Creating a CICS Application Binding project

A CICS® Application Binding project defines an application binding. An application binding is a type of management bundle that maps, or binds, the CICS bundles in an application to one or more region types in the target platform.

About this task

Use an application binding to tailor the deployment of applications depending on the platform. For example, if the application is deployed on a unit testing platform, all the CICS bundles might be mapped to a single region type. However, if the application is deployed on an acceptance testing platform, different CICS bundles might be mapped to appropriate region types where they will be deployed in production.

You can also deploy additional CICS bundles with the application binding, as an alternative to deploying them with an application bundle or adding them to the platform. These CICS bundles might include resource definitions that customize the behavior of the application for the target platform. For example, a URIMAP resource might expose a different URI in the unit testing and acceptance testing platforms.

Procedure

  1. Open the CICS Cloud perspective. In the Project Explorer view, check that the CICS Platform project for the target platform, and the CICS Application project for the relevant application, are present in your local workspace.
  2. In the Project Explorer view, right-click in the window and click New > Project to open the New Project wizard.
  3. Expand the CICS Resources folder and click CICS Application Binding Project.
  4. In the Project Name field, enter a name for the project. The Application properties section of the wizard is automatically populated, but you can edit the name, description, and version if required.
  5. Click the Application Browse button to display a list of applications by application name and version. Select the relevant application and click OK.
  6. Click the Platform Browse button to display a list of target platforms. Select the required target platform and click Next.
  7. Select any additional CICS bundles that you want to install with the application binding, and click Next. You can edit the application binding project after you create it, to add further CICS bundles to deploy with the application binding.
  8. In the CICS Bundles pane, select a bundle, and map the selected CICS bundle to a region type by making a selection in the Region Types pane. The CICS bundles for the application, and the additional CICS bundles that you are deploying with the application binding, are listed.
  9. Repeat the previous step for each bundle in the CICS Bundles pane, until you have mapped each CICS bundle to at least one region type. A CICS bundle can be bound to more than one region type. You can edit the application binding project after you create it, to change how the CICS bundles are deployed to region types.
  10. Click Finish to create the application binding project.

Results

The application binding project is created. The project contains a META-INF folder that contains the following XML files:
  • bundles.xml lists the CICS bundles that are to be installed with this application binding.
  • appbinding.xml associates the application binding with a specific application and a specific platform.
  • deployment.xml lists the bundles from both the application bundle and the application binding, and associates them with CICS region types from the platform.
  • manifest.xml is the bundle manifest file.

The application binding project opens for editing immediately after you create it. To open the application binding project for editing at a later time, expand the META-INF folder for the application binding and double-click on the application.xml, bundles.xml, or deployment.xml file. Use the application binding descriptor editor to change the properties of the application binding, add or remove CICS bundles to deploy with the application binding, and change how the CICS bundles for the application and the application binding are deployed to region types. For a guide to using the application application binding descriptor editor, see The application binding descriptor editor.

Note: When you have created and deployed your application binding project using the CICS Explorer®, you must ensure proper management of the project source. The application binding project cannot be reconstructed from the exported data in zFS, and a failure of your workstation might cause the data to be lost. Ensure that your project is checked into a source code management system. When you use a source code management system that integrates with Eclipse, you can check projects in and out while you are working in the CICS Explorer.

What to do next

Export the application bundle and the application binding to zFS.
Parent topic: Working with applications