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WebFacing

WebFacing: the green view of the web


Innovation by preserving your AS/400 investment

When you bought your AS/400 system (or iSeries or System i) it was a good investment, and it still runs like a breeze. Replacement is not an option. But it would be convenient to make your applications accessible via internet. That is possible!

WebFacing is an IBM technique you can use to convert your well-known ‘green screens’ into Rich Web Clients. Fast, cheap and risk-free. But there are more possibilities.

WebFacing

Both an AS/400 application and a web application use the client/server model. You start the application. It sends a screen to your monitor and waits for an answer. You fill out the screen and return the answer. The application processes the input and sends you a new screen. It is the same principle, only the presentation technique is different.

That is why it is relatively easy to equip an AS/400 application with a web interface, without modifying the application itself. With WebFacing you do not take any chances, you just add the extra possibilities of a web interface, with all the additional advantages.

Six simple steps

WebFacing is part of the WebSphere® Development Studio Client for System i (WDSC). The process consists of six steps:

  1. Use WDSC to create a WebFacing project.
  2. Select the screen files your want to equip with a web interface on the AS/400.
  3. Convert the screens. This will result in an EAR file which you can use on any application server, also without WebSphere.
  4. Test the application using deployment, or use the built-in WebSphere Test Environment (WTE).
  5. Replace the AS/400 method with a browser method: you want to use hyperlinks instead of entering a ‘1’ at an item.
  6. Apply the house style to the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) and add the company logo.

The 'green screen'
From the well-known ‘green screen’…
The web interface
… to a practical web interface.

The first step towards a SOA

WebFacing is a perfectly good goal in itself: to make your applications accessible via a browser interface. But it does not stop there. With three additional steps you reach a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Which means your company can fully benefit from the latest technological possibilities.

To that end IBM offers the System i Developer Road Atlas. It is designed to convert applications in a simple, cheap and risk-free way into modern applications using new technology. Developers can also gain experience. The Road Atlas consists of four steps:

  1. WebFacing (see above).
  2. Split the old applications into separate modules (MVC).
  3. Build new modules.
  4. Build new applications based on those modules.

A new web application with Web Services

It is also possible to build a new AS/400 application with a web interface, without the ‘green screens’. The Web Services Development Tools of WDSC allow you to ‘encapsulate’ AS/400 procedures as Web Service. They run on your AS/400 and can be used in the new application or on other servers.

Java: the ‘free’ solution for Web Services

It is also possible to use Web Services without buying WDSC. The IBM Toolbox for Java allows you to create a Java application which calls your AS/400 procedures. You run the Java application on a different platform (e.g. a Linux server) as a Web Service.