IBM® Rational® Developer for Power Systems™ Software provides an integrated set of application development tools. It extends the rich base of Eclipse functionality, especially the Remote System Explorer (RSE). It works seamlessly with other Eclipse-based tools, such as IBM® Rational Team Concert™ for collaborative change and project management and the IBM® Rational® Application Developer for WebSphere® Software IDE. The source editing support helps the developer edit source code with the Remote Systems LPEX Editor, using features such as automatic indenting for language parsing and text effects to emphasize different parts of your source program.

The source code can be stored in Eclipse projects. These projects offer the option of working while connected from the IBM® AIX® server, and then synchronizing your source code when reconnecting. They also enable team sharing with any source control provider that works with Eclipse. The source code within the project can be built, and any error feedback is integrated with the standard Eclipse mechanisms to quickly bring the developer to the problematic line of code.

You can use the Remote System Explorer to see files and processes on an IBM® AIX® system. Shells can be launched in integrated windows to interact with the AIX server.

IBM® TXSeries® for Multiplatforms is a distributed CICS online transaction processor for mixed-language applications. It is widely used for integrating data and applications between distributed solutions and enterprise systems, as well as for deployment of IBM® CICS® applications written in COBOL, C / C++, and PL/I programming languages. Uniquely, the TXSeries allows you to scale up to CICS TS on the mainframe as the needs of your business increase. TXSeries for Multiplatforms controls the processing of transactions in a business system, even when the transactions are working concurrently on different computers and accessing the same data. User application programs do not have to perform the specialized task scheduling, control, data routing, and locking that are required by transaction processing. Transaction processing services enable application programs to concentrate on business logic rather than on how the logic is implemented. These services are implemented by TXSeries CICS regions to provide each user with a separate view of the transaction processing system, while maintaining the data integrity and optimum performance for many concurrent users.

Benefits of Rational Developer for Power Systems Software

An Eclipse-based product is a standalone program built with the Eclipse platform. After it is installed, the user launches the product and is presented with an Eclipse workbench, which is configured specifically for the purpose supported by the product, such as web development, C++ program development, or any other purpose. The platform makes it easy to configure labels, dialog windows, graphics, and splash screens, so that the user has no concept of a platform workbench, but, instead, views the workbench as the main window of the product itself.

As an Eclipse-based product, Rational Developer for Power Systems Software gives you several advantages:

• Supports collaborative application lifecycle management, a ready-to-run integrated ALM solution comprising Rational Team Concert, IBM® Rational®Quality Manager, and IBM® Rational® Requirements Composer (see the link to Jazz.net in Resources for more about CLM).
• Needs only Eclipse-based skills, which are reasonably common among software developers. This eliminates the requirement to learn different application development tools.
• Provides tightly integrated search, edit, compile, and debug tools across all Eclipse-based products, making application maintenance easier.
• Eases switching across tasks.
• Improves the efficiency of programmers and the efficiency of the development organization.

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Languages and features supported

Rational Developer for Power Systems Software works with all three operating systems that IBM® Power® systems support: IBM® AIX®, IBM i, and Linux. It also offers development tools for a wide range of programming languages, including Java, C/C++, RPG, EGL, and COBOL (see Figure 1).

The C/C++ Development Tools for AIX, C/C++ Development Tools for Linux, COBOL Development Tools for AIX, and RPG and COBOL Development Tools for IBM i features all provide a rich set of integrated development tools for developing applications on IBM Power Systems platforms:

• An Eclipse-based development environment with integrated search, edit, analysis, build, and debug capabilities
• Access to remote files, processes, and shells on AIX and Linux; libraries, objects, members, IFS files, and jobs on IBM i
• Rich source editing support with content assist, outline view, color tokenizing, quick navigation, syntax checking, and much more
• Visual editors for DDS display file and printer file source members on IBM i systems
• Integrated build support with error feedback
• Debugging with support for threads and real-time monitoring of variable changes
• Debug attachment to core files for postmortem analysis (AIX and Linux only)
• Analysis tools that can visualize call, type, and include hierarchies for C and C++ on AIX and Linux and program calls and ILE bindings on IBM i
• Integration with IBM Rational Team Concert software for source control, build automation, and the Rational solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM)

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Software stack used for demonstrations in the tutorial

Table 1 shows the software stack used for demonstrations in this three-part series.

