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aXes e-Business Modernization Suite from LANSA Provides Cross-Browser Support

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The new release gives developers the tools to write rich Internet applications for multiple browsers and devices, including smartphones.

 

Most IBM i developers and system administrators have been following the evolution of so-called modernization and Web-enablement technology for quite some time now, and one of their leading frustrations reportedly has come from network issues caused by firewalls blocking ports required by non-Web connections like Telnet and VPN.

 

Many modernization tools have drawbacks relating to security or reliability that come from being dependent upon MS ActiveX controls or Java applets that don't work so well with every type of browser configuration. They might require J2EE or Application Server in Windows Server 2008 that add to the overall cost.

 

LANSA is directing its attention to the vulnerabilities in some of these products with its recently enhanced aXes modernization eBusiness suite that now includes "eXtensions" to allow developers to write new RPG or COBOL applications capable of running on just about any device up through the iPhone and Android-powered smartphones. aXes resides exclusively on the server, scales well, and employs the standard HTTP/S protocols (ports 80/443) in order to avoid network configuration challenges.

 

The company recently released V1.35 of aXes, the modernization product suite it acquired from Arterial Software of Melbourne, Australia, in April 2009. In the past year, LANSA has poured time and resources into the product to make it everything it believes the IBM i community needs in order to transform any and all legacy programs into the rich Internet applications that users have come to expect.

 

When I was speaking with LANSA President Steve Gapp shortly before last spring's COMMON conference, he threw out the round number of $10 million that LANSA has invested in solutions for providing companies with the kinds of modernization tools that they need today in order to easily transform green-screen applications into modern Web-enabled solutions in a few hours. Since then, LANSA apparently has invested even more in its popular aXes suite that was the focus of user attention at COMMON. When I stopped by LANSA's booth and spoke with Steve Ramberg, senior account manager from Dacula, Georgia, he said aXes was the product that most of the users visiting the booth wanted to know more about as they walked through the Expo between COMMON sessions.

 

aXes today has a new browser engine that is built on the open-source jQuery JavaScript libraries and provides cross-browser support for not only Firefox and Internet Explorer, but Chrome and Safari as well. Using aXes and a browser, any 5250 application can run on Apple, Linux, or Windows platforms as well as multiple mobile, portable, and fixed devices, the company says.

 

With aXes, developers write RPG or COBOL code in the regular way and employ what are known as aXes "eXtensions" to design the GUI for the Web. The aXes eXtensions define and manage the screen layout while the program manages the data content on that screen. Thus, the constraints of the 5250 screen layout can be avoided, and the developer lays out the screen as it will appear in the browser of each of the desired devices, whether they be netbook or mobile phone.

 

The LANSA aXes suite is multi-faceted in that, if a user simply wants to convert any standard 5250 application on the fly from green-screen to GUI screens, it will do so in short order, and it supports the IBM-supplied graphical DDS keywords as well. Where desirable or necessary, the developer can enhance a screen with aXes eXtensions. The Web-enablement solution will even run both its new and old browsers side by side to allow for the gradual conversion from only 5250 emulation to rich Internet application.

 

Among the other new features in V1.35 is an eXtension LANSA is calling aXFrame, which allows the developer to insert an entire Web page into a customized screen. Think mashup or composite application here where you want a Web page, PDF document, or Flash or Silverlight component next to the content in a 5250 screen. If you want to put an aXes session inside another Web application, then you use the new External Hosting eXtension. Both of these new tools give developers further options to create enhanced views by combining data from multiple applications. External Hosting supports not only Web applications but also .NET applications, so a developer could write a .NET application using Microsoft's chosen C# and then embed a 5250 application inside the user interface. There, it assumes the look and feel of the Windows application. The beauty of this is a LANSA strong point in that it allows companies to reuse existing assets by combining functions from 5250 and .NET apps to create entirely new solutions.

 

The new release includes enhancements that allow developers to call RPG, CL, and COBOL programs from eXtension scripts. You can now also create CSV files to load into Excel, and 128-character passwords are supported in V1.35.

 

Looking at the aXes architecture a bit more closely with regard to that issue of firewalls, if the client device and the aXes Application Server are behind the same firewall, the client may connect directly to the aXes Application Server. Regardless of whether the client is on the same intranet as the aXes Application Server, uses an Internet access method such as VPN, or uses dial-up, it will look like a local connection. If the client is outside the aXes Application Server site's firewall, then the client device will connect directly over the Internet through the firewall to the Axes app server or be routed through a firewall at the origination site before reaching the Internet to connect to the aXes app server. According to LANSA, the aXes Application Server provides explicit HTTP headers instructing an HTTP 1.1 proxy server not to cache aXes transactions. LANSA says proxy servers will not cache aXes transactions since each is a unique URL. Other aXes Application Server HTTP transactions will cache normally through a proxy server, the company says.

 

Part of aXes that shouldn't be overlooked in describing any new features in the latest version is that the suite consists of three separate modules: aXes Terminal Server, aXes Data Explorer Server, and aXes Spool File Server. It truly is an e-business suite and so much more than a mere Web-enablement solution, a function handled by aXes Terminal Server. Data Explorer, a remote SQL query tool, provides an easy (browser-based) way to extract and publish DB2 data in a browser or send a query output to desktop apps such as Excel or MS Word. Spool File Server provides point-and-click access to output queues and spool files of documents in PDF, XML, HTML, or text formats. It even includes a system-monitoring solution that offers a browser-based method of managing user sessions, checking server statistics, and monitoring the aXes system that provides help desk visibility of users' screens.

 

LANSA is confident that those who try aXes will like it, and while the licensing is flexible—based by processor, tier, or the total number of concurrent sessions—users can download it for a free evaluation. aXes is also offered in partnership with Linoma Software or from any LANSA partner or local LANSA office.

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