folder's file list to the user.
Double-click on one file will open both the task form instance and display the invoice in a separate window. In the form, you have a hyperlink to call your external application (TN5250J) and dynamically pass context parameters. For instance the filename of the document, which can then be stored in the ERP DB and later on displayed directly from within the ERP.

Consequently, starting Aware processes from the "self-service" Menu is not option as the user will have to pick the context each time.

What do you think ?

[aware_support]

In this case you can display a link in a form of some business object. The link can be specified inside an HTML cell of a form layout. The link can look like this:

<a target="_blank" href="updateEntity.do?actionMethod=startProcess&processName=NameOfProcess" >
Start Emulator
</a>

(see Aware IM User Guide "Links to Aware IM Operations" )

where NameOfProcess is the name of the business process that you will define. This process will have DISPLAY URL action that will transfer control to the emulator servlet.

The link will display an emulator in a separate window if you use target="_blank". You can also use "_top" or "_parent" targets if you want to display the emulator inside Aware IM frame or to replace the Aware IM frame altogether.

The advantage of this approach is that the instance of the business object whose form is being displayed is passed as context to the process. You can use this instance in the process to pass any parameters to the emulator. You can use not only attributes of this business object as context parameters but also attributes of any referenced objects.

So this is just the matter of designing the right business objects and displaying the link on a form of the appropriate object.

Does this answer your question or I am missing something?

[pixerp]

It seems to fit the requirement.

We don't have the skills to create the servlet. What would be your cost and delay ?

[aware_support]

Could you please e-mail your request to [email protected]?