Chapter 3 Working with the AI Component Builder

Understanding AI Connections

An Application Integrator connection is a named set of properties that are used to access a CICS program. Every deployed component is associated with a connection definition by name.

A connection identifies how the component and its methods can locate the AI for CICS server, which must be installed and configured in the CICS region where the CICS program resides. (For information about installing AI for CICS on the workstation and the mainframe, see the Enterprise Application Studio Installation Guide.)

Connections are used in the Component Builder at design time, and in Jaguar at run time. In the Component Builder, connections can be tested to verify end-to-end connectivity. In Jaguar, connections are used by component methods to invoke CICS programs.

You use the Component Builder to define connection properties, associate them with components, and deploy them to Jaguar. Every component is associated with exactly one connection.

This section covers the following topics:

Determining Connectivity

There are two ways to connect to the CICS region, as shown in Figure 3-2:

Figure 3-2: Gateway versus gateway-less connectivity

Gateway connectivity:
If you are using the SNA protocol to access the AI for CICS server, provide connectivity from the Jaguar server to CICS through DirectConnect TRS. For this connectivity method, you need to know the TRS Service Name when prompted.
Gateway-less connectivity:
If you are using TCP/IP to access the AI for CICS server, you can connect directly to the CICS server from the Jaguar server.

Connection Properties

To create a connection, you must supply the following information in the Component Builder:

CICS user ID and password needed to access the target CICS program
Properties needed to connect to the target CICS program

The following table shows all of the requested connection properties:

Table 3-1: Connection properties
Dialog box	Field	Description
Create Connection	Host name	TCP/IP server name. Name of the machine, either gateway or mainframe.
Port number	TCP/IP port that the gateway or mainframe is listening on. Valid value is any that matches a listener on the Host name.
TRS service name	Name assigned to DirectConnect Transaction Router Service. Required for gateway connectivity.
User name	Valid CICS user ID.
User password	Password for CICS user ID.
General	Name	Name of connection.
Description	Optional short description of the connection. This description will appear in the Details area of the project file tree view on the Sybase Central window.
Connectivity	RPC name	Name assigned to the RPC for the CICS run time.
Code page	Number that identifies a set of characters with an encoding scheme that uniquely defines each character. Also called code set or character set. Click Select to display a list of code page options.

Testing Connections

The Component Builder allows you to test a connection to the target CICS region where the AI for CICS server run time resides. This makes it easy to verify that the region is running, and that you have defined the connection correctly.

Common reasons that connection tests fail are:

The network or CICS region is down.
Invalid values, such as host name, port number, user name, or password, were specified for the connection.
AI run time (CICS) is not installed.

Because connectivity problems are difficult to identify at run time, we recommend that you test connections in the Component Builder before you deploy components and methods that use them.

Connection Caching

AI components do not use Jaguar's connection caching feature by default. Components can be configured to use the connection caching feature in Jaguar. See Chapter 4, "Jaguar and Application Issues," for details.

Connections and Deployed Components

When you deploy a component into Jaguar, the Component Builder uses the connection definition that was associated with the component in the Component Builder.

The information for the component's connection is sent to Jaguar in the form of a serialized file, which is located in the Jaguar installation directory structure (in the java\classes\SybAIConnections directory). If you need to change connection information for a component, you must edit the connection in the Component Builder, and then redeploy the component and connection.