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Web 8
Web 8 is the simplest and the
most performant solution for combining user-friendly
web browser presentation with access to enterprise data via TP8 :
• For application developers :
The familiar COBOL-oriented development environment is unchanged.
The TPR developer no longer has to worry about presentation.
Designers of Web pages create the application presentation.
• For the TP8 End User :
Easy access to TP8 with the same look and feel as any access to Web
resources.
• For the administrator :
Streamlined administration of a centralised infrastructure within the
GCOS 8 Data Center, thanks to the two-tier Web 8 client/server architecture.
• For the Chief Information Officer :
A straightforward, low-risk, low-cost method of opening the capabilities
of GCOS 8 and TP8 to Internet and/or Intranet users.
Thanks to Web 8, any user can access TP8 thru a standard Web browser, without any intermediate Web server. Web 8 turns TP8 into a transaction processing Web server that provides database access and TP capabilities (IDS II & TP 8) over any Internet/Intranet infrastructure.
Through its GCOS 8 “New Frontier” program, Bull has introduced Internet and Web technologies across its major product lines – using technologies that are specified and endorsed by international standards organizations.
- TCP/IP : Born with the Internet, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol is the de facto Web communication protocol.
- HTTP (HypertText Transport Protocol) : The application exchange protocol
between servers and browsers on the worldwide Web.
- HTML (HypertText Markup Language) : The description language for documents
exchanged over the Web. Easy-to-use browsers interpret these documents
(i.e., Web pages) on a workstation.
- URL : The unique addressing mechanism. The addressing mechanism that
identifies every object on the Web : the Universal Resource Locator.
The 3 Keywords of Web 8 :
TP8 / COBOL / HTML
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Web 8 : the easiest and most progressive way to implement
Web applications integrated with GCOS 8
Once connected to a TP8 application, workstations
equipped with a Web browser can gradually replace conventional TP8 stations,
at whatever pace the enterprise chooses to implement the Web 8 solution.
Web 8 integrates vendor-neutral Web technologies with GCOS 8 technologies
: TCP/IP, HTTP and HTML, combined with TP8 and I-D-S/II.
• COBOL will continue to be the primary language for building
production TP applications that can interact with thousands of workstations,
and also for building utility data-access TPRs to serve browser clients.
• HTML introduces a new and highly flexible way to design the presentation
aspects of TP applications. In fact, user departments can adopt one
of the commodity HTML authoring tools to create their own browser-based
presentation, working cooperatively with TPR developers who supply the
data to be displayed. Scripting language capabilities, such as JavaScript,
can be used to streamline and simplify users’ interactions, thereby
improving ease-of-use while increasing TP8 efficiency.
• Tasks that can be accomplishing using scripting can be distributed
to the browser (the client), offloading this processing from GCOS 8
and TP8. Scripting languages are powerful but relatively simple programming
languages, which can be used to great advantage in Web 8 applications.
• Web 8 can support remote forms on a workgroup or departmental
server, reducing network traffic and increasing the speed of response.
Web 8:
-The flexibility of HTML for presentations.
-The strengh of COBOL for business.
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Web 8 : The opening of GCOS 8 to the Web without
abrupt change
Step-by-step, all capabilities of HTML can be introduced
into the user’s browser interaction with TP8. The enterprise can
choose to begin with familiar screen displays, executed as a Web page
by the Web browser. An alternative that is usually more attractive is
to adapt the presentation of TP8 output to styles that are familiar from
other uses of Web browsers. The enterprise can choose to leverage the
full power of HTML, combined with a scripting language such as JavaScript,
so that the user interacts with intelligent forms through the Web browser.
Over time, these capabilities can be used to reduce the number of exchanges
between the workstation and TP8, simplifying the tasks of both users and
TP8.
Web 8 streamlines TP8 development:
-COBOL/TP8 developers focus
on business rules.
-Web page designers concentrate
on TP application presentation.
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One of the most attractive aspects of Web 8
is that GCOS 8 application developers can concentrate on database
access and business logic, ignoring the details of presentation for user
input and output. In parallel with TPR development, Web page designers
– who may be associated with the user departments or may even be
external consultants – can design presentation aspects so that browser
users can access new or existing TPRs. TPR developers need almost no knowledge
of HTML or scripting languages; the only new requirement is to include
JavaScript variable definitions in TPR output. Web 8 provides for
storing Web pages (HTML pages) in an IDS/II HTML Template database. These
pages can then be accessed by TPRs, combined with variable data from production
IDS/II databases, and transmitted to the Web browser for display.
With Web 8, the end-user is
progressively introduced to the familiar
Web browser style presentation of TP8.
