Chapter 1 Understanding Application Integrator for CICS

Basic Steps to Building a Web Application

Following are the basic steps required to build a Web- or Internet-based application:

Figure 1-5 shows the process flow by task, the environment in which each task is performed, and the skills needed to perform the tasks in each step.

Figure 1-5: Four-step process flow and required skills

The following sections describe each step.

Step 1: Prepare the COMMAREA Definition

You must research the CICS program you plan to use so you are familiar with how it is defined and how it works.

The COMMAREA contains data definitions of input and output for CICS programs that AI for CICS components will call. You can find the COMMAREA for a CICS program in copybooks, in separate files, or in main code.

For more information about how to prepare the COMMAREA for importing, see Chapter 2, "Getting Ready to Use AI for CICS."

Step 2: Create the Component

In this step, you use the Component Builder to create a connection and a component. The connection provides access to a CICS program. The component contains a collection of methods, and each method invokes a single CICS program.

After you have created the component, the Component Builder adds methods by importing the COMMAREA definitions.

Step 3: Deploy the Component

When you deploy the component, the Component Builder defines it in Jaguar, and creates Java classes that implement the component. After the component is deployed, it is ready to run.

Step 4: Use the Component

Once a component is deployed, you can use it in applications. AI for CICS components may be used to build Jaguar client applications, or to build other Jaguar components.

For information about how to build your client application, see the Jaguar documentation.