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Installing and configuring TXSeries for Multiplatforms

TXSeries for Multiplatforms provides different installation methods: console, GUI, and silent. Check the TXSeries for Multiplatforms Information Center for detailed steps to install the product in the particular mode (see the link in Resources).

Creating and configuring the TXSeries region

A TXSeries for Multiplatforms region is a named collection of resources that are controlled by TXSeries as a unit.

A TXSeries resource is any facility or component of a TXSeries CICS system that is required to perform a task.

The resources in a region include programs, basic mapping support (BMS) map sets, transactions, terminals, files, transient data queues, temporary storage queues, and journals. Each TXSeries region is defined by a list of resources that can be used to start that region. When the CICS region starts, resources are loaded into the CICS region as runtime resources. By default, TXSeries uses Structured File Server (SFS) as a file manager.

Follow these steps on the AIX machine where you intend to run a region that uses a local SFS server as the file manager:

1. Ensure that you are logged in as the root administrator.
2. Ensure that the SFS is running.
3. To create a region, enter the cicscp create region command, where region_name is the name of the region that you want to create.
   

   cicscp -v create region region_name

   
   
   For example:
   

   cicscp -v create region TXREG

   
   

Tips:

• The name of the region must not exceed eight characters in length. Do not use underscores (_), spaces, nor the word "stanza" in the region name.
• If the region was created successfully, a directory named after the region is created in the /var/cics_regions directory.

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Installing Rational Developer for Power Systems Software

Rational Developer for Power Systems Software needs to be installed with IBM Installation Manager. By using the Installation Manager, you can install all of the features available to you or customize your installation by selecting only the features that you need. Install the Remote System Explorer component on the AIX server. There are other components to that need to be installed on your Microsoft Windows or Linux workstation. Check the documentation for detailed steps on installing Rational Developer for Power Systems Software (see Resources for a link).

Configuring Rational Developer for Power Systems Software

The Remote System Explorer is a perspective and toolkit in the Eclipse workbench. You can use it to connect and work with a variety of remote systems. With the predefined plug-ins, you can look at remote file systems, transfer files between hosts, do remote searches, execute commands, and work with processes.

You can use Rational Developer for Power Systems Software to browse the directories with the Remote System Explorer component, and then store your project-related files in the AIX server. Follow the link to "Getting Started with the Remote System Explorer" in the Resources section.

With the installable image of Rational Developer for Power Systems Software, there is a directory named AIXServerRuntime. In this directory, you will find all of the installp file sets that you need to install the daemon on an AIX server. They can be installed by anyone who has root access on the target AIX server by running the following command from the directory where all of the installp file sets are copied:

installp -aXgd $PWD all 

By default, the daemon will start to run on port 8050. To configure a different port, you can edit the $port variable of the /opt/IBM/RDPower/8.0/rse/daemon.pl script, stop the daemon, and restart the daemon by using the init 2 command. To determine which process is running the daemon, you can use this command:

ps -u root -f | grep java.*ServerLauncher 

You can work with remote resources from Rational Developer for Power Systems Software by defining a TCP/IP connection to a remote server. After you create a connection, you can perform actions on remote files and folders, such as editing, compiling, running, and debugging. Follow the link in Resources to "Configuring a connection to a remote server" for details.

You can also find these steps in the AIX COBOL Getting Started guide in Rational Developer for Power Systems Software: Help > AIX COBOL Getting Started. Sections "Setting up the AIX Server and daemon" and "Creating a connection to your AIX server" are relevant here.

Note:
After following these steps, if you want to access the files or processes on your remote system, you must enter valid credentials to connect to that system (username and password).

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What the three-part series covers

This introduction discussed installing and configuring the IBM TXSeries for Multiplatforms and Rational Developer for Power Systems Software for developing CICS applications on AIX servers.

• Part 2 helps you create CICS COBOL applications for TXSeries, using Rational Developer for Power Systems Software.
• Part 3 guides you through creating a client project in Rational Developer for Power Systems Software and testing your application using the CICS Transaction Gateway.

Resources

Learn

• Browse the TXSeries 7.1 information center and review the TXSeries product information.
  
