Interface Mapping Toolkit (IMTK)

The IMTK enables you to create an interface between a COBOL application running on an enterprise server instance as a service, such as a Web service or Java service, and a client, such as a Web service client or a JSP client. The interface you create is called a service interface.

You can create the following types of service interfaces for COBOL programs:

• Web service
• .NET Interface
• Java Interface

For service interfaces created from a new or existing COBOL application, you can expose as much or as little of the application functionality as you choose. Because COBOL 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.

You can also use a WSDL or JSON file provided by a third party to generate both a service interface that supports the described Web service, and a skeleton COBOL program containing the data structures needed to support the Web service. You can then further enhance the COBOL program to contain the logic necessary to return the required output.

The process of creating a working service interface to run on Enterprise Server includes the following:

• Creating and configuring an enterprise server instance to run the legacy application as a service
• Creating a service interface in a Visual COBOL project
• Defining the details of the service interface using the Interface Mapper
• Deploying the application and service interface to your enterprise server instance
• Generating one or more clients to access the service running on the enterprise server instance