Micro Focus Enterprise Server for .NET CICS supports invoking CICS transaction programs over HTTP as REST Web Services. A REST (Representational State Transfer) service is a simple form of web service, much less complex than traditional SOAP services. HTTP clients, which can be application programs or even scripts on web pages, can exchange a CICS commarea with the transaction they invoke. The commarea is encoded as a JSON (Javascript Object Notation) object, and can be either a text string or a binary area such as a COBOL group item.
The invoked transaction runs without a primary facility (terminal), and is restricted to the DPL subset of CICS commands. It can perform most CICS operations that do not require a terminal.
Because REST web services use standard protocols such as HTTP and JSON, clients don't require any Micro Focus software (though Micro Focus does provide a convenience class that can be used in COBOL for .NET and other .NET languages, when Micro Focus Visual COBOL for Visual Studio is installed on the client system).
Configuring REST support involves specifying a listener channel for HTTP conversations, and specifying one or more REST service URL paths in the region. These URL paths can use wildcards to control which transactions can be invoked, and there are various communications and processing options. REST service URLs are configured in the region startup file.
The CICS EXCI (External Call Interface) support in Micro Focus Enterprise Server for .NET uses an HTTP REST service.