Re: Examples of Web sites backed by COBOL

Hi Wes,

My advice is to use a Java Applet that opens a Socket directly to your INETd
server that is written in COBOL.

Regards Richard Maher

PS. The following from comp.os.vms: -

Hi Jan-Erik,

At the end of the day, if that's what the customer wants and you're able to
fulfill the requirement, then it sounds like a match made in heaven! (None
of us are doing this for love after all :-)

But please let me leave you with a couple of pointers and other info I
stumbled across this arvo: -

1) It looks like you have to create a Java Applet for the Socket stuff. This
seems secure and kosher and de rigueur for everyone outside of the VMS "chip
on each shoulder" brigade.

http://java.sun.com/sfaq/#socket

2) This from some Java Socket discussion page on what the Applet(s) should
contain: -

Creating a client

To talk to a server, open a socket to the machine and port:

Socket s = new Socket("mastercard.com", 303); // port 303

When this returns, you can get input/output streams:

OutputStream out = s.getOutputStream();
PrintStream pout = new PrintStream(out);
pout.println("hi from java client");
pout.close();
s.close();

The client's input stream is pulling from the server's output stream and
vice versa.

3) See the following link for a COBOL example of an INETd server listening
on port# 303. The truly amazing bit about this example is that it shows a
VMS server participating in a ACID proof 2PC with a transaction started on a
W2K server! But let's ignore that for the moment and concentrate on the
simple message passing mechanism. What could be easier than this: -

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=966410

Please look at my COBOL code in this thread as an example of how easy it
would be to fire-up your existing COBOL functionality from a Web client.

I don't think I'm going out on a limb here to ask "What could be easier?".
Many people here are all pushing their own barrows with
Python/CGI/OSU/Apache but, if you find that (for whatever reason) you are
unable to locate the skill level in this, or any other forum, to show you
how to build a simple Java applet then I guess that you'll have to resort to
your clients support contract :-( I'm available for free to help you out
with any trouble on the VMS side.

Q: "I'd like to write a Java Applet that can talk to my VMS/UCX server"

A: Stuffed if I'd know! I wonder where you'd get help with that? (If the
low-life scum of VMS support has finished crying into their beers and to the
tabloids, then maybe they'd forget their self-obsession long enough to
consider nuturing the client base?) Nah, stick to your scorched-earth
policy; If you go down the you're taking VMS down with ya. (Wankers!)

Cheers Richard Maher

"Jan-Erik Söderholm" <jan-erik.soderholm@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:TKJ_g.20581$E02.8230@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Richard Maher wrote :

Hi Jan-Erik,

First, let me appologize for what (having re-read my post) appeared to
be a
pretty personal/specific attack. I was, in fact, ranting at the whole
world
and not you, your company, or your application specifically.

OK, no problem. I've enjoyed reading many other post from you, so
I didn't took it to personal :-)

I fully understand what you're saying.

But, the fact is that if you'd like to add some
"bells-n-whisles" to a application that is regarded as
something old and "closed" using weird VT-something
interfaces, the far most easiest route is to add a few
web-pages with "management-info". That's a fact.

And the bulk of the business-logic is written in Cobol,
so my plan it to help them intereface that code with
the OSU server.

I have described what can quite easily be done, and they
are very positive, I'd say. Which turns into consulting
hours for me...

Now, that might not be the most perfect solution from
a technical standpoint, but that is what is regarded as
state-of-the-art today (maybe not by you and me, but who
cares about *that* ?) and it's also pretty fast/cheap to have
something running.

PS. I hope "skrev" is good :-)

As Arne write, "skrev" is the imperfect of "skriva", or
"write/wrote" in English. *But* "skrev" is one of those
words in Swedish with double meaning, it also translates
into "crutch" or "crotch", with was *not* what I ment in this
case :-)

Best Regards,
Jan-Erik.

"weyus" <wesgamble@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1161709947.452147.317900@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
By "backed by" I mean that actual presentation content
(HTML/Javascript/CSS) is being generated somewhere by COBOL code. Not
that some Web back end interfaces with a COBOL program down the line
that has nothing to do with Web presentation.

Thanks,
Wes

Roy Øyan wrote:
On 23 Oct 2006 22:07:52 -0700, "weyus" <wesgamble@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

All,

I am sure that there must be some dynamic Web sites backed by COBOL -
however, I'm having trouble finding any. Can anyone point me in the
right direction?

Depends on how ypu define "backed by", but I believe that most (larger)
banks uses cobol in the core/backed solutions.

So your internet-banking application is probably backed by cobol...


.

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