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Web 8 : The power of GCOS 8 transaction applications combined with the ease of use of a Web browser
Although originally defined as a language aimed at static document description
for dispay by a Web browser, HTML today has been enriched with features
such as scripts imbedded in the HTML page. The Web page is thus endowed
with intelligence, meaning that the Web browser can perform functions
such as :
- validating user input according to criteria defined in scripts,
- displaying only specific variables, instantiated by a script that
can be customized for each specific user,
- presenting scrollable lists for data selection,
- creating customized requests for access to GCOS 8 databases
- and many more.
Web 8: by combining the Web and TP8,
the ultimate client/server for GCOS 8 ?
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A workstation equipped with a Web browser becomes a TP8 client. The
TPR sends the browser a Web page that may have been enriched with intelligent
features for browser execution (scripts, forms, applets..), thereby reducing
processing requirements on GCOS 8. The part of the code that has
to be remotely executed by the Web browser is under the control of the
Web page designer. Thanks to the dynamic features of HTML, client presentation
can be adjusted dynamically, without impacting the TPR that executes business
logic and accesses databases.Network performance can be improved by caching
forms at the department or workgroup level.
With TP8 as the centralized transaction server, a secure, more easily
administered, and easier to deploy two-tier client/server architecture
can thus be deployed over an Internet infrastructure, while taking advantages
of the well-known benefits of TP8 and GCOS 8.
By combining the best of both worlds – the universality of Internet
technology and the robust TP power of GCOS 8 – GCOS 8 users
can now design Electronic Commerce solutions with GCOS 8 as a TP
Web server – creating applications that can serve enterprise needs
into the 21th century.
Web 8 : rapid return on investment with GCOS 8
Internet solutions
With the Web 8 solution, the enterprise can see a positive ROI
very quickly.
Reducing the cost of installation and integration :
- Web 8 is installed without the need to deploy
a distributed multi-tier architecture : the only requirement is for
a software protocol gateway to be installed at the data center level
or departmental server level.
With Web 8: the GCOS 8/TP8
transaction processing server will take
advantage of all cost reduction factors
related to Internet technologies
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Reducing communication volume and cost :
- The Web 8 gateway supports a persistent session
between the Web browser and GCOS 8, thereby reducing network traffic.
Caching remote HTML forms at the department or workgroup level can further
reduce network traffic..
Skills adjustment without costly retraining :
- With Web 8, Internet technologies
can be introduced progressively without abrupt change in a familiar
GCOS 8 operation and development environment. The enterprise can easily
develop a separate set of skills by training Web page designers in the
use of commodity tools for this purpose. If the enterprise chooses to
retrain COBOL developers instead of creating a separate skill set, the
retraining can be achieved at the pace at which Web 8 solutions
are introduced, thus minimizing retraining costs.
Reducing development costs :
- Early experience is very promising : a COBOL programmer,
with no prior experience in the Web 8 products and with only superficial
exposure to HTML, was able in only a few hours to revise TPRs to work
in the Web 8 environment.
Web 8 improves TP efficiency:
low-cost improvements, increased ease
of
use and reduced network traffic
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Streamlining and improving organization efficiency :
- Thanks to standardization, both by adopting the
Web browser as a “universal client” and by using HTML presentation
for TPRs.
- Thanks to the ability to separate the programming
tasks : The COBOL TPR developer is no longer responsible for presentation
and can instead focus on database access and business rules. The actual
formatting of the application input and output is controlled by HTML
documents that are developed separately using Web authoring tools, most
likely by a separate set of developers. User departments can even develop
their own HTML documents for use in Web 8 applications.
Web 8 brings significant improvements to a real-life application
The Bull internal TP8 application PASSTP is used to track GCOS 8
customers’ FAQs. As an experiment, parts of PASSTP have been modified
for use in the Web 8 environment, with these results : One of the
PASSTP query applications, which consisted of 7 TPRs, was consolidated
into a single TPR that processes a browser request and generates a generalized
output message that uses JavaScript to simplify the user’s interaction
with the TPR. One TPR that consisted of 12,000 lines of code was reduced
to 2,000 lines by using Web 8.
On a real life application:
with Web 8,
the average response time is reduced
from 7 seconds to less than 1 second
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Before Web 8, the user needed to send a minimum of 4 requests to
obtain the desired output; with Web 8, the user needs only one interaction.
Before Web 8, the average response time was 7 seconds; with Web 8,
the average response time is less than 1 second.
This example illustrates the power of Web 8. Simple, quick, low-cost
improvements to an existing TP8 application increased ease of use, reduced
network traffic, and improved TP8 efficiency.
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