Important: We highly recommend that you do the Mainframe IMTK tutorials to get a feel for using these tools. See
Tutorials: Interface Mapping Toolkit (IMTK) in the
Getting Started section under
Mainframe Tutorials.
The IMTK enables you to create an interface between existing legacy COBOL CICS or IMS application, or an existing PL/I application that sends or receives either CICS BMS or IMS MFS maps, running on an
enterprise server region as a service, such as a Web service or Java service, and a non-COBOL client, such as a Web service client or a JSP client. The interface you create and define is called a
service interface. The service interface is deployed to the same
enterprise server region as the legacy application, and also runs as a service.
In your service interface, you can expose as much or as little of the original legacy application functionality as you choose. Because legacy applications often perform a wide variety of functions, the creation of a service interface enables you to limit your end users to access only the functions they need. For screen-based applications, you can also consolidate screen fields from multiple maps into an interface that precisely targets your users.
The IMTK supports the following mainframe-based technologies:
- COBOL CICS
- COBOL IMS
- PL/I applications that send or receive either CICS BMS or IMS MFS maps
Note: You can also create service interfaces for non-mainframe applications. For more information, see the
Interface Mapping Toolkit (IMTK) topic in the
COBOL Programming section of this documentation.
Note: All services generated by the IMTK are COBOL programs even if the application they access is PL/I.
The IMTK supports the generation of service interfaces using the fields available in the following types of mainframe source code:
- COBOL CICS programs using the COMMAREA
- CICS BMS maps
- IMS MFS maps
Note: In addition to supporting CICS screen- and COMMAREA-based service interfaces, the IMTK also supports the generation of CICS COMMAREA- and Channel-based Web Service service interfaces and client applications from a WSDL file. This alternative technology is documented in the
CICS Web Services (CWS) section.
You can create the following types of service interfaces:
- SOAP Web Service
- Java Interface
- .NET Interface
The process of creating a working service interface includes the following:
- Creating and configuring an
enterprise server region to run the legacy application as a service
- Creating a service interface in an
Enterprise Developer project
- Optionally editing screen maps using the Map Annotations Editor
- Defining the details of the service interface using the
Interface Mapper
- Deploying the legacy application and service interface to your
enterprise server region
- Generating one or more clients to access the service running on the
enterprise server region
