News & Events – tcACCESS Version 5.0 available

tcACCESS, the solution to integrate PC/Web-Applications and Mainframe resources, has been enhanced with exciting new features in Version 5, which is now generally available. The new functionality even further eases the platform independent utilization of information. The new features and functions are the result of an intense dialog with our customer base. Some of the new features and highlights are discussed in this document.

 

Automatic structure analysis of mainframe data

The tcACCESS SQL-engine automatically determines key and index information of data sources. This makes it very easy for the administrator at the tcACCESS client to formulate SQL queries, because he can create WHERE conditions using key and index information which are highlighted. Manual analysis about key and index information is now obsolete. The newly introduced table “SYSTEM.SYSIDX” contains information about key and index information.

 

Automatic generation of field definitions for IMS/DB and DL/I

The structure information needed to access an IMS/DB or DL/I database are now automatically determined by analyzing the PSB and DBD modules. Segment names and key field names are automatically extracted and the necessary STARTKEY and SSA information will be automatically generated.

 

Support for JAVA Connection Pooling

The tcACCESS JDBC-driver now supports Connection Pooling. This permits an application to use a mainframe connection out of a pool of existing connections. This drastically reduces the time needed to establish a connection. Once a connection has been established and has been added to the pool of connections, it can be reused by an application, without going through the overhead of establishing a connection again.

 

JDBC-Exit

An exit facility will be supplied to the tcACCESS JDBC-component. This component can be used to access mainframe data from JAVA programs using SQL statements. The JDBC exit can be used to process a SQL statement prior to execution. By means of the JAVA class, the SQL statement can be modified, segmented or even generated and can then be passed to the tcACCESS mainframe component or to an ODBC-JDBC bridge. The resulting result sets can be analyzed; a new result set can be created and returned to the calling application. This will provide a high degree of flexibility and optimum adaptation to user- or company specific requirements.

 

Additional import modules for field definition import

In addition to the already existing import modules for COBOL/COBOL2, Adabas Predict, CPG, PL/I and Assembler, a new import module for CA-Datacom is available.  

 

Visualization of key and index fields

Due to the automatic canalization of key and index information for all mainframe data sources, key and index information can be passed to PC applications. When displaying the table structure in the tcACCESS administrator application, key and index fields are graphically highlighted.

 

Optimizing Mass File transfers for DB2 and IMS/DB

The new function “Change Data Capture” allows using delta values to synchronize external databases (i.e. Oracle or SQL-Server). Data, which has been changed, inserted or deleted since a given day and time can be transferred. This greatly reduces the amount of data to be transferred, increases processing speed and eliminates extensive use of CPU resources and network bandwidth. Savings can significant.

 

 

New tcACCESS options

CA-IDMS-Database Server

The tcACCESS SQL engine can now directly access CA-IDMS databases using standard SQL syntax. CA-IDMS databases can also be joined with non-CA-IDMS resources.

 

tcACCESS UNIX component

tcACCESS is now available for UNIX platforms. The UNIX tool kit supports all connectivity types, which are based on TCP/IP. These are “TN3270” and „TCP/IP socket interface“. The configuration files are binary compatible to the files from the MS-WINDOWS version of tcACCESS. A configuration tool for administrator settings is available. Additional tools support Upload (BMLUL), Download (BMLDL) and the execution of SQL-statements (BMLSQ).

A new API for UNIX Clients/Server has been developed. The libraries are available for LINUX, HP UNIX, AIX and SOLARIS Intel or Solaris. The API supports the following functions:

 

 

In addition to the program libraries all needed header files are part of the tcACCESS package. The tcACCESS UNIX component also includes a Listener. The Listener is identical to the WINDOWS component and allows automation of data transfers in real time.

 

tcACCESS MS-Windows Server component using a Multi Communication Handler

Using this tcACCESS MS-Windows Server component, multiple parallel connections can be established – even to different mainframes. Up to 255 parallel connections are supported. Established connections can be used in parallel, i.e. one connection uses an ODBC query and another connection performs a download of a host file using the tcACCESS front-end program.
Using the Multi Communication Handler, a variety of options become available for the communication between a Workstation or a Server and the tcACCESS mainframe components running under CICS or VTAM.

 

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