Creating Web-aware CICS applications using CICS Web Support (CWS) allows organizations to leverage the skills of seasoned CICS developers along with the time-tested business logic and data within CICS applications. This single-server solution provides high performance and allows organizations to avoid much of the cost and complexity of distributed approaches while quickly extending legacy CICS data to the Web.

How WebTek works for Web-aware applications

WebTek and IBM's CWS enable Web browsers to communicate directly and securely with CICS applications without an intermediate gateway or a separate Web server. A Web-aware application generates a Web interface that users access from a Web browser. The resulting Web page replaces traditional 3270 terminal emulation and green screen interfaces with a familiar Web look and feel. CWS provides services such as EXEC CICS WEB and DOCUMENT commands for adapting CICS applications, a facility for assigning TCP/IP ports to CICS applications, and a template facility for generating HTML presentations.

WebTek works in conjunction with CWS to provide tools that speed development of Web-aware CICS applications. Tools such as the Doctemplate utility give application and Web developers the ability to create, upload, and maintain the new Web interfaces quickly and independently of systems programmers. The URL Control Table (UCT) allows developers to customize, secure, and manage the URLs into CICS. And with the File Transfer utility, developers can easily upload and serve graphics and other Web files directly from CICS to their Web interface. WebTek also provides session and state management facilities, a migration tool, and a variety of enhancements that complement CWS to ease restrictions and simplify development.