  
• Review the Rational Developer for Power Systems Software overview page.
  
  
• Browse Rational Developer for Power Systems software information center for documentation, where you will find these instructions:
  • Getting Started with the Remote System Explorer
  • Configuring a connection to a remote server
  
  
• Find out more about the Rational solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management, a ready-to-run integrated ALM solution comprising Rational Team Concert, IBM Rational Quality Manager, and IBM Rational Requirements Composer.
  
  
• Visit the Rational software area on developerWorks for technical resources and best practices for Rational Software Delivery Platform products.
  • Stay current with developerWorks technical events and webcasts focused on a variety of IBM products and IT industry topics.
  • Attend a free developerWorks Live! briefing to get up-to-speed quickly on IBM products and tools, as well as IT industry trends.
  • Watch developerWorks on-demand demos, ranging from product installation and setup demos for beginners to advanced functionality for experienced developers.
  
  
• Improve your skills. Check the Rational training and certification catalog, which includes many types of courses on a wide range of topics. You can take some of them anywhere, any time, and many of the "Getting Started" ones are free.
  
  

Get products and technologies

• Download and evaluate a free trial version IBM TXSeries for Multiplatforms.
  
  
• Explore the Enterprise Modernization Sandbox for Power Systems.
  
  
• Evaluate IBM software in the way that suits you best: Download it for a trial, try it online, use it in a cloud environment, or spend a few hours in the SOA Sandbox learning how to implement service-oriented architecture efficiently.
  
  

Discuss

• Participate in the TXSeries forum.
  
  
• Join the CICS User Group to get updates on TXSeries.
  
  
• Follow IBM TXSeries on Twitter (txseries) to get the latest updates, and
  
  
• Follow Rational software on Facebook and Twitter (@ibmrational) to and add your comments and requests.
  
  
• Rate or review Rational software. It's quick and easy. Really.
  
  
• Share your knowledge and help others who use Rational software by writing a developerWorks article. You'll get worldwide exposure, RSS syndication, a byline and a bio, and the benefit of professional editing and production on the developerWorks Rational website. Find out what makes a good developerWorks article and how to proceed.
  
  
• Ask and answer questions and increase your expertise when you get involved in the Rational forums, cafés, and wikis.
  
  
• Get involved in the developerWorks community and connect with others who share your interests while exploring the developer-driven blogs and by following developerWorks on Facebook and Twitter.
  
  

About the authors

Balaji S. Kumar has worked with both IBM TXSeries for Multiplatforms and IBM WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime and has made significant contributions towards Functional Verification Test for WXTR. He has won the best implementation award in HackDay, an IBM internal technical forum. He has also actively participated in other IBM forums.

Hariharan N. Venkitachalam holds a Diploma in Computer Science & Engineering from M.E.I Polytechnic, Bangalore, India. He is employed with IBM India Software Development Laboratory in India and has over ten years of experience in IT. His areas of expertise include distributed CICS systems and Structured Query Language (SQL) internals. He has co-authored a Redbook on "Revealed! The Next Generation of Distributed CICS". In his current role he leads the development team for WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime product and assists in technical pre-sales, and customer engagement services for the distributed CICS products. He has been working for the CICS organization since he joined IBM in 2001.

Janaki Sundar has a B.Tech degree from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. She has been with the TXSeries for Multiplatforms and WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime teams at the IBM India Software Lab for five years. Her interests include CICS application development and modernization of testing using Rational tools. She has written for IBM developerWorks previously.

Nageswararao V. Gokavarapu holds an M.E. in Electronic Instrumentation from Andhra University, India, and has been with IBM for the last five years. He has worked on distributed CICS transaction processors, including the WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime and TXSeries for Multiplatforms software. Nageswararao has written several IBM developerWorks articles, some of which were selected as featured articles. His areas of interest are virtualization, transaction processing management, and UNIX systems.

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Table of contents

• Benefits of Rational Developer for Power Systems Software
• Languages and features supported
• Software stack used for demonstrations in the tutorial
• Installing and configuring TXSeries for Multiplatforms
• Installing Rational Developer for Power Systems Software
• What the three-part series covers
• Resources
• About the authors
• Comments

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