5.41 AxesTerminalService
The AxesTerminalService is designed to permit a JSM client application to connect to and interact with an aXes Terminal Server to navigate, populate and interrogate IBM i 5250 screens. Using the AxesTerminalService, an application can interact directly with existing IBM i 5250 applications running on the same or a different server system. The application can issue commands to perform such operations as:
- connect (and logon) and disconnect the 5250 session
- interrogate the values of current screen identifiers and field values
- set the values of 5250 screen entry fields
- send function keys such as ENTER and F3
- perform multiple operations with a single command by using aXes terminal operation scripts
aXes is a separately licensed LANSA product that Web enables 5250 applications by dynamically transforming the 5250 data stream into a graphical interface for display in a Web browser.
The AxesTerminalService interacts with aXes to allow your application to drive the 5250 application via the HTTP protocol.
In general, if the existing 5250 application with which you seek to integrate has documented, published application program interfaces that provide the interaction you require, then using those APIs is probably the better option for integrating with it.
However, where that is not the case, being able to drive the 5250 screens may provide an expedient means to implement a level of integration with the application that may not otherwise be possible.
Before implementing such a solution you should understand its limitations and the extent to which you are prepared to accept them in the pursuit of expediency. Any application that seeks to interact with another application via its 5250 screens (by any means) assumes risks - for example, the 5250 application's screens may change or certain inputs provided may yield results that were not anticipated. These risks may manifest themselves as unanticipated and unhandled application failures and/or cost and difficulty of maintaining the solution. Such manifestations are not the fault of the tools (in this case aXes or the AxesTerminalService), but, rather, are inherent in the nature of the solution.
Notes:
1. The aXes Terminal Server is a separately licensed product. Additional software license fees apply.
2. A correctly installed, licensed and configured aXes Terminal Server that is network-accessible to the JSM client application is a necessary pre-requisite for using the AxesTerminalService.
3. The aXes Terminal Server (and hence the 5250 applications) do not have to reside on the same computer system that is executing the AxesTerminalService. For example your application may execute on a Windows server and drive a 5250 application on a separate IBM i server.
4. The AxesTerminalService is intended primarily for use with LANSA RDML or RDMLX client functions and components. If your client is coded in a 3GL language on Windows or IBM i servers, aXes provides separate APIs for those languages that may be a more appropriate solution.
Technical Specifications
The AxesTerminalService works with aXes version 2.1 and above.